Slapstick

This article is about the style of comedy. For other uses, see Slapstick (disambiguation).

Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity which exceeds the boundaries of common sense.

Origins

Charlie Chaplin

The name "slapstick" comes from the Italian language word batacchio or bataccio — called the "slap stick" in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in commedia dell'arte. When struck, the battacchio produces a loud smacking noise, though little force transfers from the object to the person being struck. Actors may thus hit one another repeatedly with great audible effect while causing very little actual physical damage. Along with the inflatable bladder (of which the whoopee cushion is a modern variant), it was among the earliest special effects.

History

Slapstick comedy's history is measured in centuries. Shakespeare incorporated many chase scenes and beatings into his comedies, such as in his play The Comedy of Errors. In early 19th century England, pantomime acquired its present form which includes slapstick comedy, while comedy routines also featured heavily in British music hall theatre which became popular in the 1850s. British comedians who honed their skills at pantomime and music hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, George Formby and Dan Leno. The influential English music hall comedian and theatre impresario Fred Karno developed a form of sketch comedy without dialogue in the 1890s, and Chaplin and Laurel were among the young comedians who worked for him as part of "Fred Karno's Army".

"Fred Karno is not only a genius, he is the man who originated slapstick comedy. We in Hollywood owe much to him."

— American producer Hal Roach.

Building on its later popularity in the 19th and early 20th-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 figures Mack Sennett and Hal Roach and featuring such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, the Keystone Cops, the Three Stooges, and Chespirito. Slapstick is also common in Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. Silent slapstick comedy was also popular in early French films and included films by Max Linder and Charles Prince.

Slapstick continues to maintain a presence in modern comedy that draws upon its lineage, running in film from Buster Keaton and Louis de Funès to Mel Brooks to the television series Jackass and comedy movies by the Farrelly Brothers, and in live performance from Weber and Fields to Jackie Gleason to Rowan Atkinson. In England, slapstick was a main element of the Monty Python comedy troupe and in television series such as Fawlty Towers and The Benny Hill Show. Slapstick has remained a popular art form to the present day.

See also

• Laughter
• List of slapstick comedy topics
• Slapstick film
• Wacky Comedy film
• Physical comedy
• Stage combat
• Schadenfreude