Yorick

Yorick was a character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

He was the King's jester and once poured a flagon of Rhenish on the head of a gravedigger, who described him as a "whoreson mad fellow". Hamlet, who knew him well, said that he was a "fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy". A clown claimed he had "dreadful teeth".

By the events of the play, Yorick had been dead for twenty-three years. According to the transcript of the first performance, his skull was exhumed by the gravedigger with Hamlet and Horatio present when a clown unexpectedly arrived. After being questioned, he said his business was with the skull which he claimed was actually the missing second skull of the Fendahl which had been lost for centuries. After a brief scuffle with the gravedigger, whom the clown exposed as Lord Grathnave of the Erstwhile Collision, the clown tripped up Grathnave with his scarf causing him to fall into the grave of his own creation. Meanwhile, the clown left unopposed with the skull. (PROSE: Hamlet)

Behind the scenes
A real human skull was used to portray Yorick in both the stage and televised adaptations of Hamlet starring David Tennant as the lead.