Oscar Wilde Didn't Get Famous For The Reason You Think [Shorts]

[robertbrunner]

So they paid him to go around the U.S. and give witty lectures? Did Oscar Wilde go on the first international stand-up tour?

[riversong]

He also wrote wonderful children's stories for his own kids...

[richardfarrer]

According to legend, some miners decided to have a bit of fun by getting him drunk down a mine. In the end, he was the one to have to help them out, commenting that they were foolish to think they could drink more whisk(e) than an Irishman.

[agluebottle]

While on this tour, Oscar Wilde visited a mining town out west and gave one of those lectures on beauty and aesthetics. Most of the miners fell asleep and didn't think much of him, so they decided to have some fun with him. They invited him to eat and drink with them the next night IN THE MINE. They were going to get him blackout drunk, take all the lanterns, and leave him in the dark to find his way out. Instead, he drank every last one of them under the table then had to carry every miner back out. No bullshit, actually happened.

[henryzellman]

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
-O. Wilde

[Javie]

“Imma get you famous and then ill make fun out of you”
This people were insane!

[Peterminator-njod]

I can’t be the only one who got to know about him due to his book “The canterville ghost” . My school made us write a 10 page review on it in 12th grade.

[WDOphotography]

I saw someone yesterday who looked and was dressed EXACTLY like him. Same face, same hair style, and was wearing a big fur coat. I was stunned. I nearly turned my car around to go by him again but saw him walk into a private building in my mirror.

[grahamwinston]

He was not so much famous as viciously mocked on his tour of America. The press caricatured him as various animals and even a black minstrel. They hated him. People went to see him though.

[georgie_moon]

I love Oscar Wilde! About to write a comparative essay with The Picture of Dorian Gray as one of the novels funnily enough. Didn’t know this! Thank you :]

[mog]

Patience is great! "When I Go Out Of Door" was my gateway into Gilbert and Sullivan

[lucasroche]

I'm always happy when I see these J Draper video shorts, her love and enthusiasm for her subject matter is always infectious fun to Watch.

[bethysbarn]

I recently fell in love with him again after reading the ballad of reading gaol and de profundis, I cried a few times reading that and it’s now one of my all time favourite books, I highly recommend it to anyone who is even mildly interested in him, there’s a great reading of it on here somewhere at reading gaol and the guy reading it is amazing, I had to listen to it on 1.5x as it was a bit too slow for me but it’s really worth watching/listening to! He does a 4 hour (I think? 🤔) reading of it in its entirety ❤

[DoktorPlague]

I love Patience, there’s the full opera on YouTube from the 1995 Australian opera it’s fantastic

[domesticcat]

You could say he became *Wilde*ly popular

[timstoddard]

Did Oscar Wilde know he was hired to tour the US so they knew who they were making fun of?

[chair]

Everytime I hear something about this man I like him more

[namastereciprocity]

Awesome. That's a gig of a lifetime.

[charlieorr]

i’ve seen patience! it’s a very fun opera!

[angrytedtalks]

Gilbert & Sullivan knew exactly what they were doing. They knew the audience in the USA was not familiar with satire or sarcasm.