As the long-lost “second book of Aristotle’s Poetics,” comedy has always been shrouded in myth. “Everyone knows when they’re supposed to laugh at a comedy. But very few can explain why,” writes Robert Pfaller in his 2025 book The Laughter of the Undeceived (Das Lachen der Ungetäuschten). In musical theatre, the comic genres—opéra comique and operetta—are often regarded as the trickiest of all disciplines, because here, too, humor is anything but timeless. Moderated by dramaturg Magdalena Hoisbauer, we join one of Austria’s most prominent philosophers to explore the parameters of the comic. Musical mischief included!