visual gag
Comedy through pictures
A visual gag is a joke that works through what you see rather than what you hear—physical comedy, sight gags, or visual incongruity.
Silent film comedians like Chaplin and Keaton perfected the form: a man slipping on a banana peel, a house facade falling around someone who happens to stand where the window is.
The movie relies heavily on visual gags rather than witty dialogue.
- slapstickExaggerated physical humor
- physical comedyHumor from bodily mishaps
- pratfallComedic fall on buttocks
- punchlineHumor's final delivery
- comedyWork meant to amuse
timing · sight · joke · rubber chicken · physical · cartoon · silent · silent film · film · Chaplin · funny walk · prop · banana · banana peel · peel · pie · face · double
- comedycomedy, jokes, humor, puns, sarcasm
- comicscomic books, comic book, comic strip, comic art, comic panel
- Silent Filmsilent films, silent era, silent comedy, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton
- comedy termsjokes, puns, wit, sarcasm, irony
- comedy tropespratfall, parody, satire, punchline, farce
- slapstickpratfall, banana peel, pie throw, falling down, custard pie
visual gagwordplay
Verbal wit techniques
pun · one-liner · verbal humor · witticism · bon mot
visual gagverbal communication
Exchange through spoken language
spoken word · narration · exposition · dialogue · laugh track
visual gagsatirical commentary
Ridicule to expose flaws
irony · dry wit · observational humor · shaggy dog story · deadpan delivery
visual, visually, visibility, visible, visibly, vision, visionary, envision, invisible