Portal:Comedy

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Comedy is a genre 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. 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". 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. 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 the 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. (Full article...)

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"Goodbyeee" is the sixth and final episode of the British historical sitcom Blackadder's fourth series, entitled Blackadder Goes Forth. First broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 1989, shortly before Armistice Day, the episode depicts its main characters' final hours before a British offensive on the Western Front of the First World War, and the failed attempts of Captain Blackadder, played by Rowan Atkinson (pictured), to escape his fate by feigning madness. After he cannot convince General Melchett, and Field Marshal Haig's advice is useless, he is resigned to take part in the push. It has a darker tone than other episodes in the series, culminating with the main characters charging into no-man's land under machine-gun fire. The episode's theme of death ties in with the series' use of gallows humour and its criticism and satire of war. Richard Curtis and Ben Elton wrote the episode, and additional material was provided by its cast members. Its slow-motion final sequence showing the main characters going "over the top" has often been voted one of the greatest moments in television.

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Credit: Jastrow

Thalia, muse of comedy, holding a comic mask - detail of “Muses Sarcophagus”, the nine Muses and their attributes; marble, early second century AD, Via Ostiense - Louvre

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...that David Letterman parodied Werner Erhard in the 1978 Mork & Mindy episode Mork Goes Erk?

... that Rachel Dratch lost the role of 30 Rock character Jenna Maroney to Jane Krakowski, but later appeared as a maid in the 30 Rock episode The Aftermath?

... that British sitcom pilot Campus, which was written by six of the same writers who wrote Green Wing, is set in a red brick university whose motto is "With wings"?

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Not living in fear is a great gift, because certainly these days we do it so much. And do you know what I like about comedy? You can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time—of anything. If you’re laughing, I defy you to be afraid.

— Stephen Colbert, 2007

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Jonathan Niven "Jon" Cryer (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor, screenwriter and film producer. He is the son of actress/singer Gretchen Cryer. He made his motion picture debut by starring in the 1984 romantic comedy No Small Affair, but gained greater fame by starring as "Duckie" in the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. In 1998 he finished writing and producing the independent film Went to Coney Island on a Mission From God... Be Back by Five, which was well received. Even though Cryer gained some fame by starring in these movies, he had not found television success; the shows he had starred in (The Famous Teddy Z, Partners and The Trouble with Normal) all did not last very long, until, in 2003, he was cast to portray Alan Harper on the CBS hit comedy series Two and a Half Men, opposite Charlie Sheen. To date, the actor has received three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on the show.

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