From cover to cover throughout these meticulously researched volumes, you will find many stories of comedians and humorists who stood up against tremendous odds, stared death in the face, were put under threat of persecution and told to give up their tightly held comedic beliefs, and yet bravely stood firm. Greek comedian Oileus Follicles’ was no exception, as evidenced by the legendary “Unfinished joke of Sparta.”

Follicles spent most of his short life as the personal comedian to …