Characteristics of Comedy

The genre of comedy uses humour as a driving force and yet occasionally it will take on a more serious subject, however usually the story will have a happy ending – although generally Shakespeare is excluded from this rule.

There are several techniques used throughout comedy such as the use of hyperbole but some people argue that the most important of these techniques is timing which is the use of pausing to enhance the humour. Both Rowan Atkinson and Ricky Gervais are known for their superior use of comic timing.

As well as the use of certain techniques, comedy can be combined with other genres to create a subgenre, for example ‘Rom-Com’, ‘Dramedy’ or ‘Slapstick’. However, these sub-genres are mostly used in more modern comedies.

One distinctive Shakespearian comedy characteristic is that the majority of his comedy scripts include a love plot even though they are not primarily classed as ‘romance genres’.

There are several characteristics of comedy that can be picked out from an extract from the ‘Only Fools and Horses’ script, the most obvious of which is possibly ‘Boycie’s’ use of hyperbole when he refers to ‘Trigger’ as a creation of “a chemical spillage at a germ warfare plant”. This comedy technique is met with another in Trigger’s response in which he remains ignorant to the fact that he has been insulted.

Trigger is consistently ‘dim-witted’ throughout the extract, meaning that anyone can get an idea of his character traits, even if they have never even heard of ‘Only Fools and Horses’ which could be part of the reason why it is such a long-standing comedy programme, as it is not just the character of Trigger that is consistent, but each of the characters have a definite personality about them, making them more relatable to the viewer and it also helps to develop a bond between character and viewer.