Joseph Reed (March 1723 – 15 August 1787) was an English playwright and poet known for his 1761 farce The Register Office and the 1769 comic opera adaptation of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones.
His leisure he devoted to a study of English literature, and he developed literary aspirations; but he always regarded himself as an amateur, and, when he began to publish, often described himself on his title-pages as "a halter-maker."
Ten years later he removed his business and family to Sun-tavern Fields, Stepney, London, and on 6 July 1758 Theophilus Cibber produced, at Covent Garden, a burlesque tragedy by Reed, in five acts, called Madrigal and Trulletta.
Dido was acted at Drury Lane for Holland's benefit on 28 March 1767, with a prologue, written by Garrick and spoken by King, in which humorous reference was made to Reed's trade in halters.
In 1787 Reed, in The Retort Courteous, or a Candid Appeal, attacked Thomas Linley, the manager of Drury Lane, for declining to revive Dido.
In 1772 Reed, in the Morning Chronicle, defended Garrick — despite a pending quarrel between them — from apparent libel by Dr. William Kenrick, who had just issued the scandalous Love in the Suds.
Reed's last acted play was The Impostors, or a Cure for Credulity, which he adapted from Gil Blas, and brought out at Covent Garden, for Woodward's benefit, on 17 March 1776.