TCM will use April Fool’s Day as the kickoff to its tribute to the world of comedy, the network said Friday.
Throughout April, the network will air 224 comedy films 24 hours per day, three days per week -- Monday, Wednesday and Friday -- including more than 60 TCM premieres.
Starting April 1, Fridays will be devoted to great comedy teams, including Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen and Martin and Lewis.
Mondays will focus on comedians, including “silent clowns” Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, along with lesser-known silent-film stars Charley Chase and Fatty Arbuckle.
And the network said Wednesdays will highlight great comedy directors, such as Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, George Cukor, Howard Hawks and Billy Wilder, as well as different comedy genres, from screwball comedy and crime comedies to comedies that have gone from stage to screen.
