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Robert Mayhew - "Kill by Laughter": Humor in The Fountainhead - OCON 2018

2,775 views · Published 17 August 2018 · 1:26:27 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: Ayn Rand Institute · 2018 · Nonprofits & Activism

“Kill by Laughter”: Humor in The Fountainhead and Its 21st-Century Relevance

The Fountainhead is the novel in which Ayn Rand’s conception of humor (good and bad) comes across most clearly. The novel begins: “Howard Roark laughed.” Yet the villain Ellsworth Toohey, presenting his recipe for achieving power, recommends that we “kill by laughter.” This lecture discusses humor in The Fountainhead and the prevalence of the bad kind of humor in today’s culture.

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