English humour, eh? Those wacky, wacky Brits! The Diary of a Nobody was written by the brothers George and Weedon Grossmith. It first ran as a series of articles in the weekly humour and satire magazine Punch, or The London Charivari.
Also successful stage actors, the brothers penned the tome to depict the life of fictional London Clerk Charles Pooter and his wife, kids, and friends. Farcical behaviour and mild peril follows.
Now, we’re reviewing this as it’s intriguing for us to check out satirical humour from the book’s publication date—June 1892. What was humour like back then with those stuffy Victorians, eh? Let’s explore the prose.
The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith
“Doesn’t it seem odd that Gowing’s always coming and Cummings’ always going?”
One thing with humour is how it morphs over time and can appear dreadfully anachronistic with the passage of time.
For example, Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979). We’re sure it was landmark stuff in the ’70s, but reading it last year we found it a bit twee.
Trudge back violently in time and you’ve got the likes of Shakespeare’s comedic plays, which have aged terribly on the basis of changing social mores and the like.
And here we have the case of The Diary of a Nobody.
The plot covers 15 months in the life of Charles Pooter and his family. Charles has modest ambitions and is a bit of a bumbling, eccentric Brit.
As he goes about his life happy with his lot, he continuously gets involved in riotous mishaps with those around him.
Thought of as a classic English comic novel, it’s certainly influential. Whoops-a-daisy farce is a big aspect to this, along with a sense of British indignation you know about if you’ve spent a few minutes too many standing in the queue at Tesco etc. Stuff like this.
“April 6. Eggs for breakfast simply shocking; sent them back to Borset with my compliments, and he needn’t call any more for orders. Couldn’t find umbrella, and though it was pouring with rain, had to go without it.”
It’s the type of comedic style Bruce Robinson’s classic Withnail & I (1987) sets up, and dashes to one side, so superbly. British pomp and ceremony grinding to a halt thanks to ceaseless rain and drunkenness.
Whereas in Diary of a Nobody you have lines like this.
“I never was so immensely tickled by anything I had ever said before. I actually woke up twice during the night, and laughed till the bed shook.”
In Withnail & I you have Withnail downing lighter fluid, fishing in a small river with a shotgun, and attempting to con police urine tests by using a fake supply of piss. See how humour changes over the generations?
So, will Withnail & I appear old hat in 50 years time? Who knows!?
We can also highlight the brilliant Ascent of Rum Doodle (1956) by W. E. Bowman. This took a similar swipe at British pomposity over half a century on from the Grossmiths, with the difference being Bowman’s work is still as fresh as a daisy and a modern classic.
Anyway, these contemplations aren’t to mock The Diary of a Nobody.
It’s a book of its time and works like this set the foundations for future generations. It’s also just nice to see people did know how to have a laugh back then and some were aware of the absurd nature of day-to-day existence.
Particularly as the Grossmith brothers mock the pomposity of the Victorian era with barely contained glee (as other contemporary works such as Edwin A. Abbot’s Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions also set out to do).
The book’s title hails from the habit people had back then of keeping, and then publishing, a diary. This kind of shows society doesn’t change much, as with now—the crazes for social media and the like. Almost everyone appears to be a content creator online.
In 50 years it’ll be something else, but be grounded in the same need to create, show off a bit, or succumb to peer pressure.
As you’ll know full well, our TikTok feed is packed with half-naked videos of us dancing, pouting, and flaunting our assets with wild abandon.
It isn’t supreme, delusional arrogance. We’re just expressing our individuality by doing what everyone else does across a disturbed arena of insecurity and self-obsession.
Some of The Diary of a Nobody’s Best Cheeky Chappy Moments
The book often feels like a precursor to those awful Carry On films from the Sixties (all 31 of them). The ones where “Ooh, missus!” is uttered every 10 seconds.
On a tangent here, but we saw someone on Twitter using those Carry On films as PROOF the WOKE MOB has ruined society. “You can’t make anything like the Carry On films anymore thanks to THE WOKE LEFT!” An argument so idiotic we’re not going to address its flaws here.
Anyway, the difference with this book is the Grossmith brothers did have some genuinely inspired moments of wit (Oscar Wilde must’ve been very jealous of this one).
“I believe I am happy because I am not ambitious.”
And another.
“I have lived to be above that sort of thing.”
And another.
“We were rather afraid of the noise of the trains at first, but the landlord said we should not notice them after a bit, and took £2 off the rent.”
And another.
“Never in my life have I ever been so insulted; the cabman, who was a rough bully and to my thinking not sober, called me every name he could lay his tongue to, and positively seized me by the beard, which he pulled till the tears came into my eyes. I took the number of a policeman (who witnessed the assault) for not taking the man in charge. The policeman said he couldn’t interfere, that he had seen no assault, and that people should not ride in cabs without money.”
Again, very much of its time. Although we’ve seen some people online still claiming it hasn’t aged at all and is the hallmark of comedic excellence modern people should aspire to.
And that things were just funnier in the good old days. And films were better in the good old days. And music was better in the good old days. And Formula 1 was better in the good old days. And books were better in the good old days. And KIDS THESE DAYS were better in the good old days etc.
But it’s interesting to note that when the book launched it was met with indifference from the press and public. The Literary World, in a July 1892 review, wrote that it wasn’t funny.
Others accused it of being dull and “a study in vulgarity” (bloody woke mob again).
There was an updated American edition The New York Times reviewed, but (and this is actually quite amusing) the Americans found it incomprehensible. The review states this.
“There is that kind of quiet, commonplace, everyday joking in it which we are to suppose is highly satisfactory to our cousins across the water.”
The review notes this of national differences between the Brits and Americans.
“Our way of manufacturing fun is different.”
Here in Blighty, the work’s reputation eventually grew and by the publication of the fourth edition (in 1919), its status was such it was being hailed as a public favourite.
Whether you want to read it now is based on your type of humour or desire to tour through the history of satire.
Adaptations of The Diary of a Nobody
There have been many modern radio, TV, and stage adaptations of The Diary of a Nobody, but the production that caught our eye was this the above from 2015.
Here they’re doing something interesting with the book (visually, at least), although in the YouTube comments sections… yes, you guessed it, some people are complaining!
People online complaining, who would have thought it!? As one person notes.
“What a travesty. They should be sued for this pathetic mess. Read the book is the only way to appreciate this classic.”
You could do that. Or you could watch the play, appreciate earlier forms of satirical humour, and recognise how this has advanced considerably to the modern day.
British satire certainly isn’t dead.
There’s Private Eye, of course, but the creatives have indeed headed online to Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The likes of Sooz Kempner and Rosie Holt (woke feminists ruining comedy again) poking fun at the establishment in all its pomp and ceremony.
Often it comes across in random clips you’ll find online, such as with this playful mocking of Mick Jagger’s dance moves by The Jones Family Retro Show (the sisters are based in New York).
See, you wouldn’t get that back in 1892, eh?
Regardless, it’s a delight to see (even in this age of toxic online bullying and hostility) the satirists are still a force to be reckoned with. Ooh, missus.
