Line #1 Creator/MarkTwain


1	[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mark_twain.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:275:Just look at that glorious mustache.]]
3
4	-> ''"The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner."''
5
6	Boston, Massachusetts, November 1869. A short, thin man wearing a cheap suit, an [[FieryRedhead unkempt mop of red hair]], a long red mustache, and brandishing a [[CigarChomper smelly cigar]], ambles up the staircase at 124 Tremont Street to the second story headquarters of Ticknor & Fields, a publishing firm. Settling into the office of William Dean Howells, a junior partner of the firm, he lets fly a ravishing quip, referencing a favorable review of his latest work, ''Literature/TheInnocentsAbroad'', in a magazine published by the firm. [[ChocolateBaby "When I read that review of yours, I felt like the woman who was so glad her baby had come white."]]
7
8	And thus Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), now one of the most quotable men in history, erupted onto the literary scene. He was a [[DownOnTheFarm backwoods outcast]] of low social standing who became a seminal American author, and he is considered to be the father of American literature. He took his most prominent PenName from 19th century riverboat jargon. The boatmen would call out "marks" indicating the depth of the water. "Mark Twain" indicates two fathoms, which is just deep enough for maneuvering. The name is deliberately ambiguous, for mark twain is the point at which dangerous waters become safe -- and safe waters become dangerous. (Clemens himself loved being a steamboat pilot, and rejoiced when he received his riverboat license in 1859. He called the river a book where "there was never a page that was void of interest, never one that you could leave unread without loss, never one that you would want to skip, thinking you could find higher enjoyment in some other thing.")
9
10	The son of Missouri slave owners (though an abolitionist himself), he dropped out of school at age twelve and spent his formative years working as a printer's apprentice, before becoming a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi and later a newspaper reporter in the Nevada Territory. His early fame was as a humorist and satirical newspaper writer, before he broke into the American literary landscape as an author and essayist. His "speaking engagements" were essentially [[UrExample what would be called]] "standup comedy" these days; one young man during one of his performances said that if Twain got any funnier, he would DieLaughing. He was so skilled at [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Comedy]] and at working a crowd, that at the start of one performance [[OverlyLongGag he said absolutely nothing for a few minutes, just looking knowingly at the audience]], and the crowd was eventually roaring in laughter.
11
12	His early years as a writer was out West, especially in Carson City and San Francisco. It was during his period in San Francisco where he met some of the more colorful personalities that would find their way into his stories, especially UsefulNotes/EmperorNorton (who showed up as the King in ''Huckleberry Finn''.)[[note]]Twain later regretted upon hearing Norton's death in 1880 that he never got a chance to work on a biography for the Emperor of the United States.[[/note]]
13
14	He was also obsessed with the separation between the "dream self" and the "waking self", and kept a regular dream journal twenty years before Freud. He was also [[TheAtoner horribly guilt-ridden]] over the deaths of family members he blamed himself for, such as his younger brothers Benjamin and Henry and his son Langdon. In fact, ''all'' of the tragedies that occurred in his life [[ItsAllMyFault he blamed himself for]], no matter how circumstantial or accidental. He eventually became a NayTheist; when a woman told him "God must love you", he told a friend after she left, "I guess she hadn't heard of our strained relationship."
15
16	Twain was also a walking contradiction, and prided himself on it. He was from a slave state and (briefly) joined the Confederate Army, but was an abolitionist. He was anti-imperialism and crusaded for the poor, but himself was into {{Get Rich Quick Scheme}}s, obsessed with being rich, and befriended the very capitalists he derided, such as Andrew Carnegie. (When told by a friend, "Old Carnegie's money is all tainted!", he replied, "Yes, it is. 'Taint yours and 'taint mine.") He was also best-buddies with UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla, helped UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant to write and market his autobiography (which was a huge best-seller), and befriended a young half-American Boer War veteran named [[UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill]] during a lecture tour.
17
18	Twain was one of the pioneers of the ScienceFiction genre, a detail easily missed with his major literary accolades. ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'' is his best known science fiction work, but he also did short stories, one of which anticipated ''Website/YouTube'' of all things.[[note]]He described a device which would let anyone see a variety of videos of events from around the world and comment on them... '''''in 1895!'''''[[/note]]
19
20	His early works were humorous (and Clemens in his Twain persona is one of the most famous {{Deadpan Snarker}}s there is), but he became a bit of a StrawNihilist later in life when his favorite daughter, Susan, caught meningitis, went mad and died at 24,[[note]]In her delirium she composed an amazing 47-page prose poem, partly addressed to the long-dead opera singer Maria Malibran, whom vocal student Susan considered kind of a role model.[[/note]] his wife died of heart failure, and his middle daughter Jean drowned in the bathtub on Christmas morning after suffering an epileptic seizure. And let's not forget losing most of his fortune to business investments that went bad, forcing him to declare bankruptcy. Despite it all, Twain always seemed to come back from tragedy, becoming more and more of a hero to people who viewed him as a survivor. In addition, Twain dealt with the deaths of his daughters by what he called [[ReplacementGoldfish "collecting" girls age 10 through 16, whom he called "Angel Fish", to be their unofficial grandfather]], taking them to concerts, the theatre, and to his own house for card games, billiards, and reading. (His surviving daughter Clara did not approve, and was more than a little jealous of the attention he gave them. The letters between Clemens and the girls can be found in the book ''[[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0820334987/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0820334987&linkCode=as2&tag=vicastingcom-20 Mark Twain’s Aquarium: The Samuel Clemens-Angelfish Correspondence]]''.) [[InnocentInnuendo Despite what you may be thinking]], there is no evidence these relationships were in any way inappropriate, and it was Clemens's way of dealing with the grief of tragically losing his own daughters.
21
22	He died on April 21, 1910, the day after Halley's Comet reached its perihelion, or closest pass to the sun. He was born two weeks after its prior perihelion in 1835. As Clemens himself said the year before he died, "The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.'" He had no recorded last words, as he was too exhausted to speak. Instead, he wrote on a piece of paper, "Give me my glasses." He was given them, but never wore them, instead putting them down and slipping into unconsciousness.
23
24	----
25	!Works by Clemens with their own pages:
26
27	[[index]]
28	* ''Literature/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn''
29	* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer''
30	* ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt''
31	* ''Literature/FenimoreCoopersLiteraryOffenses''
32	* ''Literature/KingLeopoldsSoliloquy''
33	* ''Literature/TheInnocentsAbroad''
34	* ''Literature/TheMysteriousStranger''
35	* ''Literature/ThePrinceAndThePauper''
36	[[/index]]
37	----
38	!Additional Works with Related Tropes:
39	%%!! ''The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County'' (1867)
40	%%* RamblingOldManMonologue: The whole story is this.
41	%%* ShaggyDogStory
42	%%Both of these are Zero-Context Examples
43
44	!! ''Roughing It'' (1872)
45	* CallingMeALogarithm: The TropeNamer is Ollendorf. He feels insulted by the word, despite admitting that he has no clue what logarithm means.
46	* CovertPervert: He was shocked at the topless natives in UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}}. So much he covered his eyes with his hands -- but left room to peek through them, naturally.[[note]]This is a recycled joke he'd made about Can Can Dancers. Keep in mind, those girls did ''not'' wear underwear when they were doing those high kicks.[[/note]]
47	* EpicFail: The original article from the ''Sacramento Bee'' on "surf-bathing" (which was reprinted in ''Roughing It'') had two illustrations: Surf-Bathing -- Success, and one ([[https://cdn1.theinertia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/fall.jpg presumably of Mark Twain experiencing his wipeout]]) Surf-Bathing -- Failure.
48	* HorsingAround: At one point Clemens makes the unfortunate acquisition of a "Genuine Mexican Plug," which turns out to be TheAllegedSteed in short order.
49	* SceneryGorn: His description of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_lake Mono Lake]] in California, which he called a "lifeless, treeless, hideous desert... the loneliest place on earth".
50	* SceneryPorn: Clemens' vivid descriptions of the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Utah and Nevada deserts are some of the finest ever written.
51
52	!! ''The Gilded Age'' (1873)
53	* CreatorsOddball: This was Twain's first novel as well as his only collaboration with another author. It therefore lacks a lot of Twain's trademark razor wit.
54	* TheGildedAge: This is the TropeNamer. The age lasted roughly 1865-1900. Clemens and his co-writer, Charles Dudley Warner, condemned the then present-day age of degeneration, vice, and materialism as a false, corrupted Golden Age.
55
56	!! ''[[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1874/11/a-true-story-repeated-word-for-word-as-i-heard-it/306511/ A True Story, Repeated Word for Word As I Heard It]]'' (1874)
57	* BasedOnATrueStory: Unlike most stories of this trope, most everything in it ''was'' indeed accurate, told to him by his sister-in-law's cook Mary Ann Cord at Quarry Farm in Elmira, NY, who is named "Aunt Rachel" in the story. However, Cord stated that Henry ''had'' recognized her, and returned the next day to show off the scar on his forehead. Also, she didn't hug him at the sight of him -- she ''fainted'', and was caught by Henry before she hit the floor.
58	* BeneathTheMask: Mister C-- asks why Rachel always seems so happy. The last lines of the story: "Oh, no, Misto C--, I hain't had no trouble. An' no joy!"
59	* CerebusSyndrome: Mark Twain was so moved by Cord's story, he transcribed it and sent it to the Atlantic Monthly. He warned them, "It has no humor in it. You can pay as lightly as you choose for that, if you want it, for it is rather out of my line." Twain up til then had been known for his DeadpanSnarker stories and {{Troll}}ing.
60	* DistinguishingMark: "Boy!" I says, "if you an't my Henry, what is you doin' wid dis welt on yo' wris' an' dat sk-yar on yo' forehead?"
61	* InteractiveNarrator: Both subverted and played straight. Mark Twain seems to be the FramingDevice for the story, but he is not. Mary Ann becomes the central figure, reversing the usual roles with Twain. Played straight in that she starts acting out the story, showing him exactly what happened by grabbing Twain and acting it out.
62	-->'''[[https://marktwainstudies.com/black-lives-matter-at-quarry-farm/?fbclid=IwAR3QnFPBy-Nta7MlYtM1gnQeZvlAwIcXj3YAWrB7gx1L8kfvfeLMdrjXYYc Larry Howe]]:''' Aunt Rachel has them switch roles, casting Twain as Henry whose scars she detects by pushing back Twain’s sleeve and lifting his hair off his forehead. Her personal proximity to him and her unsolicited touch transgress the boundaries that he noted her initial place on the porch "below" him. The contact of her black hand with his white arm and forehead is a bold familiarity that ignores their racially defined positions in order to physically convey the story’s emotional experience in a manner that her words alone cannot. Rather than simply listening passively to her story, Twain unexpectedly shares in her memory; for a moment, Aunt Rachel has pulled back the veil on the facts of black family life.
63	* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Henry first realizes the cook in the liberated plantation is his mother, because she exclaims to the misbehaving regiment, "I wa' n't bawn in de mash to be fool' by trash! I's one o' de ole Blue Hen's Chickens, I is!" It was something his grandmother would say and his mother adopted herself.
64	* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: A meta example, in that this is the only time Twain is ever called by his real name in his stories ("Misto C--" is a reference to his last name Clemens.)
65
66	!! "Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism" (1879) -- [[http://www.textfiles.com/etext/AUTHORS/TWAIN/onanism.txt Speech]] given to the Stomach Club in Paris.
67	* SelfAbuse: DiscussedTrope. Twain's speech satirized anti-masturbation activists, who were influential in those days.
68	-->"If you must gamble your lives sexually, don't play a lone hand too much."
69
70	!! ''Life on the Mississippi'' (1883)
71	* EarlyBirdCameo: An early chapter features a raftsman yarn told from the point of view of Huckleberry Finn.
72
73	!! ''Puddin' Head Wilson'' (1894)
74
75	* SwitchedAtBirth: A slave switches her child for a white one so that he'll have a better life.
76
77	!! ''Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc'' (1896)
78	* AuthorAppeal: Twain had a personal fascination (some say "infatuation") with UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc.
79	* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Told from the perspective of Joan's page, Louis de Contes.
80	* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: "If you confront fifty French soldiers with five English ones, the French will run". The idealistic Joan, however, refuses to accept it.
81	* CreatorsOddball: Notable for its lack of humor compared to Twain's other works; when it was first published as a serialized novel in ''Harper's Magazine'', it was published anonymously at Twain's request so that people wouldn't expect it to be funny.
82	* DirectLineToTheAuthor: The novel alleges to be an actual fifteenth-century account of Joan's life, written by her close friend Louis de Contes. It opens with an introduction by "the translator".
83	* MagnumOpusDissonance: Most people would cite ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' as Twain's magnum opus. Twain himself thought this was his best work.
84	--->"I like ''Joan of Arc'' best of all my books; and it is the best; I know it perfectly well. And besides, it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others; twelve years of preparation, and two years of writing. The others needed no preparation and got none."
85
86	!! ''How to Tell a Story'' (1897)
87	* {{Beat}}: Essential to a horror story or a punchline.
88	* CannotTellAJoke
89
90	!! ''Is He Living or Is He Dead?'' (1898)
91	* DeadArtistsAreBetter
92
93	!! ''The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg'' (1900)
94	* BatmanGambit: As the stranger expected, give the people a chance to gain an incredible fortune and they would be willing to lie to achieve it. So much for being "Incorruptible".
95	* ThePlan: A stranger was snubbed in a town that claims to be "incorruptible." He desires vengeance and drops off a sack of gold worth about $40,000 and leaves it in front of one family's house, saying that it was for the man who gave him some life-changing advice and $20. If that person wishes to claim the reward, he need only give the local Reverend a copy of that advice, with the real advice written in a note inside sack. As expected by the stranger, ''every'' prominent person claimed he was the GoodSamaritan. At the reading, every one who submitted their claim is humiliated, and the sack only had lead in it.
96	* SouthernGothicSatan: It tells the story of a town famous for being "incorruptible," but once they offend a passing stranger, he gets revenge by leaving a huge reward for anyone who can claim it, which leads the entire town to begin lying and cheating in order to win the prize.
97	* TakeThat: Mark Twain owned a house in Fredonia, New York, where he was accosted by members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union for his public drinking and smoking. This was his response on their belief in their moral superiority.
98
99	!! ''To the Person Sitting in Darkness'' (1901)
100	* AsTheGoodBookSays: The title is an ironic reference to Matthew 4:16, "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light."
101	* TakeThat: Like most of Clemens' later works, it's a denunciation of imperialism.
102
103	!! ''3000 Years Among the Microbes'' (Written c. 1905, published 1980)
104	* AnachronicOrder: Written as a recollection, the book jumps from a subject to another rather than following a linear plot. Also, there are notes added "7000 years" after the first draft.
105	* BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: A version of it -- what humans see as illness and filth, microbes see as prosperous countries.
106	* CutShort: The novel is unfinished.
107	* FantasticVoyagePlot: The protagonist takes ''permanent residence'' inside a human body.
108	* ForcedTransformation: The novel starts with the protagonist being turned into a cholera germ.
109	* MegaMicrobes: Of the "protagonist is shrunk" variety. Oddly enough, microbes don't ''look'' like microbes to each other -- they look the same as humans look to each other, for [[RiddleForTheAges reasons never explained]].
110	* MouseWorld: An extreme case -- a ''microbe'' world, actually an old tramp's body that appears as large as a world to its "inhabitants".
111	* RecursiveReality: Germs inside a vagrant's body conduct lives not unlike those of humans. But germs have their own parasites -- microscopic even from the germs' point of view -- which also have very human behavior. The protagonist wonders if humans themselves might be parasites inside a cosmic-sized being, but there are no further explicit revelations.
112	* SelfServingMemory: The protagonist's memories of his human life are a bit fuzzy after 3000+ years, and his sense of his own importance seems to have inflated over time -- for instance, he claims to have invented logarithms.
113	* TimeAbyss: The protagonist himself from the point of view of other microbes, since he lives at least 10,000 years. No explanation is given for his longevity -- perhaps he's still aging on a human scale (see YearInsideHourOutside below).
114	* UnreliableNarrator: There are hints that the protagonist sees himself as better than he really is -- see SelfServingMemory.
115	* YearInsideHourOutside: A microbe "year" is only 10 minutes long. The 3000 years in the title correspond to only 3 weeks for a human.
116
117	!! ''The War Prayer'' (Written c. 1904-05, published 1923)
118	* IgnoredEpiphany: The angel explains to people what their prayer for victory entails: the mass death of the enemy, plus massive untold suffering. However, they're unmoved, simply declaring him a lunatic.
119	* PatrioticFervor: The people are so caught up in patriotic feelings the implication of the prayers for victory (i.e. wishing death and suffering on the enemy) simply doesn't occur to them.
120	* PrayerOfMalice: The angel points out that this is the subtext of people's victory prayer. By wishing for victory, they are implicitly wishing death and misery upon the other side.
121	* ShamingTheMob: Subverted. [[spoiler:The angel tries to do this by explaining that the people's prayer for victors entails all manner of horrors brought down on the enemy, but it doesn't work. They just say he was a lunatic, going on like he never spoke at all.]]
122	* TakeThat: The story is a scathing attack on war, patriotic fervor, and religion being used to support them.
123	* WarIsGlorious: The townspeople think it is. The angel shows them [[WarIsHell otherwise]], but they [[spoiler: [[IgnoredEpiphany denounce him as a lunatic]].]]
124
125	!! ''Christian Science'' (Written c. 1903-1904, published 1907)
126	* ChurchOfHappyology: Though it predated the TropeNamer by a little over a century, Twain's denunciations of Christian Science's beliefs and practices [[OlderThanTheyThink wouldn't seem that out of place]].
127	* CorruptChurch: He viewed it this way, detailing the money-making of the Christian Scientists' leadership, objecting to this and the veneration of its founder Mary Baker Eddy, predicting it would rapidly spread across the world, trampling liberty.
128	* TakeThat: A book-long one to Christian Science in general and its founder Mary Baker Eddy in particular. Clemens did have some belief that mental healing worked but felt Christian Science went too far in its claims and viewed the money-making of its leadership as corrupt hypocrisy. After all, his character in the book reasons, if nothing exists but mind, an imaginary check should do just fine. Money wouldn't be an issue.
129
130	!! ''Letters from the Earth'' (Written 1909, published 1939)
131	* HumansAreBastards: [[CreatorBreakdown Written after the deaths of Clemens' wife and favorite daughter]], this is where he crosses the line from a cynic to a [[NietzscheWannabe misanthrope]].
132	----
133	!Appearances in Fiction:
134	Twain appears as a HistoricalDomainCharacter in numerous stories, TV shows, movies and comics.
135
136	[[AC:Anime]]
137
138	* ''Anime/TheDaggerOfKamui'', inexplicably speaking Japanese. (Then again, so did everybody else, including the Native Americans in the novel.)
139
140	[[AC: Comics]]
141	* Mark Twain appears as a character in the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' comic ''Hearts of Steel'', helping out the Autobots and even defeating Ravage by himself.
142	* Creator/MattFraction and Steven Sanders' comic, ''ComicBook/TheFiveFistsOfScience'', features Twain and his real life friend UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla fighting an [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade evil]] UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison.
143	* Creator/NeilGaiman's comic, ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', in the issue "Three Septembers and a January" [[spoiler: Creator/EmperorNorton makes Twain the Official Teller of Stories for the United States.]]
144	* In ''ComicBook/TalesDesignedToThrizzle'' he and UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein are [[BuddyCopShow Buddy Cops]].
145	* He appears in the ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' series.
146	* Twain makes a very short appearance in an early volume of ''ComicBook/TheUnwritten'', a story where an AncientConspiracy has spent centuries trying to take control of the very essence of imagination itself, with the end goal of shaping and using it for their own ends. [[spoiler:Except for their immortal DragonInChief Pullman, who is trying to kill off imagination itself [[DragonWithAnAgenda for reasons of his own.]]]] To aid in this, they recruit influential storytellers as {{Unwitting Pawn}}s. Twain tells Creator/RudyardKipling that he was aware of the conspiracy before they approached him and [[ObfuscatingStupidity pretended to be a country bumpkin]] until they gave up recruiting him and just left him alone. Kipling wasn't nearly so fortunate.
147
148	[[AC: {{Film}}]]
149	* During the archery contest in ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'', Robin disguises himself as an older man with a large false mustache. Prince John even [[AnachronismStew compares him to Mark Twain.]]
150
151	[[AC: {{Literature}}]]
152	* Appears as a friend of KidDetective PK Pinkerton in ''Literature/TheWesternMysteries''.
153	* Appears in Harry Turtledove's AlternateHistory novel ''Literature/HowFewRemain'' as Samuel Clemens, a newspaper editor in California.
154	* Mark Twain was the central character in a series of historical mysteries by Peter Heck called, unsurprisingly, ''The Mark Twain Mysteries''.
155	* Twain comes back to Earth for a visit in 1986 via Halley's Comet, remarking on how things have changed or haven't changed, with his usual acerbic wit, in David Carkeet's ''I Been There Before.''
156	* Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer's ''Literature/{{Riverworld}}'' novels see all of humanity resurrected, including Clemens, who is a major character. Farmer freely mixes biographical information with speculation and invention in an attempt to convey his sense of the man. To some readers the trials the character is subjected seem hostile. To others it seems more like a novel kind of hero worship, taken as a whole.
157
158	[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
159	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' -- He met with Guinan and assisted the crew in the two-parter "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E26S6E1TimesArrow Time's Arrow]]". He was more like a minor villain, because he thought the crew came back in time for their own amusement. They didn't. He was more than willing to assist them, though, when they proved their reasons weren't sinister.
160	-->'''Troi:''' Poverty was eliminated on Earth, a long time ago. And a lot of other things disappeared with it -- hopelessness, despair, cruelty...
161	-->'''Twain:''' Young lady, I come from a time when men achieve power and wealth by standing on the backs of the poor, where prejudice and intolerance are commonplace and power is an end unto itself. And you're telling me that isn't how it is anymore?
162	-->'''Troi:''' That's right.
163	-->'''Twain:''' Hmmm... well... maybe... it's worth giving up cigars for, after all.
164	** Picard is upset he can only speak to Twain for a few moments, wanting to get to know him better. Twain smiles and replies that Picard only needs to read his books. All of Twain is in his work.
165	** Twain asks the crew if they ever encountered Halley's Comet; he never indicates why he is curious, but as noted earlier, he probably wanted to know how the other "freak" was doing.
166	* ''{{Series/Bonanza}}'' has Sam Clemens working as a reporter in Virginia City in an early episode, with later guest appearances showing him as famed author Twain.
167	* One of the Roger Moore episodes of the ''Series/{{Maverick}}'' TV series is set in Virginia City, Nevada, during the mining rush -- the same time Twain was working as a journalist there, as chronicled in ''Roughing It''. A supporting character in the episode is a journalist named Clem Samuels.
168	* The ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' episode "Marked Twain" stars Creator/WilliamShatner as Clemens, whose anti-imperialist views result in a clash with members of Toronto's Empire Club, and who inadvertently survives three attempts on his life. He also derives some amusement from Constable Crabtree's ability to trick Constable Higgins into interviewing a suspect ten miles out of town.
169	-->'''Twain:''' Too bad you don't need a fence painted.
170
171	[[AC:Theater]]
172	* In Creator/TeamStarKid's ''Theatre/HolyMusicalBatman'' Lauren Lopez as Commissioner Gordon looks more like Mark Twain, and at one point he talks about writing ''Literature/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn''.
173
174	[[AC: WebComics]]
175	* He is [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed the inspiration for]] Colonel Sassacre in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', who has a dog named Halley.
176	* Webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Girly}}'' has a television show that the characters would watch now and again, in which Victorian authors would kill each other with '''GUNS!!!''' Twain appeared in one episode as the villain (the author remarked, "I like to think of Twain as the kind of guy who wouldn't mind me making him evil for NO REASON!").
177
178	[[AC: WesternAnimation]]
179	* Like in the comics, he appears in ''WesternAnimation/{{Lucky Luke\|1983}}''.
180	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', Clemens is a founding member of the original [[WeirdTradeUnion Guild of Calamitous Intent]] (along with Col. Lloyd Venture, [[WorldsStrongestMan Eugen Sandow]], Creator/OscarWilde, Creator/AleisterCrowley and even Literature/{{Fantomas}}) sometime near the turn of the century (before Wilde's death). Oddly, the Guild's enemies included Samuel's real-life friend UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla, who may or may not have split from the group for their handling of the [[ArtifactOfDoom the ORB]].
181	* He appeared in a ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' episode, begging people not to abuse ''The Prince and the Pauper'' for comedy.
182	* Mr. Burns owns the only existing nude photograph of Mark Twain, according to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Rosebud".
183	* The animated film ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfMarkTwain'', a loving {{Deconstruction}} of his NietzscheWannabe works, has Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Becky Thacher stowing away in Twain's CoolAirship.
184	* Appeared as a character in one of WesternAnimation/TheLoneRanger1980 segments of ''The Tarzan-Lone Ranger Adventure Hour'' animated series, where he helps the Lone Ranger solve a mystery and gets the idea for the slip that will expose Tom Sawyer's disguise as a girl in the novel.
185	* He appears in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/XavierRiddleAndTheSecretMuseum'', where he teaches Xavier about how laughter can make hard things easier.
186
187	[[AC: Other]]
188	* Twain is co-host of ''The American Adventure'' attraction at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Epcot]], along with Creator/BenjaminFranklin.
189	* Creator/HalHolbrook made a career out of his one-man show where he played Twain. He retired from the role in 2017 at age 92. The real Twain only lived to 74.
190	* Creator/ValKilmer is an admirer of Twain and played him in several one-man shows.

Context Creator / MarkTwain