Artemus Ward

Born Charles Farrar Browne in Waterford, Maine, on April 26, 1834, he became famous under the pen name Artemus Ward. He worked as a printer and journalist before his comic sketches and mock-serious reporting brought him a wide audience in American newspapers.

Ward became especially popular for his stage lectures, where he performed as a seemingly earnest storyteller whose calm delivery made the nonsense even funnier. His success on the lecture circuit and in print made him one of the best-known humorists of the 1860s, and his approach to comic writing is often linked with the rise of a distinctly American style of humor.

He traveled to Britain late in life and died in Southampton, England, on March 6, 1867, while still only in his early thirties. Though his career was short, Artemus Ward left a strong mark on American comic writing and is still remembered as an important predecessor to later humorists such as Mark Twain.