Comedy Mr Kaitz What is Humor Amusing Laughable

Comedy Mr. Kaitz

What is Humor? • Amusing • Laughable • Funny • Can be a situation or a person

What is Comedy? • Humorous Text • Jokes • Romans and Greeks: Stage play with happy ending

Where did Comedy originate? • Ancient Greece

Types of Comedy • • • • Ancient Greek Ancient Roman Commedia dell’arte Clowns Shakespearean Comedy Theatre of the Absurd Slapstick Surprise Irony Clownish behavior Satire Misunderstanding Parody

Ancient Greek • Divided into Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy. • Aristotle “The Poetics” : “ Comedy is a representation of laughable people and involves some kind of blunder or ugliness which does not cause pain or disaster. • Aristophanes: Political satire and sexual innuendo (Old and Middle Comedy) • Menander: Accurate portrayal of life of the ordinary man (New Comedy) • Chorus

Ancient Roman • Fabula Togata: Comedies based on Greek subjects • No chorus • Added Music • Took place in the streets outside the house of a main character. • Eavesdropping by minor character caused problems. • Maccius Plautus: Wrote farces and 20 still survive today • Publius Terentius Afer (Terence): Wrote complex plots, included prologues, and 6 of his comedy's survived. • Stock Characters: Adulscens, Senex, Leno, Miles Gloriosus, Parasitus, Matrona, and Vergo.

Commedia Dell’arte Beganin Rome 16 th – 18 th century Italy Masks Improvisational Performances with some scripted elements • Stereotypes and stock characters • •

Clowns • Slapstick or physical comedy • Originate from “rustic fool characters” in Greek and Roman Comedy • Seen as a peasant or laborer • Harleyquinade in 17 th Century England inspired by Commedia dell’arte • Current depiction developed in early 1800 s by Joseph Grimaldi

Shakespearean Comedy • • • • William Shakespeare Happy ending, usually marriage Light-hearted More emphasis on situations Struggle of young lovers Deception of Characters “All’s Well That Ends Well” “As You Like It” “The Comedy of Errors” “Love’s Labour’s Lost” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” “Twelfth Night” “The Taming of the Shrew”

Theatre of the Absurd • Post WWII • Absurdist Fiction • Existentialism and lack of human purpose • Death and Afterlife • Tragicomedy • “Nothing is funnier than unhappiness… it’s the most comical thing in the world. ” • “Waiting for Godot” and “Eng Game” by Samuel Beckett • Other Authors: Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Jean Genet, and Eugene Lonesco

Slapstick Comedy • Physical humor • Delight in the misfortunes of others • Physical incongruities

Surprise Comedy • Element of Suprise • Expectations not met = “funny” • The audience expects a certain behavior, statement, chain of events and is surprised • The “Aha!” is the source of the Ha! • Puns • Unexpected twists of fate • Strange or fantastic situations

Ironic Comedy • What is said vs. What is meant • Understanding of reality • Expectation of a reality vs. what actually happens.

Clownish Behavior • Foolishness • Clowns

Satire • Situation vs. ideal • What is claimed to be true vs. what is actually true • May be critical of individuals or of society as a whole • May attack deviants or may attack the system

Misunderstanding Comedy • “Who’s On First”

Parody • “Spoof” • Created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation. • For parody to work, the audience must understand the source material being parodied • Spaceballs • Often aimed at a genre rather than a single artifact • Young Frankenstein • Daily Show, Colbert Report, Onion

Situational comedy • Most Television Comedy = situation comedy • Sketch comedy, variety shows that were common at the outset of television gradually disappeared, with a few examples remaining • Saturday Night Live • Early examples were imported from radio

Romantic comedy • Two peopleface a number of challenges in their quest (usually true love) and are able to overcome those challenges to reach a happy ending – It is the continued development of new obstacles and the actions of the protagonists or of fate to overcome those obstacles that provides the humor • Class differences • Bad luck

Farce • • • High Exaggerated Extravagant Improbable Physical humor Absurdity Nonsense Stylized Stage and Film Usually set in one location Doors

Neil Simon • • • “The Odd Couple” “California Suite” “God’s Favorite” “Rumors” “Plaza Suite” “The Dinner Party” “Barefoot in the Park” “Brighton Beach Memoirs” “Laughter on the 23 rd Floor” “Lost in Yonkers”

Other popular plays: • • “Noises Off” by Michael Frayn “Superior Donus” by Tracy Letts “God of Carnage” by Yasmina Reza “Vania and Sonia and Masha and Spyke” by Christopher Durang “Fat Pig” by Neil Labute “Some Girls” by Neil Labute “Reasons to be Pretty” by Neil Labute “Lend Me A Tenor” by Ken Ludwig

Videos • Greek Comedy: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Bqv. UPFFUWHM • Commedia Del Arte: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=h_0 TAXWt 8 h. Y • Shakespearean Comedy: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=0 ll 5 UK 6 jh. Hw • Endgame: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Bqv. UPFFUWHM • Slapstick: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=6 FYl. Ib 6 QPOE • Charlie Chaplin: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=mpj. Ey. BKSf. JQ • Who’s On First: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=k. Tc. RRa. XV-fg • Lend Me a Tenor: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=00 x. Prvc. Uo. Qk&list=PLn. Me. HM Of. Qr. AC 4 LXie. Gsunh. Pw. W 8 Tig 8 Y 1 J&index=1 • Noises Off: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=zjk. Rw 2 GAx. Ro&index=3&list=P Ln. Me. HMOf. Qr. AC 4 LXie. Gsunh. Pw. W 8 Tig 8 Y 1 J • SNL: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=6 x 2 CZNk. EWZc