Oh What A Time... - #146 Jesters (Part 2)

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed!This week we’re going back in time to look at that most curious of careers: jesters! We’ve got the earliest professional farters, we’ve got Harlequins and we’ll see what jesters were up to in Ancient Rome.Plus we have a quick bit on the history of the mattress. And if you’ve got anything else to contribute, you know what to do: [e-mail] in huge news, Oh What A Time is now on Patreon! From content you’ve never heard before to the incredible Oh What A Time chat group, there’s so much more OWAT to be enjoyed!On our Patreon you’ll now find:•The full archive of bonus episodes•Brand new bonus episodes each month•OWAT subscriber group chats•Loads of extra perks for supporters of the show•PLUS ad-free episodes earlier than everyone elseJoin us at 👉 patreon.com/ohwhatatimeAnd as a special thank you for joining, use the code CUSTARD for 25% off your first month.You can also follow us on: X (formerly Twitter) at @ohwhatatimepodAnd Instagram at @ohwhatatimepodAaannnd if you like it, why not drop us a review in your podcast app of choice?Thank you to Dan Evans for the artwork (idrawforfood.co.uk).Chris, Elis and Tom x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

O Watertime is now on Patreon. You can get main feed episodes before everyone else, ad free, plus access to our full archive of bonus content, two bonus episodes every month, early access to live show tickets, and access to the O Watertime Group chat. Plus, if you become an O Watertime All-Timer, myself, Tom and Ellis, will riff on your name to postulate where else in history you might have popped up.

For all your options, you can go to patreon.com forward slash O-Water Time. Hello and welcome to Oh, What a Time. This is part two of Jester's. Let's get on with the show. Okay, who we go. Now all of the world, the court jester played an important role, not only in entertaining, but also in delivering unpalatable news and critiques of behaviour, including the behaviour of monarchs

that could only be provided under fools' privilege, which I think Tom Crane has on this podcast. Do you have that with the council when you miss like council tax and... Sorry, I've got fools' privilege. So it means the ability to talk freely without fear of punishment. Now, among the earliest fools we've recorded at the English Royal Court was the delightfully named Roland the Fartre,

who served King Henry II in the 12th century AD, and he would do his jump, whistle and fart routine at court every Christmas. So in the same way that they always repeat, Morkham and Wise. Yeah. Let's get Roland did. It's popular for a reason.

Yeah. Roland the Fartter. I swear I saw his DVDs like a couple of years ago. And he's still on the circuit? Well, no, there was a man called, was it Fartman? No, you might be thinking of Mr. Methane. Oh, that's it. Mr. Methane.

And I know that because I played Liverpool University. And I opened, and I had a great gig, and then, pardon the phrase, he blew me out of the water. He came on, he was popping balloons with his farts. He was doing, you know when someone's really good at smoking and they can sort of do a smoke signal, like a hoop in the air? What do they call that a smoke circle? Yes. He would put talcum powder on his bottom, fart, and then a talcum powder circle would float through the air. He absolutely ripped it.

So you could see, don't say the word ripped in that context. So you could see his anus. He had leggings, much like a jester. He had tight leggings. Oh, my God. Well, the most famous one is La Petomé, or La Petomaine, who was a French guy, who died in the 40s. And he was probably the most famous French flagellist, who was basically a professional farteer. When someone lit a cigarette, what happened?

So he was famous with a remarkable control of his abdominal and anal muscles, so he could fart at will. Can I say something? If I had to book a night of entertainment for Henry the 8th And I could pick literally anyone But if Henry they didn't like it, I would die I'm going for like Mr Methane Or someone who can fart Just play it safe

Any era that's going down well Your problem is there Henry the 8th is stepping forward at a point And going, I'm going to give it a go And I'm guessing because of his diet And frame he's not quite got the control he's hoping He's following through and suddenly Henry the age has spoiled himself and now he's angry.

And then where does that leave you? The flagellist or professional fatter or windbreaker was an established tradition of performance and entertainment which went back and forth over centuries, even crossed cultural boundaries. So Augustine of Hippo, for instance, wrote in the early 5th century AD of those who could fart on command

so as to produce the effect of singing. And in Japan, they were farting competitions. Bullets. By the 17th century. No. No one goes. Is that a male voice choir? Is that a baritone?

Yeah. God, is that? Who is that? Is that a really smelly male voice choir? Yeah. Is that Taylor Swift? No, of course it isn't, right? And in Japan, they were farting competitions by the 17th century,

which were satirised in art. There's pictures of them, and sort of people are being knocked over as a man sort of farts from a wall. But Frotchellon was only one part of court entertainment that came under the umbrella of foolish, So to be a court fool or jester Was, interestingly, to possess a degree of power Since Fear Weathers are the same freedom to tell it like it is

So famously, King Philippe, the Sixth of France Learned of a military disaster in battle This is extraordinary, by the way. Learned of a military disaster in a battle with the English in the 14th century Because his jester entered his bedchamber And told a joke laced with the news, okay? Wow. So he's asleep.

Yeah. So he's been shaking. He's been shaken awake. Those cowardly English, the dastardly English, said the fool. How so, replied the king. Why, replied the fool? Because they have not the courage enough to jump into the sea, like your French soldiers,

who went overhead long from their ships. And he was like, all right, so we've, okay, so we've lost a ship a battle, correct, thank the. There's no way he sort of took that in the first time either. The first time he'd be like, yeah, yeah, right, mate, okay, I'm really tired Well, when he's been awake less than a minute

I'm going to go back to sleep and then the guy's having to go no no sit up I need to you need to listen to this joke probably sit up I'm going to say it again those cowardly English

the dustedly English stop trying to lie down yeah because they have not the courage enough to jump into the sea like your French soldiers who went over headlong

from their ships mate right so that speaks to such fear doesn't it that it has to be couched in such a way that it's going to be palatable to these people that could go nuts

but have such power and could completely flip. So it's not funny in the modern sense but it was news that could only have come safely from the fool. I love that. You can imagine them all outside the king's boudoir going, you tell him, you're the fool. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Workshopping the gag. Yeah, you'll crack up. You can really deliver the news in a palatable way. But it's like, you know, You know, if Britain went into recession. And at the Exchequer, they're like, at the Treasury, they're like, should we get Rachel Reeve to tell this, darling? I think we should get Rob Beckett to do it, actually.

He loves Rob Beckett. Should we get Tom Allen to tell him? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, years later, at the Court of Henry VIII, Henry's Fool, Will Summers, was often able to criticise royal extravagance and sort of waste by telling jokes, whereas appeals from the King's Minister for Passimony, fell on deaf years. So the presence of the court jester

on the British throne peaked on the Tudor and Stuart monarchies of the 16th and 17th centuries and it's these fools we can name and discuss in greater detail so there are even fools attached to the households of prominent individuals Thomas Moore for instance

had a fool had a fool called Henry Patterson so Will Summers who was apparently a native of Shropshire like Greg Davis funny old county appeared in the Royal Accounts

in June 1535 when he was given a clothing allowance Henry's previous jester had been a man named Sexton Ollipatch. The patch was another word for fool. Summers singularly survived Henry's reign, Edward the sixth reign, Mary the First's reign, and was able to retire from service

during Elizabeth I reign the period of service of nearly quarter of a century. So he probably died in 1560 and he had his portrait painted by Hans Holbeen, a very famous artist. So Mary the First had her own favourite fool, aptly named Jane Fool or Gian LeFol

and it's possible that her full name was Jane Beiden and she entered Royal Service when Anne Boleyn was Queen there are entries for Justice Clothes in Berlin's wardrobe accounts for 1535 and 1536 I love that they still exist those sort of things It's just so rich, isn't it? So after Anne Boleyn's death Jane entered the service of Princess Mary

alongside another Fool entertainer called Lucretia the Tumblr whose performance is focused on acrobatics Now that I get, I didn't know acrobatics was being practiced back then. I didn't know it's that an old, you know, an art form. But acrobatics is impressive. Yes. Set to Saleh.

You book that for Henry VIII. He's going to love it unless he'd get, he tries it himself. So in 1543, Jane joined the entourage of Catherine Parr, Henry's last queen, and was again entered into the accounts by way of a clothing purchase, not you have notted, via a way. age slip. So she had her clothing paid for. That's no good, is it? I'm assuming that she wasn't paid at salary. So after Catherine's death in 1548, Jane returned to Mary's service and remained with her until Mary's death in 1558 when Jane disappears under records.

In the same way that comics, who were big on panel shows in the 90s, sort of put out to pasture a little bit. Now, Elizabeth I first had her own entertainers, Richard Talton, who was especially favoured for his quick wit and joke telling, as well as for his acting. Tomazina, Mulei Akula, a prision-born jester, went to service in 1577 and remained until Elizabeth's death and her own. So many of them. In 1603. Tomasina's sister, yeah, Prudence, was also briefly employed in 1579. The real circuit. And there as an Italian jester called Monarcho, who was apparently flamboyant and eccentric and a bit of a megalomaniac.

So we won't name them, but Tom and I are now thinking of all the comics, we know. Who that reminds us of. Of this group, the Shropshire-born Tartan, not sure when he was born, but he died in 18,8, was the most famous comic of his day, and whose jokes were later collected and published as Tartan's Jests in 1600. Right.

And Tomasina as well stand out. So the latter became, because as a little person was known to her contemporaries, obviously this isn't the kind of language we'd use now, but she was known in the Royal Court as our woman to war. She was proof that the Tudor Court, at least, did provide employment opportunities, for those with different physical and mental abilities.

And she was also an immigrant who was known for her financial and literary skills. It was quite interesting looking at the kind of people who were employed in the Royal Court. Now, Thomasina's experience was replicated in the employment of Jane, Fool and Will Summers. So it's thought modern historians now think that Jane and Will had a learning difficulty and that the fool aspect of her name typically drive from the concept of a natural fool or a differently abled person, as we would now say. But the point is that a position at court, especially in such a visible position as the court jester,

was a very significant one. So the descriptive language causes us to cringe. You know, you'd never use language at that these days. But the fact that the fool had the freedom to satirise and was given clothing allowances, food and other gifts by the crown, and even had a career paid for out of the royal purse, shows that the perception of difference wasn't so stark as was to become in, later centuries. That's interesting, yeah. So the fool, or the concept of the

fool, survived the change of dynasty from Tudor to Stuart, with several prominent individuals identifiable at the courts of James I and Charles I, first, as well as part of the entourage of their respective queens and of Denmark and Henrietta Maria. So they included Archibald Armstrong, Tom Dury, Geoffrey Hudson and Michael John. Now, James's mother, Mary Queen of Scots, she had her own fool, and a French woman named Nicola, and there'd been a fool called Robinson serving the Scottish court in the 1540s, which showed that there was a parallel tradition of court jester's north of the English border, but the whole thing ended abruptly in January 1649.

When Charles I first lost his head on the scaffold, Oliver Cromwell had no time for such things because they weren't part of the Puritan's rule book. And Charles II wasn't really up for a revival of on his return to the throne in 1660. And so the fool that caught jester, the joker, the professional farta of centuries past, they had to find another place of employment, the theatre, and then the role began to evolve. Really interesting, absolutely fascinating. Although, I should say, Samuel Pepys hints that there was at least one jester early on in Charles's reign. But basically, Cromwell ended the tradition, really.

And then fools and performers and jokers and comedies and comedies. You know, it's funny to think The role of the professional fatter Largely died out Well, I was going to say that But A, Thomas supported Mr Methane live And B, I read a piece in the Welsh press A couple of weeks ago

About a woman called Kirsty With farts on Instagram and earns £2,000 a month So clearly Clearly there's room for it Can I say, Oliver Cromwell, Not a laugh No The guy needed a chill out

Not a fan of a jangly hat, someone farting the national anthem. It's not as vibe, is it? So to finish this episode on Jester's, I am now going to talk to you about how Jester's moved from the Royal Court and as you said L, into a new domain and that domain was the stage. Even in the Tudor heyday of the court jester, there was a parallel movement to transfer the full skills for comedy, satire, acrobatics into the world of theatre. In fact, it's interesting, it was a particularly famous British writer who was hugely behind this move.

Want to guess who? Who do you think it was? What period is? This is Tudor. I'm going to say Shakespeare. Bingo. There you go. Ding, ding, ding. There you go. He's everywhere, this guy, isn't he Shakespeare? Yeah, the guy could write. Yeah, absolutely. Legacy, that's the word.

He's a legacy writer. Shakespeare, indeed, Ellis, 100 points. So he was really behind this idea of the skills of the jesters being used in theatres. In fact, a huge number of fools in Shakespeare's plays are indicative of this drive. You can see he uses the idea of the fool in the way that he writes. Lots of his characters replicate some of the forms that you'd recognise from gestures and royal courts. Also, another writer involved in Shakespeare Company, a man by the name of Robert Armin. He even wrote a book called Fool Upon Fool in 1600, which is like a textbook on this subject.

However, this was not Shakespeare's idea. The point of origin was actually the Comedia del Arna, which is a form of Italian Renaissance theatre, which was spread throughout the Italian peninsula in the 16th century. Are you familiar with this? Have you heard of this? No, I haven't, no. It was hugely popular. It began to influence theatrical traditions everywhere, basically, especially in Britain and France. I don't know if you remember, Elle, the sort of the effect that Daniel Kitson had on Edinburgh shows in about 2007.

Yes, yeah, yeah. Well, this was like the 16th century equivalent to that. But isn't it amazing that British theatre or English theatre was being influenced by Italian theatre? It's amazing, absolutely. That is extraordinary to me. Profoundly influenced as well, as you'll find out. Just to quickly sort of surmise what this was, among the characters in this art form were the Piero. the Zanny and the Harlequin. I'll quickly take you through them. The Zani was a lowly servant and a trickster and originally a worker from the countryside. They usually wore masks with differing size noses to indicate the degree of foolishness. A peaked hat, a wooden sword and they wore white baggy clothing typical of peasants. I'm going to say, I think I'm quite glad from a theatrical point of view, Chris, your wife works high up in theatre. I think it's probably quite good that we've moved away from people.

just having different size noses depending on what sort of character they are. It feels like a bit basic. It's a bit sort of, things have become a bit more subtle and nuanced now, haven't they? So if you were full, you had a big nose. It's astonishing as well one thing I learned relatively late in life, which is that when Shakespeare was performing his plays at the Globe, like it would be an all-male cast and men would be playing the women. Yep.

And sometimes you'd have the same actor playing multiple roles. Like, how did you know what was going on? well a lot of the characters played similar forms in different plays so people knew what they were dealing with similarly with masks there would be evil characters and different sort of forms and nose size and eyesize and all these sort of things reflect different character traits and people go out okay I know what this sort of person's going to be like I mean I watched this video by the national theatre on this very subject they described Zanny as being similar to Manuel in Pulte Towers basically this is what this character is like the harlequin second character, was the development of this Zanny character, made it more comedic jester-like figure, dressed in a motley costume of bright colours. They were more acrobatic than Zani. They performed feats, even when simple actions were anticipated. And although they retained the wooden sword of the Zani, they also often carried the Morot or the Ful's Scepter, which was indicative of a link with the court jester, which is what I had to carry when I was in my country dancing troupe,

and I had my stick with bells on. Little did I know. I felt embarrassed. I was actually part of a rich, proud history. Yeah, yeah. Heads back to Italian theatre. Little did I know. There was no reason to be embarrassed as I was whacking my stick with bells on. Do you know what?

It's actually a shame that no one told you. Exactly, yeah. I think that's quite cool. And then finally, there was to Piero, which I think captures your comedic style L, which was the sad clown. Would you agree? The sad clown. Anguished, sad clown. Now, this figure first emerged.

in the 17th century is the every man of the plot, yet another variant of the Zani. With the court jester, having died out in Britain by the middle of the 17th century, it fell to theatre to give voice to the jester's satire. So the gestures were no longer being used in courts, and they moved into the theatre as a result of this huge influence of Italian theatre. I find fascinating that British theatre. You'd assume it's Shakespeare, all the sort of stuff. Of course it was Shakespeare, but so much of it came from Italy.

So were people travelling to Italy to watch plays in a different language? Trading, right? There's going to be a transfer of society. They're going to be going backwards before, even then, right? Exactly. And storytelling techniques, exactly. Its ideas would be passed as people who write travelled there. See, I don't watch anything.

I am my only influence. Right. You inspire yourself. I am my favourite comedian, I'm my only influence. I just watch my own stuff. So filling this role, okay, in Britain, after the success of Comedia del Arta, came the Harlequinade. That's what we had here, okay, which is a slapstick comedy containing five characters,

including the aforementioned Harlequin, the aforementioned Piero, is your character L, his boss, the clown, Columbine, who's a comedic servant, and Columbine's father, a man called Pantaloon. There you go, there's a fun name. And in this version, Harlequin was a romantic lead, his humour was visual, not verbal, And this is interesting. Do you know what made that easier for the people playing those parts?

The fact that it was sort of nonverbal and it was physical. It touches on something you just talked about a second ago, Al. Why was often the people that played the Harlequins in Britain so perfect for these nonverbal physical roles? I don't know.

Well, I will tell you. I will tell you. Because most of the best harlequin actors were French and Italian. They'd come across and couldn't actually speak English. So they had to be physical. Which I would see is quite a stressful job. Yes.

Coming and working in British theatre and not speaking the language. How do you work with an English director? Yeah. Is it all just... It's a very good question that I can't answer. They're miming everything. How do you read your reviews? It may not be a bad thing.

Everyone else is gutted. What do you type into Google Maps to find the theatre? Exactly. But it was a huge success. With the restoration in 1660 and the royal patronage of the theatre, plenty. Comedy flourished on the stage, and Samuel Peeps, as you say, El, he wrote about it. He wrote about laughing along to the antics of clowns, even hints in his diary that Charles II also loved it, and that Charles II had a fool jester at court. This is what he wrote.

Mr Brisbane, who tells me in discourse that Tom Killagrew hath a fee out of the wardrobe for cape and bells under the title of the King's Fool or Jester and May, with privilege, revile or jeer anybody, the greatest person without offence by the privilege of his place. So they go once again, it's the fool's privilege. They can say what they want, even to Charles II. And there does seem to be truth to Samuel Peep's gossip. In fact, the surviving accounts of Charles II's reign references appear for livery for Ye Jester, both in 6061, where Velvet and Damask were perched for Thomas Kilgrue and years later in 1701, where similar items were bought by the Royal Wardrobe for one of Killagrew's side.

a guy called the name of Henry, who was then in the service of William III, giving an idea of how much they had for their stage outfits. Some £75 was paid out for one year's uniform, which is equivalent to 15 grand today. So that's 15 grand they were given that they had to spend on clothes. I would love that. Wow. Yeah.

You're not allowed to spend it on anything sensible. You're forced once a year. Like Brewster's millions, but with clothes. L has literally gone into a dream space now, the idea of getting to do that. You're forced 15 grand a year to go and buy new. nice football hoony coats. That sounds fantastic. Oh my God, I've been paid and congoorius. And in reality, it is slightly more complicated than that because Tom Killagrew was primarily a playwright and theatre manager. He also ran the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane for a while

and was a master of Revels in 1673. But whether or not the Killigrews held the same position once occupied by Somers and Jane Full is clear that they were considered by their contemporaries. and this is the same point that keeps coming up. It's able comedians at court in an everyday setting such as a pub or coffee house and as important members of society. As Peaks wrote in his diary, Thomas Killegrue was a merry droll

who told many merry stories. And within those stories of the sort of jokes that would have landed others into trouble. And in that sense, he was one of those at court able to satirise in a way that in older times did fall under a jester's privilege but which by his time had become largely the domain of the harlequin in the piero on stage.

So that is how Jester's moved from the royal co-op to stage and how Italian theatre hugely influenced Shakespeare and theatrical performance in Britain. And really, I mean, in some ways, we have, Ellis, we have the Enlightenment to thank for our careers now and that type of Italian theatre for performance on stage that has given us our livelihoods. I had no idea. That's really surprised me, actually.

I find the history of comedy fascinating. Yeah, completely. Although I did once at a corporate event meet a woman who said that she didn't find comedy funny. And so I accept that it's not for everyone. But of the people I'm friends with, we do like to laugh. We do like a laugh in general. What I would have loved to have seen, if I could use a one-day time machine, would be to go back to like the Hackney Empire.

Absolutely. And see one of those variety shows With these old school Where no one even really knows what the act is But these people were These people were gods Like these big music hall entertainers Like what was the act around 1900

That people were losing their mind of Yeah people like Marie Lloyd Yes I'd love to see it But there is a slight Is there not a danger that it's going to be that fast show sketch Of where it's just like Yeah Where's me washboard

What the fuck is this? I'd also say a lot of the material is now what we consider problematic I think after about halfway through the first guy set there'd be a lot of Oh dear Yeah

Is that all right? Yeah You can take modern comics back to the past But you can't bring them from the past back to now It's just not going to work If you take anything from this episode Let it be that so that wraps up our episode on jesters thank you once again to leo danzac our subscriber who suggested that one

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