Alphonse Allais

Born in Honfleur, France, in 1854, Alphonse Allais became known as a writer, journalist, and humorist with a gift for absurd comedy. He first studied pharmacy, but literature and the lively Paris press drew him in a different direction.

He wrote for popular newspapers and became associated with the bohemian world of Montmartre, including Le Chat Noir. Readers loved his puns, comic tales, and brilliantly illogical turns of thought, which made him one of the memorable funny voices of the Belle Époque.

Allais died in Paris in 1905, but his reputation has lasted well beyond his own time. He is still remembered for the lightness of his style, his delight in nonsense, and the way he could make a joke feel both silly and surprisingly clever.