The Components of Comedy

Rowan Atkinson, pictured left portraying his famous character, Mr Bean) once said;

An object or person can become funny in three

different ways - ALL relate to incongruity!

➢ By being in an unusual place

(eg. Driving a car while sitting on its roof)

➢ By behaving in an unusual way

(eg. Acting child-like and talking to his
teddy and using exaggerated gestures and
attitudes)

➢ By being the wrong size

(eg. Mr Bean's suit is two sizes too small. He often uses overreactions and
exaggerates his odd or absurd (illogical and without meaning) behaviours.

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Comedic Devices

★ A comedic device is just like the literary techniques we use in English,

except you can use them to make your friends laugh!.

★ You should use these to add humour in your comedic scenes in Drama

★ Remember that not all people find the same things funny - and be careful
to keep your ideas appropriate for a school setting.

INSTRUCTION: Please read each comedic device carefully, then make up, or find an
example on google. You may use quotes, images, describe examples from class, TV,
youtube or make up your own comedic situations!

Comedic Devices List:

Absurdity: Something may be described as “absurd” when it lacks meaning or seems

absolutely insane.

Give an example

Bathos: Low” comedy. Often deals with poop, sex, farting, swearing, etc.

Give an example
Black or Dark comedy: A sub-genre of comedy where topics and events that are usually
treated seriously (death, disease, domestic violence, drug abuse, terrorism, etc.) are treated in a
humorous or satirical manner.

Give an example

Carnival: When social expectations have been flipped upside down.

Eg, a dog driving a car, a masculine man behaving as a child, body/role swapping, etc.

Give an example

Caricature: A drawing or portrait that exaggerates or oversimplifies certain traits in a person's

looks in order to make him look funny or stress a certain part of that person's character.

Example: Chief Wiggum is a caricature of a policeman because his nose is a pig's snout. This
“piggishness” stresses his corrupt nature etc.

Give an example

Confusion/Misunderstandings: A cliche comic device where a person mistakes something or

somebody for another thing/person, and as a result a crazy or embarrassing situation occurs.

Give an example

Exaggeration: Humour often depends upon exaggerated characters, events or situations. This

is used to increase comedic tension and drive the action of the scene towards the climax and
punchline.

Give an example

Gags: A visual gag (a sight gag) is something that conveys humour visually, often without
words being used at all.
eg. A character banging his head on a pole and dramatically falling out of sight of the
audience.

Give an example
Intertextuality: Intertextuality is when a work of art (a book, a film etc.) quotes another work of
art or deliberately makes the reader/viewer think of another work of art. It may be used for
humorous purposes.

Example: When Green Day's floating stage sinks during The Simpsons Movie, the band start
playing classical music in what is an intertextual reference to Titanic. Lisa's lecture is also
called “An Irritating Truth” which is a reference to Al Gore's climate film An Inconvenient Truth.

Give an example

Irony: Irony is when somebody says or does the opposite of what is expected. Read more here.

Give an example

Lazzi: A short physical act of comedy; for instance a short interlude of funny exaggerated
violence, somebody falling etc.

Give an example

Parody: A parody is an imitation of something where the aim is to poke fun at the original.

Example: Movies in the Scary Movie series are parodies of other horror films.

Give an example

Puns: These are often called a ‘play on words’. a joke exploiting the different possible meanings
of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings.

Give an example

Sarcasm: Closely associated with irony. The term is often used to describe a kind of mean irony
that is intended to hurt somebody.

Give an example

Satire: Satire is a comedic performance style that often makes fun of an individual, group or
idea that society disapproves of through mockery or association.. Satire is usually meant as a
critique of mankind's or society's vices, follies or shortcomings.
Give an example

Stereotype: A stereotype is an exaggerated example of a specific type of character. We laugh at

the stereotype because we recognise him/her in people we know or know of. Maybe we even
recognise the stereotype in ourselves to some degree?

Give an example

Incongruity/surprise/the unexpected: Being surprised is often funny. As a humorous device,

surprise is related to incongruity -

Give an example

Understatement/overstatement: Another type of irony; often used to highlight a character's

frustration, over/underconfidence or high/low capability.

Give an example

Meta humour

By making an obvious reference to form, style or conventions of the medium, a performer or

writer can create humor. Jokes made this way may be 'playful' or 'mocking' in tone.

Eg. The person reading this sentence smells funny. That’s right. I’m talking to you. YOU smell
funny… You can stop reading this now… Alright, stop it!

Give an example