Oscar Wilde pursued a life -- an art -- of pure uselessness. This was not because he objected to pragmatic pursuits, if kept in their proper place: "We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it inten

Aestheticist fiction, Clever, Mythic, Perverse, Surreal, Witty

Edge Design has a flair for the playfully sophisticated pitch. They create images that are nuanced but cartoonish, displaying a concentrated yet accessible wit. Irony and contradiction animate their ideas, and their advertisements reveal the essences of products through simple, incisive metaphors. Th

Cartoonish, Charming, Clean, Clever, Layered

David Letterman influenced the comic sensibility of an entire generation (according to the presenter of his 1992 Peabody Award) by taking "one of TV's most conventional and least inventive forms -- the talk show -- and infusing it with freshness and imagination." Letterman always dreamed of hosti

Clever, Funny, Ironic, Wise assy, Witty

A combination of artspeak and gossip, Matthew Collings' seemingly casual ruminations can reveal surprising depth beneath their absorbing surface: in a way he is crafting a new kind of art criticism, chic, clever, and street-smart, but with an edgy self-consciousness that mimics the style of contempor

Charming, Clever, Funny, Improvised, Pop