Learn
- Dark Comedy
- Low Comedy
- Farce
- Travesty
- Middle Comedy
- Fantasy
- Romantic Comedy
- Sentimental Comedy
- High Comedy
Dark Comedy
The example in the introduction to this lesson would be considered dark comedy, which is comedy that makes light of subjects that are usually serious or painful. This is also known as black comedy or gallows humor. Any serious topic you can think of can - and probably has - been the subject of a dark comedy. Dark comedy reaches a very particular audience, because many have trouble laughing at sorrow. Playwrights must be very careful when using dark comedy in their plays.
Republican President Ronald Reagan, as he was wheeled in to the hospital after an assassination attempt said to his surgeons, "Please tell me you're Republicans." This is dark comedy!
President Ronald Reagan | Public domain
Low Comedy
Many comedies fall into one of three categories: low comedy, middle comedy, or high comedy. We will now look at each category and the types of comedies that fall into each.
What is low comedy?
This is what we typically think of as comedy because this is the type of comedy that causes big laughs. Characteristics we see in low comedy are fighting, noisy singing, rowdy conduct, trickery, and drunkenness. The two types of low comedies are farce and travesty.
Very often, silent films relied heavily on low comedy because of the reliance on the physical. Charlie Chaplin was the king of silent films which were films that didn't have dialogue or sound; most were made between the 1890s and 1930s. In the film, The Lion Cage, Chaplin is trapped in a cage with a lion and many mishaps occur before he is finally able to escape! Watch a clip of The Lion Cage (3:00).
Farce
A farce, which is humor made up of clowning, jokes, and unusual characters and situations, is the first type of low comedy. We often see chase scenes in a farce. A normal element is something referred to as a screen scene, which is when a character hides behind something onstage and overhears a conversation on stage. The character will often pop out in the middle of the conversation to say something, either to the other characters on stage or to the audience.
Made up of (L-R) comedians 'Curly' Joe DeRita, Moe Howard, and Larry Fine, the Three Stooges were known for their physical, low comedy. | Public domain
Travesty
A travesty is a play that mocks people and society. It relies on humor of a light-hearted nature. A travesty will present serious topics in a frivolous manner or vice versa. Very often, exaggerated characters are part of a travesty. You will often see the touch and conceited military man or a damsel in distress in a travesty.
Travesties can also be parodies of something else. For example, Young Frankenstein makes fun of the horror movie genre. In this way, the movie is a parody. There are famous movies that you may know that are also travesties! Have you ever seen Scary Movie or Space Balls?
- Scary Movie makes fun of movies like Scream and The Exorcist.
- Space Balls pokes fun of science fiction movies like Star Wars.
The marquee for a production of the Mel Brooks musical, Young Frankenstein. Image by Jeff Pearce is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Middle Comedy
Next, we have middle comedy, which involves humor that demonstrates a range of human emotions. When an audience watches a middle comedy, they can feel moments of happiness and sadness, hope and frustration, and sweetness and bitterness. This range of emotions takes the audience on an emotional roller coaster that is real to the human experience. So many movies and plays can be seen as middle comedies.
In the play, Peter Pan, an audience would feel the excitement as Wendy experiences Neverland for the very first time and the sadness when she must say goodbye to it forever. This is middle comedy. Let's look closer at 3 types of middle comedies: fantasy, romantic comedy, and sentimental comedy.
Peter Pan and Captain Hook fighting on a ship during the Disney show, Fantasmic! Image by Carlos is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Fantasy
The 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz, falls into the category of fantasy, which is a type of middle comedy that deals with imaginary times and places and unreal characters. What is more fantastic than a Tin Man without a heart, a Lion without courage, and a Scarecrow without a brain?
A still from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz showing Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West (left) and Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale (right). | Public domain
In a fantasy, imagination is key. Anything can happen! A witch with a horde of monkeys can ride a bicycle through a tornado. The success of a fantasy often relies on the ability of the audience to let go and just believe.
The movie version of this classical children's tale paved the way for the Broadway musical Wicked, another fantasy. Wicked tells the story before the start of Wizard of Oz. Everyone has heard of Glenda, the Good Witch. Did you know the Wicked Witch of the West is named Elphaba? In this musical, you learn about her!
A publicity poster for a production of Wicked. Image by itsv is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Romantic Comedy
When you hear the word romance, love comes to mind, I'm sure! But romantic comedies don't always involve love. What is a romantic comedy?
Romantic comedies are hopeful and justice often prevails. Romantic comedies are often set in exotic lands and the characters are vivid and exciting. The bad guy is obviously bad and usually receives his/her just punishment at the end. At the end of a romantic comedy, the audience feels satisfied with how things turned out.
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare is a great example of a romantic comedy. In the end, the villan Malvolio loses and runs away ashamed. Viola, the protagonist, is able to come out of hiding and reveal who she truly is.
An 1859 engraving by Daniel Maclise of the Twelfth Night characters, Malvolio and the Countess. | Public domain
Sentimental Comedy
The most popular type of comedy is sentimental comedy, which is a comedy that focuses on personal relationships. It will make an audience laugh, while also tugging on their heartstrings. They will tell stories of patriotism, motherly love, self-sacrifice, or romance. The focus is showing the audience that you can trust other people.
The well-known story, Forrest Gump, is a great example of a sentimental comedy. Many things work against Forrest throughout the movie, but in the end, he is able to succeed and be happy.
The cover of the novel Forrest Gump by Winston Groom, which features a scene from the movie version. Image by Christo Drummkopf is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
High Comedy
The final type of comedy is high comedy, which is humor that appeals to the mind. This type of comedy really makes an audience think by using clever lines and word play.
You will often see ambiguity in high comedy. In the previous lesson, you learned about ambiguity as a comedic device. What was this?
A type of high comedy called satire, which is comedy that attacks accepted society. It will point out what is wrong with society by poking fun on all of the things we know. Read The Best Satire Movies from Ranker to see the some of the most well-regarded satirical movies. Take some time and select a few to learn more about.
- Are you familiar with any of these movies?
- What other types of comedies are also seen in these films?
Although each type of comedy has its own specific characteristic, it is not unusual for a movie or play to have several types within its structure. The key is that they all work well together to tell the story and entertain the audience, and that is what performance is all about!
