The Plays of William Shakespeare in perspective, we have only to remind ourselves what Johnson brought to it – an assemblage of almost every qualification we should ideally like to have brought to this kind of work with the single exception of patience... Operating in and through these qualities was his own extensive knowledge of human nature and life. No Shakespearean critic or editor has ever approached him in this respect. John Wain, another of Johnson's biographers, claimed, "There is no better statement of the reason why Shakespeare needs to be edited, and what aims an editor can reasonably set himself" than Johnson's "Proposal". The
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Reed Martin) reminding the audience not to record the show, the second (Austin Tichenor) giving a speech about how unappreciated William Shakespeare is and the third (Adam Long) giving a biography of Shakespeare mixed up with a biography of Adolf Hitler. They begin with a parody of "Romeo and Juliet". Next, they do a parody of "Titus Andronicus", portraying it as a cooking show. Following it is "Othello", which is done through a rap song. The rest of the first act demonstrates most of the other plays. All the comedies are combined into one convoluted reading (the justification being that