Types of Comedy
Anecdotes: When I think of anecdotes I think of my friend Benny, who always has a hilarious story to tell whenever I meet him. Anecdotes are nothing but narration of interesting humorous events, which can be used to make the audience laugh. This is a very popular type of comedy.
Banter: The person that comes to my mind when I think of this form of humor is Chandler Bing from the sitcom Friends. Well, Matthew Perry has everyone rolling on the floor with laughter for sure! What can be funnier than passing witty remarks and indulging in some harmless teasing? Banter is a form of comedy that includes all this and much more!
Blendword: Have you ever tried combining two words to make a completely innovative and funny word? Blendword comedy is nothing but the creation of funny words by blending two or three words.
Blue Humor/Off-Color Humor: Humor can be added to almost any topic under the sky. Well, if you are looking for some material to amuse a large audience, this might not necessarily be the genre that you should pick! There is a thin line between blue-humor and vulgarity. Blue humor is based on subjects like body parts or sex.
Blunder: This is a genre of humor, which involves a character or a comedian making foolish mistakes, which seem humorous to others. There is one person who personifies this genre in humor and although I am not a great fan, he is quite popular for his blunder-comedy - Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean.
Burlesque: This is a form of satire, since Burlesque comedy involves ridiculing any basic style of speech or even writing. Burlesque is theatrical entertainment of broad and parodic humor, which usually involves comic skits. It is said to have originated from the Italian Commedia dell'arte.
Black Humor/Dark Comedy: Black humor or dark comedy often refers to the juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements to create a disturbing effect. Black comedy, is a sub-genre of comedy and satire where grave topics like death, rape, murder, marital affair, human annihilation or domestic violence are treated in a satirical manner
Commedia dell'arte: Commedia dell'arte is an Italian style comedy of the 16th to 18th centuries improvised from standardized situations and stock characters. Commedia dell’arte includes themes like adultery, jealousy, old age, and love. Many of the basic plot elements of Commedia dell'arte can be traced back to the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, while some of these were translations of lost Greek comedies of the fourth century BC.
Caricature: Caricature involves exaggerated portrayal of a person’s mental, physical, or personality traits in wisecrack form. Caricatures can be insulting, complimentary, political or can be drawn solely for entertainment too.
The Catch Tale: Not everyone would be up for this sort of humor. A catch tale is basically a funny story that messes up the reader or listener by implying an awful ending and then stopping with an abrupt declaration.
Conundrum: This is like a humorous one liner word puzzle that can’t be solved because the answer is a pun.
Freudian Slip: A Freudian slip is nothing but a funny statement, which seems to just pop out from the comedian, but actually comes from the person’s subconscious thoughts. This is just like funny things said unintentionally owing to slip-of-the-tongue. The name Freudian slip is coined after the father of psychology - Sigmund Freud.
Farce/Travesty: A comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations is termed as farce or travesty. A farce is a comedy style, which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, improbable and extravagant situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humor of varying degrees of sophistication. It can include sexual innuendo and word play, or a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending that often involves an elaborate chase scene. Farce is also characterized by physical humor and the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense.
Gallows Humor: Gallows humor is a type of humor which arises from traumatic or life-threatening situations such as wartime events, mass murder, hostilities or in other situations where death is impending and unavoidable. This genre is similar to black comedy but, the only difference is that the comedy is created by the victim.
High Comedy: High comedy refers to a sophisticated comedy, often satirizing genteel society.
Irony: Irony is a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs and hence is a popular type of humor. Irony is portrayed through words or actions to express something completely different from the literal meaning.
Melodrama: Melodramatic comedy is an extravagant comedy in which action is more salient than characterization.
Nonsensism: Well, the term is pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it? Nonsensism includes any kind of funny nonsense, absurdity without realistic logic.
Parody: Parody is defined as a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, by means of humorous or satiric imitation. Parody is nothing but a composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, in a humorous way.
Practical Comedy: A practical joke or prank is a stunt or trick to purposely make someone feel foolish or victimized, usually for humor. Since pranks or these practical jokes are designed to make people feel foolish or victimized, there is an inherent undertone of cruelty in most practical jokes.
Recovery: Recovery is a combination of blunder and wit, which means that the comedian or the character usually creates humor by making an error, and then saving himself with a fast and witty comeback.
Repartee: Witty comebacks, clever replies and droll retorts are all comic repartees.
Switching: This type of comedy involves changing the main parts of a story, such as the punch line to create humor.
Satire: Satire is defined as a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own. Satire is a branch of comedy, which makes use of witty language to convey insults or scorn. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to reprimand by means of ridicule, burlesque, derision, irony, or other methods. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, the purpose of satire is not primarily humor, but an attack on something or some subject the author strongly disapproves of.
Anecdotes: When I think of anecdotes I think of my friend Benny, who always has a hilarious story to tell whenever I meet him. Anecdotes are nothing but narration of interesting humorous events, which can be used to make the audience laugh. This is a very popular type of comedy.
Banter: The person that comes to my mind when I think of this form of humor is Chandler Bing from the sitcom Friends. Well, Matthew Perry has everyone rolling on the floor with laughter for sure! What can be funnier than passing witty remarks and indulging in some harmless teasing? Banter is a form of comedy that includes all this and much more!
Blendword: Have you ever tried combining two words to make a completely innovative and funny word? Blendword comedy is nothing but the creation of funny words by blending two or three words.
Blue Humor/Off-Color Humor: Humor can be added to almost any topic under the sky. Well, if you are looking for some material to amuse a large audience, this might not necessarily be the genre that you should pick! There is a thin line between blue-humor and vulgarity. Blue humor is based on subjects like body parts or sex.
Blunder: This is a genre of humor, which involves a character or a comedian making foolish mistakes, which seem humorous to others. There is one person who personifies this genre in humor and although I am not a great fan, he is quite popular for his blunder-comedy - Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean.
Burlesque: This is a form of satire, since Burlesque comedy involves ridiculing any basic style of speech or even writing. Burlesque is theatrical entertainment of broad and parodic humor, which usually involves comic skits. It is said to have originated from the Italian Commedia dell'arte.
Black Humor/Dark Comedy: Black humor or dark comedy often refers to the juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements to create a disturbing effect. Black comedy, is a sub-genre of comedy and satire where grave topics like death, rape, murder, marital affair, human annihilation or domestic violence are treated in a satirical manner
Commedia dell'arte: Commedia dell'arte is an Italian style comedy of the 16th to 18th centuries improvised from standardized situations and stock characters. Commedia dell’arte includes themes like adultery, jealousy, old age, and love. Many of the basic plot elements of Commedia dell'arte can be traced back to the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, while some of these were translations of lost Greek comedies of the fourth century BC.
Caricature: Caricature involves exaggerated portrayal of a person’s mental, physical, or personality traits in wisecrack form. Caricatures can be insulting, complimentary, political or can be drawn solely for entertainment too.
The Catch Tale: Not everyone would be up for this sort of humor. A catch tale is basically a funny story that messes up the reader or listener by implying an awful ending and then stopping with an abrupt declaration.
Conundrum: This is like a humorous one liner word puzzle that can’t be solved because the answer is a pun.
Freudian Slip: A Freudian slip is nothing but a funny statement, which seems to just pop out from the comedian, but actually comes from the person’s subconscious thoughts. This is just like funny things said unintentionally owing to slip-of-the-tongue. The name Freudian slip is coined after the father of psychology - Sigmund Freud.
Farce/Travesty: A comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations is termed as farce or travesty. A farce is a comedy style, which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, improbable and extravagant situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humor of varying degrees of sophistication. It can include sexual innuendo and word play, or a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending that often involves an elaborate chase scene. Farce is also characterized by physical humor and the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense.
Gallows Humor: Gallows humor is a type of humor which arises from traumatic or life-threatening situations such as wartime events, mass murder, hostilities or in other situations where death is impending and unavoidable. This genre is similar to black comedy but, the only difference is that the comedy is created by the victim.
High Comedy: High comedy refers to a sophisticated comedy, often satirizing genteel society.
Irony: Irony is a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs and hence is a popular type of humor. Irony is portrayed through words or actions to express something completely different from the literal meaning.
Melodrama: Melodramatic comedy is an extravagant comedy in which action is more salient than characterization.
Nonsensism: Well, the term is pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it? Nonsensism includes any kind of funny nonsense, absurdity without realistic logic.
Parody: Parody is defined as a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, by means of humorous or satiric imitation. Parody is nothing but a composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, in a humorous way.
Practical Comedy: A practical joke or prank is a stunt or trick to purposely make someone feel foolish or victimized, usually for humor. Since pranks or these practical jokes are designed to make people feel foolish or victimized, there is an inherent undertone of cruelty in most practical jokes.
Recovery: Recovery is a combination of blunder and wit, which means that the comedian or the character usually creates humor by making an error, and then saving himself with a fast and witty comeback.
Repartee: Witty comebacks, clever replies and droll retorts are all comic repartees.
Switching: This type of comedy involves changing the main parts of a story, such as the punch line to create humor.
Satire: Satire is defined as a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own. Satire is a branch of comedy, which makes use of witty language to convey insults or scorn. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to reprimand by means of ridicule, burlesque, derision, irony, or other methods. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, the purpose of satire is not primarily humor, but an attack on something or some subject the author strongly disapproves of.
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