ComedyDerived from Greek words, komos and ode, meaning “revel song”

ComedyPredictably unpredictable

Often time and place oriented

Intellectual, mental

Movie comedies today –Protagonist, who is less than average, achieves goals despite mistakes/shortcomings

Exaggeration

Overstatement, an enlargement of the truth

Understatement

Physical elements – big nose, large teeth, strange walk, twitching eye

Incongruity

Anything that seems out of time, or out of character

Unexpected incongruity

A woman buys her white coat and approaches the wet black bench. "Look out!" yells the zoo keeper. “Oh thanks," says the woman, "I almost sat on that." An escaped lion leaps in from the side and mauls her.

Joe is holding a large girder in the round. Fred is holding a large hammer. Joe: "When I nod my head, you hit it." Joe nods. Fred hits Joe over the head with the hammer.

Anticipation

Looking forward to a potential laugh

Running Gag

Three things required that you plant or emphasize something early, then establish joke, and then clinch the joke

The 1980 movie, Airplane!, has Leslie Neilson's character, Dr. Rumack, creating a running gag with the line, "Don't call me Shirley." For example, a character named Ted Striker says to Dr. Rumack, "Surely, you can't be serious." Dr. Rumack replies, "I am serious...and don't call me Shirley." The surely/Shirley gag continues throughout the film. Striker says to Rumack, "Surely, there must be something you can do" and Rumack responds with, "I'm doing everything I can...and stop calling me Shirley!"

Ambiguity

Double meaning, puns and word play

"I've got nothing against disabled people, I've even got one of their stickers on my car" – Damian Callinan

A: My dog's got no nose. B: How does he smell? A: Awful.

“I told the ambulance men the wrong blood type for my ex, so he knows what rejection feels like" – Pippa Evans

Recognition

Discovering hidden or obsure meanings

In Fiddler on the Roof, Lazer Wolf approaches Tevya with the intent of buying a cow. Tevya however, thinks that Lazer wants to marry his oldest daughter. The audience finds the misunderstanding very funny; when Tevya recognizes his mistake, the audience is again amused.

Protection

A situation in which the audience laughs because it knows violent actions are not realistic