In a modern sense, comedy (from the Greek:
κωμῳδία, kōmōidía) refers to any
discourse or work generally intended to be
humorous or amusing by inducing laughter,
especially in theatre, television, film, stand-up
comedy, or any other medium of entertainment.
The origins of the term are found in Ancient
Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public
opinion of voters was influenced by the political
satire performed by the comic poets at the
theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy
can be described as a dramatic performance
which pits two groups or societies against
each other in an amusing agon or conflict.
Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing
sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society
of the Old." A revised view characterizes
the essential agon of comedy as a struggle
between a relatively powerless youth and the
societal conventions that pose obstacles to
his hopes. In this struggle, the youth is
understood to be constrained by his lack of
social authority, and is left with little
choice but to take recourse in ruses which
engender very dramatic irony which provokes
laughter.Satire and political satire use comedy
to portray persons or social institutions
as ridiculous or corrupt, thus alienating
their audience from the object of their humor.
Parody subverts popular genres and forms,
critiquing those forms without necessarily
condemning them.
Other forms of comedy include screwball comedy,
which derives its humor largely from bizarre,
surprising (and improbable) situations or
characters, and black comedy, which is characterized
by a form of humor that includes darker aspects
of human behavior or human nature. Similarly
scatological humor, sexual humor, and race
humor create comedy by violating social conventions
or taboos in comic ways. A comedy of manners
typically takes as its subject a particular
part of society (usually upper-class society)
and uses humor to parody or satirize the behavior
and mannerisms of its members. Romantic comedy
is a popular genre that depicts burgeoning
romance in humorous terms and focuses on the
foibles of those who are falling in love.
== Etymology ==
The word "comedy" is derived from the Classical
Greek κωμῳδία kōmōidía, which is
a compound either of κῶμος kômos (revel)
or κώμη kṓmē (village) and ᾠδή
ōidḗ (singing); it is possible that κῶμος
itself is derived from κώμη, and originally
meant a village revel. The adjective "comic"
(Greek κωμικός kōmikós), which strictly
means that which relates to comedy is, in
modern usage, generally confined to the sense
of "laughter-provoking". Of this, the word
came into modern usage through the Latin comoedia
and Italian commedia and has, over time, passed
through various shades of meaning.The Greeks
and Romans confined their use of the word
"comedy" to descriptions of stage-plays with
happy endings. Aristotle defined comedy as
an imitation of men worse than the average
(where tragedy was an imitation of men better
than the average). However, the characters
portrayed in comedies were not worse than
average in every way, only insofar as they
are Ridiculous, which is a species of the
Ugly. The Ridiculous may be defined as a mistake
or deformity not productive of pain or harm
to others; the mask, for instance, that excites
laughter is something ugly and distorted without
causing pain. In the Middle Ages, the term
expanded to include narrative poems with happy
endings. It is in this sense that Dante used
the term in the title of his poem, La Commedia.
As time progressed, the word came more and
more to be associated with any sort of performance
intended to cause laughter. During the Middle
Ages, the term "comedy" became synonymous
with satire, and later with humour in general.
Aristotle's Poetics was translated into Arabic
in the medieval Islamic world, where it was
elaborated upon by Arabic writers and Islamic
philosophers, such as Abu Bischr, and his
pupils Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes.
They disassociated comedy from Greek dramatic
representation and instead identified it with
Arabic poetic themes and forms, such as hija
(satirical poetry). They viewed comedy as
simply the "art of reprehension", and made
no reference to light and cheerful events,
or to the troubling beginnings and happy endings
associated with classical Greek comedy.
After the Latin translations of the 12th century,
the term "comedy" gained a more general meaning
in medieval literature.In the late 20th century,
many scholars preferred to use the term laughter
to refer to the whole gamut of the comic,
in order to avoid the use of ambiguous and
problematically defined genres such as the
grotesque, irony, and satire.
== History ==
=== Western history of comedy ===
==== Dionysiac origins, Aristophanes and Aristotle
====
Starting from 425 BCE, Aristophanes, a comic
playwright and satirical author of the Ancient
Greek Theater, wrote 40 comedies, 11 of which
survive. Aristophanes developed his type of
comedy from the earlier satyr plays, which
were often highly obscene. The only surviving
examples of the satyr plays are by Euripides,
which are much later examples and not representative
of the genre. In ancient Greece, comedy originated
in bawdy and ribald songs or recitations apropos
of phallic processions and fertility festivals
or gatherings.Around 335 BCE, Aristotle, in
his work Poetics, stated that comedy originated
in phallic processions and the light treatment
of the otherwise base and ugly. He also adds
that the origins of comedy are obscure because
it was not treated seriously from its inception.
However, comedy had its own Muse: Thalia.
Aristotle taught that comedy was generally
positive for society, since it brings forth
happiness, which for Aristotle was the ideal
state, the final goal in any activity. For
Aristotle, a comedy did not need to involve
sexual humor. A comedy is about the fortunate
rise of a sympathetic character. Aristotle
divides comedy into three categories or subgenres:
farce, romantic comedy, and satire. On the
contrary, Plato taught that comedy is a destruction
to the self. He believed that it produces
an emotion that overrides rational self-control
and learning. In The Republic, he says that
the guardians of the state should avoid laughter,
"for ordinarily when one abandons himself
to violent laughter, his condition provokes
a violent reaction." Plato says comedy should
be tightly controlled if one wants to achieve
the ideal state.
Also in Poetics, Aristotle defined comedy
as one of the original four genres of literature.
The other three genres are tragedy, epic poetry,
and lyric poetry. Literature, in general,
is defined by Aristotle as a mimesis, or imitation
of life. Comedy is the third form of literature,
being the most divorced from a true mimesis.
Tragedy is the truest mimesis, followed by
epic poetry, comedy, and lyric poetry. The
genre of comedy is defined by a certain pattern
according to Aristotle's definition. Comedies
begin with low or base characters seeking
insignificant aims and end with some accomplishment
of the aims which either lightens the initial
baseness or reveals the insignificance of
the aims.
==== Early Renaissance forms of comedy ====
The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia
[diˈviːna komˈmɛːdja]) is a long narrative
poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and
completed in 1320, a year before his death
in 1321. It is widely considered to be the
preeminent work in Italian literature and
one of the greatest works of world literature.
The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife
is representative of the medieval world-view
as it had developed in the Western Church
by the 14th century. It helped establish the
Tuscan language, in which it is written, as
the standardized Italian language. It is divided
into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and
Paradiso.
The narrative describes Dante's travels through
Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise or Heaven, while
allegorically the poem represents the soul's
journey towards God. Dante draws on medieval
Christian theology and philosophy, especially
Thomistic philosophy and the Summa Theologica
of Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, the Divine
Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse".
In Dante's work, Virgil is presented as human
reason and Beatrice is presented as divine
knowledge.The work was originally simply titled
Comedia (so also in the first printed edition,
published in 1472). The adjective Divina was
added by Giovanni Boccaccio, and the first
edition to name the poem Divina Comedia in
the title was that of the Venetian humanist
Lodovico Dolce, published in 1555 by Gabriele
Giolito de' Ferrari.
The Divine Comedy is composed of 14,233 lines
that are divided into three cantiche (singular
cantica) – Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory),
and Paradiso (Paradise) – each consisting
of 33 cantos (Italian plural canti). An initial
canto, serving as an introduction to the poem
and generally considered to be part of the
first cantica, brings the total number of
cantos to 100. It is generally accepted, however,
that the first two cantos serve as a unitary
prologue to the entire epic, and that the
opening two cantos of each cantica serve as
prologues to each of the three cantiche.
==== Commedia dell'arte and Shakespearean,
Elizabethan comedy ====
"Comedy", in its Elizabethan usage, had a
very different meaning from modern comedy.
A Shakespearean comedy is one that has a happy
ending, usually involving marriages between
the unmarried characters, and a tone and style
that is more light-hearted than Shakespeare's
other plays.The Punch and Judy show has roots
in the 16th-century Italian commedia dell'arte.
The figure of Punch derives from the Neapolitan
stock character of Pulcinella. The figure
who later became Mr. Punch made his first
recorded appearance in England in 1662. Punch
and Judy are performed in the spirit of outrageous
comedy — often provoking shocked laughter
— and are dominated by the anarchic clowning
of Mr. Punch. Appearing at a significant period
in British history, professor Glyn Edwards
states: "[Pulcinella] went down particularly
well with Restoration British audiences, fun-starved
after years of Puritanism. We soon changed
Punch's name, transformed him from a marionette
to a hand puppet, and he became, really, a
spirit of Britain — a subversive maverick
who defies authority, a kind of puppet equivalent
to our political cartoons."
==== 19th to early 20th century ====
In early 19th century England, pantomime acquired
its present form which includes slapstick
comedy and featured the first mainstream clown
Joseph Grimaldi, while comedy routines also
featured heavily in British music hall theatre
which became popular in the 1850s. British
comedians who honed their skills in music
hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin, Stan
Laurel and Dan Leno. English music hall comedian
and theatre impresario Fred Karno developed
a form of sketch comedy without dialogue in
the 1890s, and Chaplin and Laurel were among
the comedians who worked for his company.
Karno was a pioneer of slapstick, and in his
biography, Laurel stated, "Fred Karno didn't
teach Charlie [Chaplin] and me all we know
about comedy. He just taught us most of it".
Film producer Hal Roach stated: "Fred Karno
is not only a genius, he is the man who originated
slapstick comedy. We in Hollywood owe much
to him." American vaudeville emerged in the
1880s and remained popular until the 1930s,
and featured comedians such as W. C. Fields,
Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers.
==== 20th century theatre and art ====
Surreal humour (also known as 'absurdist humour'),
or 'surreal comedy', is a form of humour predicated
on deliberate violations of causal reasoning,
producing events and behaviours that are obviously
illogical. Constructions of surreal humour
tend to involve bizarre juxtapositions, incongruity,
non-sequiturs, irrational or absurd situations
and expressions of nonsense. The humour arises
from a subversion of audience's expectations,
so that amusement is founded on unpredictability,
separate from a logical analysis of the situation.
The humour derived gets its appeal from the
ridiculousness and unlikeliness of the situation.
The genre has roots in Surrealism in the arts.
Surreal humour is the effect of illogic and
absurdity being used for humorous effect.
Under such premises, people can identify precursors
and early examples of surreal humour at least
since the 19th century, such as Lewis Carroll's
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through
the Looking-Glass, which both use illogic
and absurdity (hookah-smoking caterpillars,
croquet matches using live flamingos as mallets,
etc.) for humorous effect. Many of Edward
Lear's children stories and poems contain
nonsense and are basically surreal in approach.
For example, The Story of the Four Little
Children Who Went Round the World (1871) is
filled with contradictory statements and odd
images intended to provoke amusement, such
as the following:
After a time they saw some land at a distance;
and when they came to it, they found it was
an island made of water quite surrounded by
earth. Besides that, it was bordered by evanescent
isthmuses with a great Gulf-stream running
about all over it, so that it was perfectly
beautiful, and contained only a single tree,
503 feet high.
In the early 20th century, several avant-garde
movements, including the dadaists, surrealists,
and futurists, began to argue for an art that
was random, jarring and illogical. The goals
of these movements were in some sense serious,
and they were committed to undermining the
solemnity and self-satisfaction of the contemporary
artistic establishment. As a result, much
of their art was intentionally amusing.
A famous example is Marcel Duchamp's Fountain
(1917), an inverted urinal signed "R. Mutt".
This became one of the most famous and influential
pieces of art in history, and one of the earliest
examples of the found object movement. It
is also a joke, relying on the inversion of
the item's function as expressed by its title
as well as its incongruous presence in an
art exhibition.
==== 20th century film and television ====
The advent of cinema in the late 19th century,
and later radio and television in the 20th
century broadened the access of comedians
to the general public. Charlie Chaplin, through
silent film, became one of the best-known
faces on earth. The silent tradition lived
on well into the 20th century through mime
artists like Marcel Marceau, and the physical
comedy of artists like Rowan Atkinson as Mr.
Bean. The tradition of the circus clown also
continued, with such as Bozo the Clown in
the United States and Oleg Popov in Russia.
Radio provided new possibilities — with
Britain producing the influential Goon Show
after the Second World War. American cinema
has produced a great number of globally renowned
comedy artists, from Laurel and Hardy, the
Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Dean Martin
and Jerry Lewis, as well as Bob Hope during
the mid-20th century, to performers like George
Carlin, Robin Williams, and Eddie Murphy at
the end of the century. Hollywood attracted
many international talents like the British
comics Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore and Sacha
Baron Cohen, Canadian comics Dan Aykroyd,
Jim Carrey, and Mike Myers, and the Australian
comedian Paul Hogan, famous for Crocodile
Dundee. Other centres of creative comic activity
have been the cinema of Hong Kong, Bollywood,
and French farce.
American television has also been an influential
force in world comedy: with American series
like M*A*S*H, Seinfeld and The Simpsons achieving
large followings around the world. British
television comedy also remains influential,
with quintessential works including Fawlty
Towers, Monty Python, Dad's Army, Blackadder,
and The Office. Australian satirist Barry
Humphries, whose comic creations include the
housewife and "gigastar" Dame Edna Everage,
for his delivery of Dadaist and absurdist
humour to millions, was described by biographer
Anne Pender in 2010 as not only "the most
significant theatrical figure of our time
... [but] the most significant comedian to
emerge since Charlie Chaplin".
=== Non-Western history of comedy ===
==== 
Classical Sanskrit Dramas, Plays, and Epics
of Ancient India ====
By 200 BC, in ancient Sanskrit drama, Bharata
Muni's Natya Shastra defined humour (hāsyam)
as one of the nine nava rasas, or principle
rasas (emotional responses), which can be
inspired in the audience by bhavas, the imitations
of emotions that the actors perform. Each
rasa was associated with a specific bhavas
portrayed on stage. In the case of humour,
it was associated with mirth (hasya).
== Studies on the theory of the comic ==
The phenomena connected with laughter and
that which provokes it have been carefully
investigated by psychologists. They agree
the predominant characteristics are incongruity
or contrast in the object and shock or emotional
seizure on the part of the subject. It has
also been held that the feeling of superiority
is an essential factor: thus Thomas Hobbes
speaks of laughter as a "sudden glory". Modern
investigators have paid much attention to
the origin both of laughter and of smiling,
as well as the development of the "play instinct"
and its emotional expression.
George Meredith said that "One excellent test
of the civilization of a country ... I take
to be the flourishing of the Comic idea and
Comedy, and the test of true Comedy is that
it shall awaken thoughtful laughter." Laughter
is said to be the cure for being sick. Studies
show that people who laugh more often get
sick less.American literary theorist Kenneth
Burke writes that the "comic frame" in rhetoric
is "neither wholly euphemistic, nor wholly
debunking—hence it provides the charitable
attitude towards people that is required for
purposes of persuasion and co-operation, but
at the same time maintains our shrewdness
concerning the simplicities of ‘cashing
in.’" The purpose of the comic frame is
to satirize a given circumstance and promote
change by doing so. The comic frame makes
fun of situations and people, while simultaneously
provoking thought. The comic frame does not
aim to vilify in its analysis, but rather,
rebuke the stupidity and foolery of those
involved in the circumstances. For example,
on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart uses the "comic
frame" to intervene in political arguments,
often offering crude humor in sudden contrast
to serious news. In a segment on President
Obama's trip to China Stewart remarks on America's
debt to the Chinese government while also
having a weak relationship with the country.
After depicting this dismal situation, Stewart
shifts to speak directly to President Obama,
calling upon him to "shine that turd up."
For Stewart and his audience, introducing
coarse language into what is otherwise a serious
commentary on the state of foreign relations
serves to frame the segment comically, creating
a serious tone underlying the comedic agenda
presented by Stewart.
== Forms ==
Comedy may be divided into multiple genres
based on the source of humor, the method of
delivery, and the context in which it is delivered.
The different forms of comedy often overlap,
and most comedy can fit into multiple genres.
Some of the subgenres of comedy are farce,
comedy of manners, burlesque, and satire.
Some comedy apes certain cultural forms: for
instance, parody and satire often imitate
the conventions of the genre they are parodying
or satirizing. For example, in the United
States, parodies of newspapers and television
news include The Onion, and The Colbert Report;
in Australia, shows such as Kath & Kim, Utopia,
and Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell perform the
same role.
Self-deprecation is a technique of comedy
used by many comedians who focus on their
misfortunes and foibles in order to entertain.
== Performing arts ==
=== 
Historical forms ===
Ancient Greek comedy, as practiced by Aristophanes
and Menander
Ancient Roman comedy, as practiced by Plautus
and Terence
Burlesque, from Music hall and Vaudeville
to Performance art
Citizen comedy, as practiced by Thomas Dekker,
Thomas Middleton and Ben Jonson
Clowns such as Richard Tarlton, William Kempe,
and Robert Armin
Comedy of humours, as practiced by Ben Jonson
and George Chapman
Comedy of intrigue, as practiced by Niccolò
Machiavelli and Lope de Vega
Comedy of manners, as practiced by Molière,
William Wycherley and William Congreve
Comedy of menace, as practiced by David Campton
and Harold Pinter
comédie larmoyante or 'tearful comedy', as
practiced by Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée
and Louis-Sébastien Mercier
Commedia dell'arte, as practiced in the twentieth
century by Dario Fo, Vsevolod Meyerhold, and
Jacques Copeau
Farce, from Georges Feydeau to Joe Orton and
Alan Ayckbourn
Jester
Laughing comedy, as practiced by Oliver Goldsmith
and Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Restoration comedy, as practiced by George
Etherege, Aphra Behn and John Vanbrugh
Sentimental comedy, as practiced by Colley
Cibber and Richard Steele
Shakespearean comedy, as practiced by William
Shakespeare
Stand-up comedy
Dadaist and Surrealist performance, usually
in cabaret form
Theatre of the Absurd, used by some critics
to describe Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter,
Jean Genet and Eugène Ionesco
Sketch comedy
=== 
Plays ===
Comic theatre
Musical comedy and palace
=== 
Opera ===
Comic opera
=== Improvisational comedy ===
Improvisational theatre
Bouffon comedy
Clowns
=== 
Jokes ===
One-liner joke
Blonde jokes
Shaggy-dog story
Paddy Irishman joke
Polish jokes
Light bulb jokes
=== 
Stand-up comedy ===
Stand-up comedy is a mode of comic performance
in which the performer addresses the audience
directly, usually speaking in their own person
rather than as a dramatic character.
Impressionist (entertainment)
Alternative comedy
Comedy club
Comedy albums
== Events and awards ==
American Comedy Awards
British Comedy Awards
Canadian Comedy Awards
Cat Laughs Comedy Festival
The Comedy Festival, Aspen, Colorado, formerly
the HBO Comedy Arts Festival
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Edinburgh Comedy Festival
Halifax Comedy Festival
Just for Laughs festival, Montreal
Leicester Comedy Festival
Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
New Zealand International Comedy Festival
New York Underground Comedy Festival
HK International Comedy Festival
== 
List of comedians ==
List of stand-up comedians
List of musical comedians
List of Australian comedians
List of British comedians
List of Canadian comedians
List of Filipino comedians
List of Finnish comedians
List of German language comedians
List of Indian comedians
List of Italian comedians
List of Mexican comedians
List of Puerto Rican comedians
== 
Mass media ==
=== 
Literature ===
Comic novel
Light poetry
Comedic journalism
=== Film ===
Comedy film
Anarchic comedy film
Gross-out film
Parody film
Romantic comedy
Screwball comedy film
Slapstick film
=== 
Television and radio ===
Television comedy
Situation comedy
Radio comedy
==== 
Comedy networks ====
British sitcom
British comedy
Comedy Central – A television channel devoted
strictly to comedy
Comedy Nights with Kapil – An Indian television
program
German television comedy
List of British TV shows remade for the American
market
Paramount Comedy (Spain)
Paramount Comedy 1 and 2.
TBS (TV network)
The Comedy Channel (Australia)
The Comedy Channel (UK)
The Comedy Channel (United States) – merged
into Comedy Central.
HA! – merged into Comedy Central
The Comedy Network, a Canadian TV channel.
Gold
== See also ==
Lists of comedy films
List of comedy television series
List of genres
Theories of humor
Women in comedy
== Footnotes ==
== Notations ==
== Further reading ==
Comedy at Curlie
A Vocabulary for Comedy (definitions are taken
from Harmon, William & C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook
to Literature. 7th ed.)
== External links ==
Learning materials related to Collaborative
play writing at Wikiversity
