In Paris during his later years, Beckett lived in an old-people’s home, battled emphysema, and smoked cigars, yet colleagues note he remained engaged with life and mortality alike.

Today marks Samuel Beckett’s 120th birthday, and the piece reframes him beyond the solemn existentialist stereotype by highlighting his sharp, humorous outlook.

Beckett’s personal life was rich and complex, including a long marriage to Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil and a deep, affectionate relationship with translator Barbara Bray, with intimate letters showing tenderness and wit.

His early ambitions were varied—from a possible collaboration with Sergei Eisenstein to a dream of piloting airplanes—and even as he faced health challenges like panic attacks and herpes, humor remained a central thread.

His wit is described as Wildean, with memorable repartee and sharp put-downs, including anecdotes about publishers and playful self-moking remarks about bodily ailments.

Beckett’s writing evolved from early doses of barroom humor to later, sparer, bleaker lyricism in works like Molloy, Malone Dies, and Ill Seen Ill Said, reflecting decades of life experiences.

Waiting for Godot rose to prominence after a rocky debut, with the play dubbed the ‘laugh hit of two continents,’ and there’s a lighter tale of the pilot on an Air France flight introducing himself as ‘le capitaine Godot.’

Beckett created a cast of tramps and moribunds who find humor in human failings, underscored by lines such as ‘Nothing is funnier than unhappiness’ and ‘You must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.’

Ultimately, Beckett is celebrated as one of the great 20th‑century writers, whose vivid imagination and gleeful detail continue to resonate 120 years after his birth.