Comedy

Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists

of discourses or works intended to be
humorous or amusing by inducing
laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-
up comedy, television, radio, books, or any
other entertainment medium. The term
originated in ancient Greece: In Athenian
democracy, the public opinion of voters
was influenced by political satire
performed by comic poets in theaters.[1]
The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can
be described as a dramatic performance
pitting two groups, ages, genders, 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".[2] A
revised view characterizes the essential
agon of comedy as a struggle between a
relatively powerless youth and the societal
conventions posing obstacles to his
hopes. In this struggle, the youth then
becomes constrained by his lack of social
authority, and is left with little choice but to
resort to ruses which engender dramatic
irony, which provokes laughter.[3]
Satire and political satire use comedy to
portray people 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, which can often be taken as
offensive by the subjects of said joke. 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

Tragic Comic Masks of Ancient Greek Theatre represented in the Hadrian's Villa mosaic

Dean Rubin says the word "comedy" is

derived from the Classical Greek κωμῳδία
kōmōidía, which is a compound of κῶμος
kômos (revel) and ᾠδή ōidḗ (singing;
ode).[4] 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".[5] 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.[6]

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.[7] 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.[6]
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 Bishr, 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.[8]

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.[9][10]
History

Western history

Dionysiac origins, Aristophanes and

Aristotle

Roman-era mosaic depicting a scene from Menander's comedy Samia ("The Woman from Samos")

Starting from 425 BCE, Aristophanes, a

comic play 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.[11] The only surviving examples
of the satyr plays are by Euripides, which
are much later examples and not
representative of the genre.[12] In ancient
Greece, comedy originated in bawdy and
ribald songs or recitations apropos of
phallic processions and fertility festivals or
gatherings.[13]

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.[14] 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 other hand,
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.
Commedia dell'arte and Shakespearean,
Elizabethan comedy

Title page of the first quarto of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream (1600)

"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.[15]

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.[16] The figure who later became
Mr. Punch made his first recorded
appearance in England in 1662.[17] 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.[18]
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."[17]

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.[19] British comedians
who honed their skills in music hall
sketches include Charlie Chaplin, Stan
Laurel and Dan Leno.[20] 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.[20] 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".[21] 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."[22]
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.[23] 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.[23]
Edward Lear, Aged 73 and a Half and His Cat Foss, Aged 16, an 1885 lithograph by Edward Lear

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.[24]

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.[25] 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.[26]
20th century film, records, radio, and
television

Charlie Chaplin as "The Tramp" (1921)

Jim Carrey mugs for the camera.

Jordan Peele at the Peabody awards

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 late 20th
century through mime artists like Marcel
Marceau, and the slapstick 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
surreal humour of the Goon Show after the
Second World War. The Goons' influence
spread to the American radio and
recording troupe the Firesign Theatre.
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, Bob Hope and Phyllis
Diller during the mid-20th century, to
performers like George Carlin, Bill Cosby,
Joan Rivers, Robin Williams, and Eddie
Murphy toward 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".[27]
Eastern history

Indian aesthetics and drama

By 200 BC,[28] 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 comic theory
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.[29][30]

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.'"[31] 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.[32] The
comic frame does not aim to vilify in its
analysis, but rather, rebuke the stupidity
and foolery of those involved in the
circumstances.[33] 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."[34] 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[35]
 Sketch comedy

Plays

Comic theatre
Musical comedy

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
Knock-knock joke

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

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

Lists of comedians
List of comedians
List of comedians#Comedy groups
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

Audio recording

Comedy album

Television and radio

Television comedy
Situation comedy
Radio comedy
Comedy networks

British sitcom
British comedy
Comedy Central – television channel
devoted strictly to comedy
Comedy Nights with Kapil – 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
 CTV Comedy Channel – Canadian TV
channel formerly known as The Comedy
Network.
Gold
Sky Comedy – British comedy network
Comedy Gold – a Canadian comedy
channel, the CTV Comedy Channel is a
sister to it
Bip – Israeli comedy channel.

See also
Comedy
portal

List of comedy television series

List of genres
 Lists of comedy films
Theories of humor
Women in comedy

Notes
1. Henderson, J. (1993) Comic Hero versus
Political Elite pp. 307–19 in Sommerstein,
A.H.; S. Halliwell; J. Henderson; B.
Zimmerman, eds. (1993). Tragedy, Comedy
and the Polis. Bari: Levante Editori.
2. (Anatomy of Criticism, 1957)
3. Marteinson, 2006
4. comedy (n.) (https://www.etymonline.com/
word/comedy) "The old derivation from
kome "village" is not now regarded."
5. Cornford (1934)
6. Oxford English Dictionary
7. McKeon, Richard. The Basic Works Of
Aristotle, the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, 2001, p. 1459.
8. Webber, Edwin J. (January 1958). "Comedy
as Satire in Hispano-Arabic Spain". Hispanic
Review. 26 (1): 1–11. doi:10.2307/470561
(https://doi.org/10.2307%2F470561) .
JSTOR 470561 (https://www.jstor.org/stabl
e/470561) .
9. Herman Braet, Guido Latré, Werner Verbeke
(2003) Risus mediaevalis: laughter in
medieval literature and art (https://books.g
oogle.com/books?id=6mqDEpy0YUsC&pg=
PA1) p.1 quotation:

The deliberate use by Menard of

the term 'le rire' rather than
'l'humour' reflects accurately
the current evidency to
incorporate all instances of the
comic in the analysis, while the
classification in genres and
fields such as grotesque,
humour and even irony or
satire always poses problems.
The terms humour and
 laughter are therefore
pragmatically used in recent
historiography to cover the
entire spectrum.
10. Ménard, Philippe (1988) Le rire et le sourire
au Moyen Age dans la littérature et les arts.
Essai de problématique in Bouché, T. and
Charpentier H. (eds., 1988) Le rire au
Moyen Âge, Actes du colloque international
de Bordeaux, pp. 7–30
11. Aristophanes (1996) Lysistrata (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=YhaawA_m9SEC
&pg=PR9) , Introduction, p.ix, published by
Nick Hern Books
12. Reckford, Kenneth J. (1987)Aristophanes'
Old-and-new Comedy: Six essays in
perspective (https://books.google.com/boo
ks?id=v9MSdTvbOFAC&pg=PA105) p.105
13. Cornford, F.M. (1934) The Origin of Attic
Comedy (https://books.google.com/books?
id=uhE9AAAAIAAJ) pp.3-4 quotation:

That Comedy sprang up and

took shape in connection with
Dionysiac or Phallic ritual has
never been doubted.

14. "Aristotle, Poetics, lines beginning at 1449a"

(https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/pte
xt?lookup=Aristot.+Poet.+1449a) .
Perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
15. Regan, Richard. "Shakespearean comedy (h
ttp://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/rjregan/rrSco
m.htm) "
16. Wheeler, R. Mortimer (1911). "Punch
(puppet)"  (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1
911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Punc
h_(puppet)) . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.).
Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press. pp. 648–649.
17. "Punch and Judy around the world" (https://
www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/7949
781/Punch-and-Judy-around-the-world.htm
l) . The Telegraph. 11 June 2015. Archived
(https://ghostarchive.org/archive/2022011
0/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expat
life/7949781/Punch-and-Judy-around-the-w
orld.html) from the original on 2022-01-10.
18. "Mr Punch celebrates 350 years of puppet
anarchy" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ent
ertainment-arts-17895716) . BBC. 11 June
2015.
19. Jeffrey Richards (2014). "The Golden Age
of Pantomime: Slapstick, Spectacle and
Subversion in Victorian England". I.B.Tauris,
20. McCabe, John. "Comedy World of Stan
Laurel". p. 143. London: Robson Books,
2005, First edition 1975
21. Burton, Alan (2000). Pimple, pranks &
pratfalls: British film comedy before 1930.
Flicks Books. p. 51.
22. J. P. Gallagher (1971). "Fred Karno: master
of mirth and tears". p. 165. Hale.
23. Stockwell, Peter (1 November 2016). The
Language of Surrealism (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=KZhNDQAAQBAJ&q=Sur
real+humour&pg=PA177) . p. 177.
ISBN 978-1-137-39219-0.
24. Lear, Edward (2004-10-08). Nonsense
Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets (htt
p://www.gutenberg.org/files/13650/13650-
h/13650-h.htm#children) .
25. Buelens, Geert; Hendrix, Harald; Jansen,
Monica, eds. (2012). The History of
Futurism: The Precursors, Protagonists, and
Legacies. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-
7391-7387-9.
26. Gayford, Martin (16 February 2008).
"Duchamp's Fountain: The practical joke
that launched an artistic revolution" (http
s://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/36711
80/Duchamps-Fountain-The-practical-joke-t
hat-launched-an-artistic-revolution.html) .
The Daily Telegraph. Archived (https://ghos
tarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://ww
w.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3671180/Duc
hamps-Fountain-The-practical-joke-that-lau
nched-an-artistic-revolution.html) from the
original on 2022-01-10. Retrieved
5 February 2017.
27. Meacham, Steve (15 September 2010).
"Absurd moments: in the frocks of the
dame" (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/
entertainment/books/absurd-moments-in-t
he-frocks-of-the-dame-20100914-15ar3.ht
ml) . Brisbanetimes.com.au. Retrieved
20 December 2011.
28. Robert Barton, Annie McGregor (3 January
2014). Theatre in Your Life (https://books.g
oogle.com/books?id=xeUbCgAAQBAJ&pg=
PA218) . CengageBrain. p. 218. ISBN 978-1-
285-46348-3.
29. "An impolite interview with Lenny Bruce" (ht
tp://www.ep.tc/realist/15/03.html) . The
Realist (15): 3. February 1960. Retrieved
30 December 2011.
30. Meredith, George (1987). "Essay on
Comedy, Comic Spirit" (http://emotional-lite
racy-education.com/classic-books-online-
b/esycm10.htm) . Encyclopedia of the Self,
by Mark Zimmerman. Retrieved
30 December 2011.
31. "The Comic Frame" (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20131230233322/http://newanticho
icerhetoric.web.unc.edu/the-comedic-fram
e/) . newantichoicerhetoric.web.unc.edu.
Archived from the original (http://newantich
oicerhetoric.web.unc.edu/the-comedic-fra
me/) on 2013-12-30. Retrieved
2015-11-06.
32. "Standing Up for Comedy: Kenneth Burke
and The Office – KB Journal" (http://www.k
bjournal.org/biebel) . www.kbjournal.org.
33. "History – School of Humanities and
Sciences" (http://www.ithaca.edu/hs/histor
y/journal/papers/sp02comedyandtragedy.h
tml) . www.ithaca.edu. Ithaca College.
34. Trischa Goodnow Knapp (2011). The Daily
Show and Rhetoric: Arguments, Issues, and
Strategies (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=OQ9Gu4-tYsQC&pg=PA237) . p. 327.
Lexington Books, 2011
35. This list was compiled with reference to
The Cambridge Guide to Theatre (1998).

References
Buckham, Philip Wentworth (1827). Theatre
of the Greeks (https://archive.org/details/bub
_gb_IjAZAAAAYAAJ) . J. Smith. "The Theatre
of the Greeks."
Marteinson, Peter (2006). On the Problem of
the Comic: A Philosophical Study on the
Origins of Laughter (https://web.archive.org/
web/20080321015313/http://www.chass.uto
ronto.ca/french/as-sa/editors/origins.html) .
Ottawa: Legas Press. Archived from the
original (http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/frenc
h/as-sa/editors/origins.html) on 2008-03-
21. Retrieved 2007-12-10. The Origins of
Laughter (http://french.chass.utoronto.ca/as
-sa/editors/origins.html)
Pickard-Cambridge, Sir Arthur Wallace
Dithyramb, Tragedy, and Comedy , 1927.
The Theatre of Dionysus in Athens, 1946.
The Dramatic Festivals of Athens, 1953.
Raskin, Victor (1985). The Semantic
Mechanisms of Humor. Springer. ISBN 978-
90-277-1821-1.
Riu, Xavier (1999). "Dionysism and Comedy"
(http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2000/2000-
06-13.html) . Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane (2003). Tragedy
and Athenian Religion. Lexington Books.
ISBN 978-0-7391-0400-2.
Trypanis, C.A. (1981). Greek Poetry from
Homer to Seferis. University of Chicago
Press.
Wiles, David (1991). The Masked Menander:
Sign and Meaning in Greek and Roman
Performance. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 978-0-521-40135-7.
External links
Comedy (https://curlie.org/Arts/Perform
ing_Arts/Comedy) at Curlie
A Vocabulary for Comedy (http://www.d
bu.edu/mitchell/comedydi.htm)
(definitions are taken from Harmon,
William & C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook
to Literature. 7th ed.)
Wikisource has the text of the 1920
Encyclopedia Americana article
Comedy.

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