Not so funny as mysterious.

The wish to appear completely inexperienced, even ignorant about theatre strikes me as somewhat too stressed in the "Preface". Especially when so much is taken wherever the good author has found it, just as Moliere did. :) Admirable Mrs. Malaprop couldn't be a complete unknown to people who had read "Humphry Clinker" through only a year or two before, with Tabitha Bramble and incomparable Win Jenkins. Well, many things, but spoilers lurk around.