Slapstick
This article is about comedic slapstick. For the science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut, see Slapstick (book). For the percussion instrument, see whip (instrument). For the Marvel Comics superhero, See Slapstick (comics) for the Chicago punk-ska band see Slapstick (band). Slapstick is a type of
comedy involving exaggerated physical violence. (E.g., A character being hit in the face with a frying pan or pie, getting matches lit between the toes, or running full-speed into a wall.) The style is common to those genres of entertainment in which the audience is supposed to understand the very hyperbolic nature of such violence to exceed the boundaries of common sense and thus license non-cruel laughter. Its greatest modern representations thus lie in cartoons and the simple, amplified film comedies aimed at younger audiences. Though the term is often used pejoratively, the performance of slapstick comedy, based on exquisite timing and unerring calculation of execution, character reaction and audience laughter, is considered among the more difficult tasks facing a live performer.
The style is derived from the
Commedia dell'arte which employed a great deal of physical abuse and tumbling. The phrase comes from the
battacchio, a club-like object composed of two wooden slats which, when struck, produced a loud smacking noise; little force, however, is transferred from the objectto the person being struck, allowing actors to strike each other repeatedly with great audio effect while causing very little actual damage. Along with the inflatable bladder, it was among the earliest forms of
special effects that could be carried on one's person.
History
While the object from which we derive the modern term dates from the
Renaissance, theatre historians argue that slapstick comedy has been at least somewhat present in almost all comedic genres since the rejuvination of theatre in church liturgical dramas in the middle ages. (Some argue for instances of it in Greek and Roman theatre, as well.) Beating the devil off stage, for example, remained a stock
comedic device in many of the most serious religious plays.
Shakespeare also incorporated many chase scenes and beatings into his comedies. Building off its later appearance in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century ethnic routines of the American
vaudeville house, the style was explored extensively during the "golden era" of black and white, silent movies directed by
Mack Sennett and
Hal Roach and featuring such notables as
Buster Keaton,
Charlie Chaplin,
Laurel and Hardy, the
Marx Brothers, the
Keystone Kops, and the
Three Stooges. Slapstick is also common in animated
cartoons such as
Tom and Jerry and
Looney Tunes.
In recent times, some have criticized representations of violence for encouraging actual violence, a claim supported by the
American Academy of Pediatrics.[
1] Slapstick comedy has not escaped negative attention, though its lengthy presence in performance history and obviously fictitious nature often inures it from the censorious efforts aimed at
video games and
action films. Indeed, the uninterrupted modern presence of slapstick comedysuggests it shall remain a part of the comedic landscape.
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Laughter*
Slapstick film*
Wacky Comedy film*
Physical comedy*
"What's the origin of 'slapstick'?" (from
The Straight Dope)
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Six Characters Modern Slapstick Comedy
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Parallel Exit Physical Comedy Theatre
