Gogol is my main man. He was doing tragicomedy way before it was hep.

Checkov would come next for me. My favorite story: He sends The Cherry Orchard to the Moscow Theater. They read it, and tell him, "What an incredible tragedy! We were all weeping by the end."

Checkov writes back, "But it's a comedy!"

I saw the National Theater do Cherry Orchard the way C. intended, as a comedy, and it was hilarious. Even had Gandalf playing the lead (Ian something, I hear he acted in some other stuff).