Much of the humour in these burlesques was in the actual performance. Joe Grimaldi was adept at this type of grotesque humour and Sam Cowell must also have been somewhat later. Much of the humour was derived from exaggerated pathos as in Villikins. Barbara Allen, Lord Lovell, Giles Collins, William Taylor and many others were treated in the same way. Look at any of the many 'comic' songsters of the 18th/19th centuries and you'll wonder what they found funny in them. Tastes do change over time. More recently Harry Lauder was billed as a comic singer but do we find any of his songs funny today?