"Genuine Article" (lateral thinking puzzler)

[soxfan[$]]

Here's a theatrical lateral puzzler (from Paul Sloane's Super Lateral Thinking Puzzlers):

A new play by Shakespeare is discovered. How did the literary experts prove it was authentic?

[theeye]

Was the 'discovery' made during Shakespeare's lifetime?

[CurtisEdmonds]

Because it was written by Billy Bob Shakespeare, from Dothan, Alabama.

[soxfan[$]]

Was the 'discovery' made during Shakespeare's lifetime? Yes.

Because it was written by Billy Bob Shakespeare, from Dothan, Alabama. No.

[theeye]

Did they prove it was authentic by getting the Bard himself to swear up and down that he hadn't plagiarized and that it was, indeed, his own work?

[soxfan[$]]

Did they prove it was authentic by getting the Bard himself to swear up and down that he hadn't plagiarized and that it was, indeed, his own work? Not the Bard, no.

[CurtisEdmonds]

Was the play written by William Shakespeare, born 1564, died 1616?

http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivi..._biography.htm

[soxfan[$]]

Was the play written by William Shakespeare, born 1564, died 1616? Aha! Curtis nailed it ... the Shakespeare of the puzzle isn't the famed English playwright, but a contemporary writer who could easily say, when shown his script, "Yeah, I wrote that."

[theworm[$]]

More, please!
I love these games.

[CurtisEdmonds]

Billy Bob Shakespeare of Dothan, Alabama puts out some right good stuff. "Bubba Andronicus", for one, and "A Midsummer Night's Bass Fishing".

[eplovejoy]

Suppose there is someone who thought that the answer might involve a living person named Shakespeare. Then this person saw a guess along those lines that was declared wrong. Then this person discarded the original guess because it seemed wrong also. What kind of thinking is it when one is tripped up by specificity?

Not that I was, of course.