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At the annual Athenian [br]drama festival in 426 BC,

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a comic play called The Babylonians,

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written by a young poet [br]named Aristophanes,

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was awarded first prize.

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But the play’s depiction of Athens’ [br]conduct during the Peloponnesian War

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was so controversial that afterwards,

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a politician named Kleon [br]took Aristophanes to court

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for "slandering the people of Athens [br]in the presence of foreigners."

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Aristophanes struck back two years later[br]with a play called The Knights.

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In it, he openly mocked Kleon,

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ending with Kleon’s character working as [br]a lowly sausage seller

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outside the city gates.

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This style of satire was a consequence

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of the unrestricted democracy [br]of 5th century Athens

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and is now called "Old Comedy."

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Aristophanes’ plays, the world’s earliest [br]surviving comic dramas,

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are stuffed full of parodies, songs, [br]sexual jokes, and surreal fantasy.

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They often use wild situations,

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like a hero flying to heaven [br]on a dung beetle,

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or a net cast over a house to keep [br]the owner’s father trapped inside,

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in order to subvert audience expectations.

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And they’ve shaped how comedy’s[br]been written and performed ever since.

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The word "comedy" comes from [br]the Ancient Greek "komos," – revel,

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and "oide," – singing,

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and it differed from its companion [br]art form, "tragedy" in many ways.

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Where ancient Athenian tragedies dealt [br]with the downfall of the high and mighty,

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their comedies usually ended happily.

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And where tragedy almost always [br]borrowed stories from legend,

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comedy addressed current events.

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Aristophanes’ comedies celebrated ordinary[br]people and attacked the powerful.

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His targets were arrogant politicians,

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war-mongering generals,

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and self-important intellectuals,

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exactly the people who sat in [br]the front row of the theatre,

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where everyone could see their reactions.

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As a result, they were referred to [br]as komoidoumenoi:

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"those made fun of in comedy."

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Aristophanes’ vicious [br]and often obscene mockery

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held these leaders to account,[br]testing their commitment to the city.

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One issue, in particular, [br]inspired much of Aristophanes’ work:

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the Peloponnesian War [br]between Athens and Sparta.

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In Peace, written in 421 BC,

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a middle-aged Athenian frees [br]the embodiment of peace from a cave,

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where she’d been exiled [br]by profiteering politicians.

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Then, in the aftermath of a crushing [br]naval defeat for Athens in 411 BC,

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Aristophanes wrote "Lysistrata."

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In this play, the women [br]of Athens grow sick of war

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and go on a sex strike [br]until their husbands make peace.

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Other plays use similarly fantastic [br]scenarios to skewer topical situations,

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such as in "Clouds,"

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where Aristophanes mocked [br]fashionable philosophical thinking.

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The hero Strepsiades enrolls in[br]Socrates’s new philosophical school,

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where he learns [br]how to prove that wrong is right

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and that a debt is not a debt.

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No matter how outlandish these plays get,[br]the heroes always prevail in the end.

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Aristophanes also became[br]the master of the parabasis,

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a comic technique where actors [br]address the audience directly,

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often praising the playwright [br]or making topical comments and jokes.

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For example, in "Birds,"

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the Chorus takes [br]the role of different birds

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and threatens the Athenian judges that[br]if their play doesn’t win first prize,

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they’ll defecate on them [br]as they walk around the city.

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Perhaps the judges [br]didn’t appreciate the joke,

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as the play came in second.

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By exploring new ideas

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and encouraging self-criticism [br]in Athenian society,

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Aristophanes not only [br]mocked his fellow citizens,

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but he shaped the nature of comedy itself.

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Hailed by some scholars [br]as the father of comedy,

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his fingerprints are visible [br]upon comic techniques everywhere,

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from slapstick

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to double acts

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to impersonations

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to political satire.

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Through the praise of free speech [br]and the celebration of ordinary heroes,

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his plays made his audience think [br]while they laughed.

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And his retort to Kleon in 425 BC [br]still resonates today:

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“I’m a comedian, [br]so I’ll speak about justice,

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no matter how hard [br]it sounds to your ears.”