The Hat

A hat can be an ideal prop for a comedian.

Buster Keaton made use of his hat both as a prop and a marketing tool.

Especially popular of the hat routines was the hat mix-up.  I previously examined this routine in my second book, The Funny Parts, and several previous articles, which can be found here, here, here, here, here, here and here.  Yes, this sort of comic business turns up often.  

Here are a few new examples.

Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939)

Lover Come Back (1946) 

Road to Rio (1947)

The Green Man (1956)

Film sources:

Easy to Love (1934)
His Brother's Wife (1936)
Bulldog Drummond's Bride (1939)
Dry Rot (1956)
The Green Man (1956)
Uncle Buck (1989)

Next, we have the hat try-on routine, which I also discussed in previous articles.  

Boireau au harem (1912)

Me and My Gal (1932)

Pardon My Past (1945)

A Run for Your Money (1949)

The Jackpot (1950) 

Pollyanna (1960)

Jackie Gleason and Hedda Hopper

Sydney King and Freddie Davies 

Here is  a good example of the routine (although the picture quality is not the best).

The Million Dollar Derby (1926) 

I have compiled a few other examples in the following video.

Film sources:

Coiffures (1896)
Les apprentissages de Boireau (1907)
Boireau au harem (1912)
A Run for Your Money (1949)

"Plucky Daisy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Of course, humor can also come from simply breaking hats.

Colgate Comedy Hour (December 2, 1951)