Something familiar,
Something peculiar,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Something appealing,
Something appalling,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Nothing with kings, nothing with crowns;
Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns!
Old situations,
New complications,
Nothing portentous or polite;
Tragedy tomorrow,
Comedy tonight!
Something convulsive,
Something repulsive,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Something aesthetic,
Something frenetic,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Nothing with gods, nothing with fate;
Weighty affairs will just have to wait!
Nothing that's formal,
Nothing that's normal,
No recitations to recite;
Open up the curtain:
Comedy Tonight!
Something erratic,
Something dramatic,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Frenzy and frolic,
Strictly symbolic,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Something familiar,
Something peculiar,
Something for everybody:
Comedy tonight!
Something that's gaudy,
Something that's bawdy--
Something for everybawdy!
Comedy tonight!
Nothing that's grim.
Nothing that's Greek.
She plays Medea later this week.
Stunning surprises!
Cunning disguises!
Hundreds of actors out of sight!
Pantaloons and tunics!
Courtesans and eunuchs!
Funerals and chases!
Baritones and basses!
Panderers!
Philanderers!
Cupidity!
Timidity!
Mistakes!
Fakes!
Rhymes!
Crimes!
Tumblers!
Grumblers!
Bumblers!
Fumblers!
-acapo
About This Song
"Comedy Tonight" is Stephen Sondheim's exuberant opening number from *A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum* that serves as both a theatrical mission statement and audience contract, promising an evening of pure escapist entertainment. The lyrics playfully catalog the show's comedic ingredients-from "lovers, liars and clowns" to situations both "appealing" and "appalling"-while explicitly rejecting serious drama with the dismissive "Nothing with kings, nothing with crowns." Musically, it's a deliberately simple, vaudeville-inspired romp with a bouncing melody and repetitive structure that mirrors the formulaic nature of classical Roman comedy it celebrates. The song's genius lies in its meta-theatrical self-awareness, acknowledging that while "Tragedy tomorrow" may await in life, tonight the theater offers refuge through laughter and spectacle. It remains one of musical theater's most effective opening numbers, establishing Sondheim's mastery of using seemingly lightweight material to explore deeper truths about entertainment's role in human experience.
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