Kibbey brings timeless laughter to Clark County Public Library

By John Chaney | The Winchester Sun

An evening of clas­sic com­e­dy and shared laugh­ter drew a steady crowd to the Clark County Public Library on Tuesday as Ron Kibbey’s Comedy Classic returned with anoth­er beloved film from Hollywood’s gold­en age. 

Tuesday’s event fea­tured the 1950 com­e­dy Ma and Pa Kettle Go To Town, intro­duced by Kibbey, whose deep appre­ci­a­tion for clas­sic cin­e­ma has shaped the series into a well-regard­ed and endur­ing com­mu­ni­ty offer­ing. The event blend­ed nos­tal­gia with film his­to­ry, giv­ing audi­ences a chance to expe­ri­ence com­e­dy as it was orig­i­nal­ly enjoyed. 

Kibbey traces the begin­nings of Comedy Classic to near­ly a decade ago, when he was first invit­ed to share selec­tions from his per­son­al film col­lec­tion dur­ing a sum­mer read­ing pro­gram. The ini­tial screen­ing drew an unex­pect­ed­ly strong turnout, sig­nal­ing a last­ing local inter­est in vin­tage films. 

“That first night showed me there was an audi­ence for this kind of movie,” Kibbey said. “People were will­ing to come out just to sit togeth­er and enjoy a clas­sic comedy.” 

After a brief hia­tus, the con­cept was revived sev­er­al years lat­er and expand­ed into a recur­ring series. Though the pro­gram was tem­porar­i­ly inter­rupt­ed by the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, it returned when the library resumed in-per­son pro­gram­ming and has con­tin­ued steadi­ly since late 2021. 

Since then, Ron Kibbey’s Comedy Classic has show­cased a wide range of films from the silent era through the 1950s, all select­ed from Kibbey’s per­son­al col­lec­tion. Over the years, audi­ences have enjoyed works fea­tur­ing Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, the Marx Brothers, Bob Hope, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. 

Kibbey believes the endur­ing appeal of these films lies in their focus on per­for­mance and sto­ry­telling rather than mod­ern spectacle. 

“There was a stronger empha­sis on act­ing and human inter­ac­tion,” he said. “Many of these movies were made dur­ing dif­fi­cult times, espe­cial­ly the Depression, and they were meant to pro­vide escape. That sense of joy and relief still res­onates today.” 

Preservation is also a cen­tral moti­va­tion behind the series. Kibbey sees the pro­gram as a way to ensure clas­sic come­dies are not lost as new­er gen­er­a­tions grow up with mod­ern film­mak­ing styles.