Richard Tarlton, the most popular comedian of…
May 1583 CE
Richard Tarlton, the most popular comedian of his age, had first been mentioned in 1570 for his didactic ballad on the “late great floods.” The Stationers' Register of 1576 had credited him with “a newe booke in Englishe verse intituled Tarltons Toyes.”
He was a well-known actor by 1579 and the Queen’s favorite jester, the only one able to “undumpish” her when she was out of humor and the only one allowed to tell her of her faults.
He becomes a leading comic actor of Queen Elizabeth's Men and groom of Her Majesty's chamber in 1583.
Tarlton’s performance in the role of the stage yokel, a character he has invented, is thought to have influenced Shakespeare's creation of the character Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Tarlton himself is said to have been the model for the court jester Yorick described in Hamlet.
Contemporary sketches show Tarlton in country homespun, holding a pipe and tabor and standing on one toe.
His plays, which are praised by contemporaries, are all lost.
After the formation of the Queen's Men, the acting company known as Leicester's Men, who have from 1570 enjoyed their greatest success under the leadership of the premier actor William Kempe, loses royal favor.