visual gags
Comedy without words
Visual gags are comedic moments that work through what you see rather than what you hear—pratfalls, sight jokes, physical mishaps, or unexpected visual juxtapositions.
Silent film relied heavily on visual gags: Buster Keaton's visual gags still hold up a century later.
The term applies to any medium where humor comes from the image itself rather than dialogue or wordplay.
- pratfallComedic fall on buttocks
- slapstickExaggerated physical humor
- physical comedyHumor from bodily mishaps
- clowningPlayful comic behavior
- funny walkHumorous exaggerated movement style
incongruity · mime · banana peel · ladder fall · parody · Buster Keaton · absurdity · optical illusion · rubber chicken · squirting flower · prop comedy · juxtaposition · double-take · farce · Charlie Chaplin · comedy · comedic timing · pantomime
- kid comedyknock-knock jokes, potty humor, poop jokes, silly faces, funny faces
- Silent Filmsilent films, silent era, silent comedy, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton
- comedy tropespratfall, parody, satire, punchline, farce
- jokesjokes, joke, puns, one-liners, pun
- comedy propscomedy props, prop comedy, whoopee cushion, clown nose, fake mustaches
- comic reliefcomic relief, comic interlude, levity, slapstick, pratfalls
visual gagsverbal humor
Comedy using language
wordplay · puns · verbal wit · one-liners · witty banter
visual gagswordplay
Verbal wit techniques
puns · verbal wit · verbal irony · witticisms · double entendres