ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that a thorough interpretation of Ruzzante's laughter becomes possible only by acknowledging Ruzzante and Cornaro as a non-identical pair, bound to each other through the regular/irregular dialectic. To return to the main argument dealing with Ruzzante's jokes and their vital part of his negative theatre practice. There are numerous jokes scattered throughout Ruzzante's body of work that allude to his patron's good life. Matching Dossi's images and Critchley's thinking on humour helps to tune one's ears to a range of timbres emanating from Ruzzante's distant laughter. Ruzzante's relationship to his patron seems quite homologous. As someone whose immense talent as an actor and performer allowed him to skirt the line of poverty, Ruzzante would have welcomed Cornaro's patronage. Ruzzante's laughter was neither exclusively manic nor melancholic. Matching Dossi's images and Critchley's thinking on humour helps to tune one's ears to a range of timbres emanating from Ruzzante's distant laughter.
