Black Sphinx collects 12 essays on comedy in contemporary art by leading philosophers, art historians and theorists. Philosopher Simon Critchley and art historian Janet Whitmore consider the origins of comedic genres and survey some of the key theoretical articulations of laughter and wit, by Freud, Bergson and others; John C. Welchman focuses on John Baldessari, a touchstone for the revival of humor in art in the 1960s; performer, playwright...