comic interludes
Humorous dramatic pauses
Comic interludes are humorous scenes or passages inserted into a serious work, providing relief from tension or tragedy.
Shakespeare's plays famously include them—the gravedigger scene in Hamlet, the porter in Macbeth.
The term extends beyond drama: The meeting's comic interludes kept everyone from burning out.
Also called comic relief.
- dramatic tensionAnticipation in storytelling
- punsJokes using sound similarities
- Shakespearean playsStage works by Stratford's bard
- slapstickExaggerated physical humor
- sight gagsHumor through action, not words
wordplay · irony · gallows humor · double entendre · kyogen · satire · farce · running gag · parody · caricature · absurdity · funny business · emotional catharsis · character development · audience engagement · breaking the fourth wall · buffoonery
- CervantesDon Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes, Sancho Panza, Cervantes, Rocinante
- Indian Performancekathak, mudras, classical drama, folk theater, court dance
- Japanese theaterkabuki, noh, bunraku, Bunraku, kyogen
- Chinese OperaBeijing opera, folk opera, painted faces, face-changing, dan