Theme: Humor in film -- what makes me laugh:
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| Physical comedy. |
"...physical comedy only works if you see someone get hurt and they aren't actually hurt. If someone gets hit in the face with a bat, falls down, and gets back up, it's funny. If they stay down and their jaw is wired shut in the next scene, it's really tragic..." (Chris Pratt)Pratfalls (falling on the buttocks without injury), facial expressions, slapstick (being struck without injury), sight gags (visual jokes), are techniques of physical comedy. I wrote an academic paper about those techniques and shared it on this blog a few years ago. (Found here.)
I grew up watching the physical comedy of Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, and the queen of comedy, Lucille Ball.
In searching for a fun clip to share, I came across this one from Rat Race (2001) with a busload of Lucille Ball impersonators. Enjoy!
Movieclips: Rat Race - I Love Lucy
Which comedians or films come to your mind when you think physical comedy?
Oh sorry, I missed yesterday post, so I didn't know. I hope you will feel better soon, and keep going.
ReplyDeleteWhy, The Three Stooges, of course! They were masters of it. The Marx Brothers were good at it, too, especially Harpo.
ReplyDelete@Frederique ... I hope I feel better soon, too. Thanks!
ReplyDelete@John ... The Three Stooges were masters of physical comedy, for sure! I'm smiling just thinking about their antics.
ReplyDeleteI think Art Carney as Ed Norton from the old Honeymooners show had some funny physical comedy, even if it was just his hand motions.
ReplyDeleteJanet’s Smiles
I think Jim Carrey is great at physical comedy, like in Bruce Almighty and as Ace Ventura. His facial expressions combined with what he does with his body really make it work!
ReplyDelete@Janet ... Thanks for sharing about Art Carney... I had forgotten all about him! He brought a lot of fun and physical comedy into the characters he portrayed.
ReplyDelete@Sue ... Jim Carrey's physical comedy is amazing... like he's made out of rubber. I've seen most of his films but somehow I missed Bruce Almighty. I'll try to find that.
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