stage comedy
Live comedic performance
Stage comedy is theatrical performance intended to provoke laughter, distinguished from comedy in film, television, or other media.
The term emphasizes live performance before an audience: The actor made his name in stage comedy before transitioning to dramatic roles.
It encompasses everything from ancient Greek comedies to modern farces and improvisational theater.
- Commedia dell'arteItalian improvised masked theater
- farceAbsurd, laughable situation
- punchlineHumor's final delivery
- laugh out loudVocalize strong amusement
- MolièreTartuffe's comic creator
Oscar Wilde · George Bernard Shaw · pantomime · William Shakespeare · satire · ensemble cast · timing · slapstick · comic timing · Aristophanes · clowning · burlesque · scene stealing · comedic actor · dinner theater · theater troupe · drama · heckler
- comedy typesclown, satire, parody, farce, slapstick
- theater historyGreek tragedy, vaudeville, William Shakespeare, Drury Lane, Christopher Marlowe
- MoliereTartuffe, Don Juan, Psyche
- OperettaOffenbach, aria, libretto, overture
- Japanese Comedycomedic duo, double act, straight man, funny man
- Yiddish theaterYiddish theater, Second Avenue
stage comedytragic drama
Solemn theatrical work, grim ending
tragedy · Greek tragedy · melodrama · tragicomedy · weepie
stage comedyimprovisational comedy
Unscripted comedic performance
improv · stand-up comedy · sketch comedy · street performance