This is the first book to take seriously (though not too seriously) the surprisingly neglected role of humour in art. Art and Laughter looks back to comic masters such as Hogarth and Daumier and to Dada, Surrealism and Pop Art, asking what makes us laugh and why, and exploring the use of comedy in art from satire and irony to pun, parody and black and bawdy humor. Encouraging laughter in the hallowed space of the gallery, Klein takes us on a tour of the comic work of Red Grooms, Cary Leibowitz, William Wegman, The Chicago Hairy Who, Richard Prince, Bruce Nauman, Jeff Koons, Vik Muniz and many more. She looks too at the smile in art and at the cute, the camp and the downright kitsch.