Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants”. Today it says “american comedian”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Alan King ( December 26 , 1927 – May 9 , 2004 ), born Irwin Alan Kniberg , was an American comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants.1King became well-known as a Jewish comedian and satirist.2He appeared in a number of movies and television shows.3 King wrote several books, produced films, and appeared in plays. In later years, he helped many philanthropic causes. He died of lung cancer .4
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17778881.
The opening as it stood in 2010 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Alan King (December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004) was an American actor and comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well-known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of movies and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and appeared in plays. In later years, he helped many philanthropic causes.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 363331358.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Alan King (born Irwin Alan Kinberg ; December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004) was an American actor and comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of movies and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and appeared in plays. In later years, he helped many philanthropic causes.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668852825.
The opening as it stood in 2020
American actor and comedian For other people named Alan King, see Alan King (disambiguation) . Alan King (born Irwin Alan Kniberg ; December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004) was an American actor and comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of movies and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and appeared in plays. In later years, he helped many philanthropic causes.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964608010.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
American actor and comedian (1927–2004) For other people named Alan King, see Alan King (disambiguation) . Alan King (born Irwin Alan Kniberg ; December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004) was an American actor and comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of films and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and appeared in plays. In his later years, he helped many philanthropic causes.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1169499336.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American comedian and actor (1927–2004) For other people named Alan King, see Alan King (disambiguation) .Alan King (born Irwin Alan Kniberg ; December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004) was an American comedian, actor and satirist known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of films and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and appeared in plays. In his later years, he helped many philanthropic causes.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1298111677. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants”. Today it says “american comedian”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
american comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants
Now
american comedian
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
