Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The influence of comedy
The influence of comedy
The influence of comedy
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Picture a short, round, confused man, standing next to someone tall, slick, and intellectual, and you have a duo that brought laughter to numerous audiences. Together Bud Abbott and Lou Costello formed a team with great chemistry; by using their natural abilities and deep backgrounds they produced a successful career that carried on throughout three decades. Steve Allen agrees, "Only a very talented team like Abbott & Costello could have survived the transition from burlesque and vaudeville to radio to films to television to night clubs, over a period of twenty-two years" (qtd. in Costello xii).
Obviously from the beginning of Abbott and Costello's careers, these two comics were indeed talented. Before Costello, Abbott had previously worked with funnymen Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson. "With both Steppe and Evanson, Bud had the uncommon knack of making them seem funnier than they were. . . . [Furthermore,] everyone in burlesque agreed Bud Abbott would go far, if he could only find the right comic to team up with" (Thomas 37). The same problem occurred with the early years of Lou Costello's career. When Bud first saw Lou perform he thought to himself, "Joe Lyons [Costello's partner] simply wasn't doing it right. But the Costello kid was all right. Damn good, in fact, even without a strong straight man" (Thomas 50). Finally, in 1935, two years after they first met, Abbott and Costello officially decided to work together; they would later perform together for the first time in 1936 (Furmanek 18).
Abbott and Costello were known as a double act or comedy duo, in which one comedian is considered the straight man and the other is called the comic or funny man. The straight man (Bud Abbott) was known to be intelligent and reasonable, in contrast the comic (Lou Costello) was commonly seen as a dumb and an unfortunate character ("Double Act"). Brooks Atkinson, in his Times piece describes:
Abbott is the overbearing mastermind whose feverish, impatient guidance of the conversation produces the crisis. Costello is the short, fat he-who-gets-slapped. He is a moon-faced zany with wide, credulous eyes, a high voice, and puffy hands that struggle in futile gestures. Both men work themselves into a state of excitement that is wonderful to behold. (qtd. by Thomas 73)
What produced this duo's classic humor was the uncanny ability to play off each other's roles and differences, as Abbott would use his classy, intelligent role to belittle the fat, dim-witted Costello.
Burns and Allen were one of the few entertainers that succeeded in vaudeville, film, radio and television. Both established a new format in performing; domestic situation comedy, which was imitated by many directors till this day. Burns and Allen succeeded in their career and made millions of people laugh for decades. Burns and Allen had a successful partnership, marriage and family. The Burns and Allen Show was one of the few shows during the 1920s and 1930s that did not include clown, jugglers, etc., to make the show funny and was a great example of a successful transition from theater to film to radio and finally to television
What is the first thing you think of when you here of the 1930’s, Amos and Andy or how about Lum and Abner? Lum and Abner weren’t really expected to do anything with their lives; they were just having fun trying to make something of them selves. They became two of the most famous people from Polk and Montgomery counties: Chet Lauck- Lum, Norris Goff- Abner, and the history of Lum and Abner.
At the other extreme is the Comedian. While the Comedian's own ethics are cast unclear through the film. Dr. Manhattan claims that the Comedian is "deliberately amoral", while Rorschach sees the Comedians wrong doings as "moral lapses". Yet, his tendencies are clearly shown at the first gathering of
In the first place, Two-Bit is funny and is the gangs comedian. This trait can be seen in Two-Bit’s actions. “life is a joke to Two-Bit” (10). This quote shows that life is just one big laugh to Two-Bit. This quote expresses Two-Bit’s comedian like attitude as well because
This skit violates the Maxim of Manner, which states that a speaker avoid ambiguity. This skit is full of lexical and structural ambiguities. During the exchanges between Abbott and Costello each man is misinterpreting what the other is meaning by their answers or questions. For example, in this exchange
The majority of comedy is centered on identity. Comedy, like many other aspects of different cultures contains barriers that are broken only by an understanding of the context of the comedy. In order words, it is unlikely that an African would fully understand a joke by an American comedian if the joke draws from a primarily American historical or social context. Hence, what one can identify with affects what kind of jokes one can relate to. Identity is predicated on the ability to relate because identities are formed through personal interpretations of the environment one finds himself or herself in. These personal interpretations can be highly influenced by a manipulation of the context or amount of representation. Using Bigsby and Ruckus
From 1879 until 1884 the variety team of Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and performed in musical farces set on the streets of New York. The main focus of the shows was on lower class immigrant life, depicting real-life problems as interracial tensions, political corruption and gang violence. Harrigan and Hart are best known as the creators of musical comedy. They made these problems into harmless humor. “Harrigan and Hart’s shows had scores in the style of contemporary popular music with simple melodies and lyrics, lots of sentiment and a wry sense of street-smart humor (musicals 101.com).
Comedy differs in the mood it approaches and addresses life. It presents situations which deal with common ground of man’s social experience rather than limits of his behaviour – it is not life in the tragic mode, lived at the difficult and perilous limits of the human condition.
How did comedy come about? Who is Steve Harvey, Tyler Perry and Geoffrey Chaucer? What do they all have in common? Steve Harvey is an American comedian born on January 17, 1957. Harvey is known for his best radio talk, T.V. host, author and actor. Perry is an American actor, producer, one of the funniest comedians of all time also a screenwriter and specialist in gospel music. Chaucer was born, Circa 1340 in London England. He became a public servant in 1357 to countless Elizabeth of ulster. The Canterbury Tales became his know best
Australian humour is very unique to Australia, and many other cultures find it quite unusual. It can be described as dry, anti-authoritarian, self-mocking, very ironic and as to stretch the boundaries of what is acceptable. Our humour is seen through our use of slang, print cartoons, radio sketches, comedy series’ on television, films, everyday life and in Australian literature. According to the Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus , humour means, “The quality of being funny; the ability to appreciate or express that which is humorous; situations, speech or writings that are humorous”. Due to its unique qualities, it will become apparent that Australian humour is quiet different to that of America and England and other nations. To highlight the importance of humour through the development of Australian identity, five main elements have been identified. These are, the part Australian humour plays in Australian identity, its unique qualities, its integral part in the Australian identity, the role of humour in times of great hardship and other nation’s perceptions of Australian humour. It is through these elements that it will become evident that humour is an important part of the development of the Australian identity.
Both Plautus and Terence are highly renowned playwrights, whose work has been passed on as an example of comedy in Roman culture. Plautus and Terence both pulled from the Greeks as inspiration, and although both authors’ work is humorous, they take different form. Plautus’ work is extreme, light-hearted and comical, while Terence’s work is more witty and realistic. This can be seen in Plautus’ play Double Bind and Terence’s work The Brothers. In both plays the authors have the same theme of moderation and use extremes to convey this message. Also both plays illustrate general confusion to create humor within the play. However, Plautus does not develop characters within his play, sticking with stock characters throughout the play. Instead Terence
Language or the way in which words are used is one of the most important components of a comedy. Through an intelligent use of word play and the ability to add
The nature of comedy has always left it somewhat resistant to critical analysis, and to some extent the same can be said for comedic actors. The class-clowns of Hollywood like Will Ferrell are often times constructed as being nothing more than amusing, so they seem like a simple case study.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Humor has been the source of entertainment throughout history. Today humor is practiced in movies, plays, songs, television shows and radio. Humor has brought fame and fortune to those who have mastered its power.