Types of Comedy PDF

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7 types of comedy. ...

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Tracy Ngo Introduction to the Theater Homework #5 05 December 2018 Morals of Comedy Comedy is a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its tone, mostly having a cheerful ending. The motif of this dramatic work is triumph over unpleasant circumstance by creating comic effects, resulting in a happy or successful conclusion. Seven forms of Comedy 1. Farce 

Thrives on exaggeration and ridiculous situations

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Plot complications

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Physical humor

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Stereotyped characters

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No intellectual pretensions

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Aims to entertain and provoke laughter

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Accelerated pace

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Pratfalls and horseplay and mock violence Examples: The Hangover, Noises Off, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Spamalot), Dodgeball, Weekend at Bernie’s Animal House

2. Burlesque 

Physical humor

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Gross exaggerations

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Vulgar

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Began as a ludicrous imitation of an individual play

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In the United States, burlesque can also mean a show featuring bad, vulgar humor and scantily-clad women. Examples: Family Guy, South Park

3. Satire 

Related to burlesque

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More intellectual and moral in content

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Uses wit, irony and exaggeration to attack or expose evil and foolishness Examples: Tartuffe by Molière, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Saturday Night

Live 4. Domestic Comedy 

Most frequently performed on television, i.e., sitcoms

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Deals with family situations where members of a family are caught in a series of complicated but amusing situations Examples: Any play written by Neil Simon Television shows: The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, The Simpson, Family Guy,

Friends. 5. Comedy of Manners 

Explores the behavior of a particular segment of society

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Usually concerned with pointing up and poking fun at the foibles of the upper classes

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Most comedy of Manners are from British writers like William Congreve, Oscar Wilde, and Noel Coward. Examples: Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, The Philadelphia Story by

Philip Barry, A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. 6. Comedy of Ideas

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Focuses on thought rather than character or situation

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Aristophanes plays are comedies of ideas

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Mostly concerned with the plays of George Bernard Shaw

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To debate intellectual propositions

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To further playwright's own moral and social point of view Examples: Arms and the Man, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Major Barbara – all by

George Bernard Shaw. 7. Tragicomedy 

Serious drama that contains comic elements

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Comedy that contains dramatic elements Examples: By William Shakespeare: Drunken porter in Macbeth, Gravedigger in

Hamlet, Falstaff in Henry IV, Part I. Three Characteristics of Comedy 1. Suspension of Natural Laws 

One must suspend the natural laws of probability, cause, effect, and logic

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Actions do not have the consequences they do in real life. Examples: Silent films & Cartoons such as Looney Tunes, Spongebob, Family Guy

2. Contrast between the Social Order and the Individual 

Basic assumptions about society and the events of the play cut against each other like the blades in a pair of scissors

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A clear social and moral order against which something goes terribly wrong to create comedy Examples: Tartuffe by Moliere, The Hangover

3. The Comic Premise 

The suspension of natural laws in comedy makes possible the development of a comic premise

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It is the idea or concept which turns things upside down Examples: The Hangover, Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, Dodgeball

Three Techniques of Comedy 1. Verbal Humor A. a pun - humorous use of words with the same sound but different meanings Example: - A man who says he is going to start a bakery if he can “raise the dough”. B. a malaprop - a word which sounds like the right word but actually means something else. C. an epigram - a sophisticated form of verbal humor where accepted values are turned upside down. Example: “I can resist everything except temptation” – Oscar Wilde 2. Comedy of Character 

The discrepancy or incongruity lies in the way characters see themselves or pretend to be as opposed to the way they really are Examples: The Hypochondriac by Molière, Crimes of The Heart by Beth Henley

3. Plot Complications 

Coincidences

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Mistaken identity Examples: “The Comedy of Errors” by William Shakespeare....