Stephen Leacock is the first immortal in the ranks of Canadian humorists, and even in his lifetime his popularity and reputation were international. His work has become a touchstone for some types of comic writing, even though modern readers and critics are largely unfamiliar with the sheer extent of his publications. Some of his best work is still in print in McClelland and Stewart's New Canadian Library series. His principal form was the sketch, the joke given its own metaphorical extension, in which he could exercise his talents for incongruity, irony, and wordplay. He was also gifted in his ability to parody popular conventions in literature, entertainment, and behavior. He was an accomplished storyteller, and his work often sounds as good as it looks. Still, no analysis of his humor has denied its most fundamental and generous effect: the ability to create laughter.

Stephen Butler Leacock was born...