comic irony
Humorous situational reversal
Comic irony is a form of irony played for humor, where the gap between expectation and reality produces laughter rather than tragedy.
Often the audience knows something a character doesn't, making their confident wrongness funny: He boasted about his foolproof plan while we watched it fall apart behind him.
The technique appears throughout comedy, from Shakespeare's mistaken identities to sitcom misunderstandings.
- tragic flawDefect causing protagonist's downfall
- satireMockery exposing vice
- biting humorSharp, cutting comedy
- witClever, inventive humor
- dry witUnderstated, ironic humor
sarcasm · parody · farce · banana peel · absurdity · punchline · running gag · timing · deadpan · straight man · mockery · situational · twist · subversion · bathos · lampoon · tongue-in-cheek · inside joke
comic ironytragic irony
Foreknown doom, unknown to doomed
pathos · earnestness · dramatic irony · solemnity · gravitas
comic ironytragedy
Disastrous or sorrowful event
tragic drama · tragic irony · catharsis · hubris · hamartia
comic ironysincerity
Honest, unfeigned genuineness
straightforwardness · plain speech · earnestness · literalism · direct speech
comic, irony, comics, comical, comically, comedian, comedic, comedy, comedies