Comedy - Definition and Overview

Comedy is the use of humour in the performing arts. It also means a performance that relies heavily on humor. The term originally comes from theater, where it simply referred to a play with a happy ending, in contrast to a tragedy. The humor, once an incidental device used to entertain, is now an essential aspect of a comedy.

A recognised characteristic of comedy is that it is an intensely personal enjoyment. People frequently fail to find the same things amusing, but when they do it can help to create powerful bonds.

Related articles

Forms

• Stand-up comedy
  • Alternative comedy - a largely British term relating to comedians in the ascendant throughout the 1980s and beyond.
  • Improvisational comedy - though not confined to stand-up, it is commonly held in high regard on the stand-up circuit.
  • Impressionists
• Sketch comedy - short comedy scenes as in contrast to sitcom.
• Television comedy and Radio comedy
  • Situation comedy
• Comedy film
  • gross-out film
  • Parody film
  • romantic comedy film
  • screwball comedy film
  • slapstick film
  • splatstick film (sic)
• Comic novel
• Musical comedy
• Tragicomedy

Styles

• Black comedy
• satire
• parody
• adage
• pretending to be stupid

Historical or theatre

• clown (see also krumping)
• Commedia dell'arte - historically, a form of improvisational theatre, chiefly from the 16th to 18th centuries.
• Farce - most often thought of as theatrical, but has been adapted for other media.
• Jesters - clowns associated with the middle ages.
• Vaudeville - comedy performed in theatres that declined as television ownership increased.

Definitions

• Comedian
• Comedy club

Comedy events and awards

• British Comedy Awards
• Just for laughs festival
• Melbourne International Comedy Festival
• HBO Comedy Arts Festival

Lists of comedy performers

• List of comedians
• List of entertainer pairs or double acts

by nationality

• Australian comedy
• List of British Comedians
• List of Italian comedians
• List of Finnish comedians
• List of Puerto Rican comedians

other

• List of Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time - Almost exclusively American.
• List of Dr Demento's radio show comedians

Lists of comedy programmes

• British comedy - article on British comedy and a list of British comedy programmes.
• Britcom - list of British sitcoms.
• List of British TV shows remade for the American market

Other lists

• List of comedies - theatre/radio/television and from France/Russia/Canada/Australia/UK/US

See also

• Humour
• joke
• Laughter