I have finally finished and beaten a run of the 2024 roguelike deck-building poker game, Balatro. At its heart, the game is about trying to make various poker hands, paying attention to various kinds of Jokers and other cards, which improve the scoring ability of the hands played.
In fact the name "Balatro" itself, is the Latin words for a clown/jester/buffoon; which is a perfect name which describes the 202 Jokers/Tarot/Planet/Spectral Cards which change how the game is played and all have various effects that interact with each other.
Along the way there are many different things which are various jokers, including a credit card, a business card, a ballot with a hanging chad, a bus ticket, a joker which has been ripped in half, but apart from the many many normal Jokers, there are five which are named after "Legendary Jokers". As is my wont to take an idea way too far, I began to ponder what a Joker actually is and if in fact there are any modern Legendary Jokers.
A Joker as suggested is a Clown or Jester or Buffoon. These things are broadly similar and sometimes convergent; so it is perhaps easier to define what a Joker is by what they are not. A person who makes announcements to the world, sometimes by standing in the town square and ringing a bell, is a Herald. A person who plays an instrument and sings songs, which may or may not be funny, is a Minstrel. A person who plays a part in a play, is a Thespian or an Actor. These roles might also converge with the Joker, but those roles are not at the core.
The problem also lies in the fact that Clowns, Jesters, and Buffoons, are slightly different. A Clown is someone who is explicitly meant to play at being funny. A Jester is an entertainer, who has explicit privilege to say whatever they like (usually in the name of satire or ridicule) without fear of retribution. A Buffoon is someone who deliberately acts foolish or incompetent, to make people laugh. The five Legendary Jokers, are either one or multiple of those roles; and who have sufficient fame that the game designer thought that they were important. The five in order are:
Yorick
Yorick is an unseen character in William Shakespeare's 1599 play "Hamlet", and in fact has already died before the beginning of the play. Yorick in the play, was the court jester whose skull is exhumed by the First Gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1. Prince Hamlet apparently knew Yorick, as this Jester had some kind of hand in his upbringing. We have no idea what Yorick said or did, even in context.
Canio
Canio is the protagonist from Rugfero Leoncallo's 1892 opera "agliacci". Pagliacci tells the story of Canio, who was the lead actor of a commedia dell'arte troups, and who murdered his wife Nedda and her lover Silvio on stage during a performance. Canio then adopts the persona of a Sad Clown, which is the framing for how the rest of the opera plays out. Canio as the Sad Clown, is the uber-example of the Sad Clown which adorned people's houses in the form of statues and posters during the 1980s for a time. I wonder how many people actually knew that they had pictues of a murderer in their house.
Perkeo
Perkeo was the official court Jester and Count Dwarf for the Holy Rome Empire's Elector Palatine Charles III Philip in Heidelberg Tun. As the legendary historical guardian of the city, he serves as a kind of unofficial mascot.
Chicot
Chicot was the court Jester of King Henry III and Henry IV, of France. Chicot is probably the ur-example of the idea that the court Jester had unlimited privilege and could speak to the king without filter or formality. The court Jester, who had unlimited privilege was a useful person to have as they were also the one expected to speak truth without fear or favour and could be weaponised to insult other dignitaries.
Triboulet
Triboulet is legendary to the point of almost myth. There were at least three Jesters who carried the name "Triboulet", with the first being documented in the court of René of Anjou, in 1430.
.......
We come back to that note about the concept of Italian commedia dell'arte. In broad principle, a commedia dell'arte troupe, travelled from town to town, maybe putting on morality plays or other historical pieces, with a range of various stock characters. The Hero, the Wizard, the Hermit, the King, the Lovers, the Masked Man, the Evil Lord, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The idea with commedia dell'arte is that the troupe could take their stock characters off the shelf, and produce a play in the town which would be very highly tailored for that particular town. Current events could be made the subject of satire, local celebrities (famous or infamous) could be hidden behind the characters, and even the stock characters themselves could be the subjects of whatever the troupe wanted because being standard stock characters, they were already familiar to audiences.
In Agatha Christie's first published short story "Affair At The Victory Ball" (1923), we basically have a locked box/oom story with the six suspects attending a fancy dress ball (The Victory Ball), dressed as the six stock Jesters/Clowns of Harlequin and Columbine, Punchinella and Punchinello, and Pierrot and Pierette. Clearly by 1923, the standard characters of Italian commedia dell'arte had jumped from Italy, probably through English Theatre and Music Hall, and were well known enough that Agatha Christie never ever feels the need to explain who they are.
And this is what prompted by question. If Canio in 1892 was the last "Legendary Joker", then have we had any new ones since. I think that we have; but they need to have has such an impact on the world of comedy, that they are known either around the world, or their effects have been felt around the world. I would like to submit five new "Legendary Jokers".
Jerry Seinfeld
No. I am not submitting the comedian Jerry Seinfeld but rather, the character 'Jerry Seinfeld' as played by Jerry Seinfeld in 'Seinfeld'. Probably with the logical end of limited broadcast television, Seinfeld is perhaps the last massively massive sitcom. Sure, others have followed but apart from 'The Simpsons', nothing since has found its was that deep into general culture. He wasn't the first. He wasn't the best. He isn't even particularly funny, either as a comedian in the show or outside of it; but Jerry Seinfeld is the character type, of who people think about when they think of stand-up comedy.
The Tramp
Perhaps Charlie Chaplain's star has faded but his Tramp character with broken bowler hat and cane, is also the type that people think of, when they think of a comedian. The Tramp is a case of character passing into icon; well after the character themself has fallen out of view. The Tramp, who appears in several films, is also a kind of commedia dell'arte character because there is no continuity whatsoever between one film and the next.
Bugs Bunny
Disney Corporation might be the more successful animation house but the Warner Bros. built the world of animated comedy. Mickey Mouse is paradoxically both the everyman and nobody. Comedy in Disney cartoons is mainly driven by Donald Duck and Goofy, who are the anti-hero and the fool. Bugs Bunny by himself, is the trickster. He is the jester with explicit privilege, to think the thoughts and do the things which the public can not.
Neddie Seagoon
Neddie Seagoon as the protagonist of The Goon Show on BBC Radio, is the idiot and hero. He is the one who will be exploited, or become the fall guy for whatever idiotic scheme has been concocted in any given episode. The Goon Show on the BBC Home Service/World Service, was made at a time when the British Empire was in its twilight; which meant that the BBC had a reach which was unbelievably massive. Also, as a commedia dell'arte series, The Goon Show perfectly fits the ouvré of what Jesters were likely to do.
Mr Beast
Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) is the most subcribed YouTuber, in the world. His YouTube channel while not explcitly known for comedy, does pull lots of stunts and challenges; so this kind of makes him a modern Buffoon. In videos such as when he microwaved a microwave, or counting to 100,000 (which took more than 23 hours), he proved that in pushing the absurd, there is comedy to be found.
And the reason for these five in particular, is that here we have five different media (television, film, animation, radio, online). I have no idea what kind of effects that these five as Joker cards would have, but given that the game can do whatever it likes, then that's moot.
'Who' is but the form following the function of 'what' and what we have here is the concept which underpinned the Balatro/Joker in the first place. The Clowns/Jester/Buffoon/Balatro could be anything as the role demanded and The Joker in most card games, either acts as a wild card that can be anything as the role demands or as the highest trump, or as the card to be avoided.
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