Philosopher makes an effort about reading comics (4,8)
I believe the answer is:
marx brothers
'comics' is the definition.
(the Marx Brothers were a comedy group)
'philosopher makes an effort about reading' is the wordplay.
'philosopher' becomes 'Marx' (Karl Marx).
'makes an effort' becomes 'bothers' (bother can mean to go to effort).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'reading' becomes 'r' (one of the traditional three R's of education).
'bothers' placed around 'r' is 'brothers'.
'marx'+'brothers'='MARX BROTHERS'
(Other definitions for marx brothers that I've seen before include "Film family" , "Film comedians" , "Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo, but not Karl" .)