Comedy Analysis: Shakespearean Humour

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is often considered to be the greatest playwright and one of the greatest writers in the history of the English language and the western arts. Something he isn't always given enough credit for is his comedic work. His plays were written mainly with the common people in mind and as such feature two prominent themes: sex and violence. Not unlike today, those were the two things that sold very well to the mainstream audience. Although the word “comedy” had a different meaning in Elizabethan times than it does now, there are similarities. Comedy back in those days was used to refer to a play with a happy ending. Shakespeare did however use jokes and creative insults in his plays, which can be compared to modern-day comedy.

Shakespeare's comedy had strong similarities with contemporary comedy and sitcoms. Some examples of recurring elements in his plays are: a focus on situation rather than character (such as in a sitcom), a clever servant (such as in Blackadder III) and use of every type of comedy, including slapstick, wit, puns, deadpan and practical jokes. This results in writing that is still hilarious today, despite Shakespeare having a reputation of being boring among especially the younger generations, which is evidently not deserved.

Shakespearean insults

A great source of comedy are the insults Shakespeare uses. He was generally very creative in his insults and went way beyond the occasional 'idiot' or 'moron' often seen in today's comedy. He does on occasion use maternal insults (the modern equivalent would be a 'Yo Mama-joke').

            Demetrius: "Villain, what hast thou done?"
            Aaron: "That which thou canst not undo."
            Chiron: "Thou hast undone our mother."
            Aaron: "Villain, I have done thy mother."

-        Act IV, Scene II of Titus Andronicus

On occasion Shakespeare does comment on someone's intelligence, such as Menenius telling Brutus to shut up with the following sentence:

           

            “God-den to your worships: more of your conversation would infect my brain, being the            herdsmen of the beastly plebeians: I will be bold to take my leave of you.”

Shakespearean wit

Hamlet is full of hilarious wit

Besides his creative insults, Shakespeare is also known for his great wit and word-play. Hamlet is full of witty remarks and banter by our hero, such as when Osric says “tis very hot”, as an excuse for not wearing his hat, Hamlet makes him say "It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed," and the next moment again that "it is very sultry and hot."

This kind of witty banter makes Hamlet in particular an amazing read with unexpected comedy around every linguistic corner.

A Slap Stick

Shakespearean slapstick

Although slapstick is often associated with early cinematic comedy, it is much older than that. Shakespeare incorporated slapstick into several of his plays, most notably in The Comedy of Errors where he used a lot of slapstick and mistaken identities for comedic effect. He ensured people would not feel sorry for the slapstick victims by focusing more on the situation, than the actual character, much like a sitcom does nowadays.

Shakespeare has left behind a legacy like no other writer. Even people who haven't read or seen any of his plays or who aren't interested in literature and theater usually have some idea who 'Will' was. His influence on comedy and writing in general is unprecedented and impossible to measure. If you haven't seen or read any of his work, go check it out, you will not be let down.

Trivia:

Shakespeare was credited in the Blackadder series on the BBC as “Additional dialogue by William Shakespeare”.

If you want to see a Shakespeare play, but quicker, look up the Reduced Shakespeare Company, who are able to cram all of Shakespeare's play in one evening show.

Comedy Series Review: Scrubs

The original main cast of Scrubs

If you like cutaway gags, bromance, slapstick and a fast-paced screenplay, chances are you will enjoy Scrubs. This medical comedy-drama premiered in 2001 survived for 9 seasons, which is remarkable in today’s fast-changing television world. So why did this show survive that long? And why did it end?

Character development

When Scrubs first started, the main characters (J.D. and Turk) were two interns in the Sacred Heart hospital, still learning to be real doctors. J.D. was training to be an attending physician, whereas Turk was training to be a surgeon. Throughout the series the characters mature and rise through the ranks, resulting in J.D. eventually leaving the hospital to become a residency director in a different hospital. Turk becomes Chief of Surgery. In the last season both J.D. and Turk work as teachers in Winston University, while Turk continues his work as Chief of Surgery. This way of developing characters offers the audience a chance to bond with the characters over time. Also, since the audience ages at approximately the same rate as the actors and characters, it stays easy for the viewer to feel connected with the characters.

Humour

Although there is plenty of (romantic) drama in Scrubs, it is also full of humour. As a result of this, in many countries it is aired by Comedy Central; a broadcasting company focused on humour and comedy. The humour in the series takes on many forms, the most recurrent being slapstick and bromance and cutaway gags, in the form of vignets which can often be surreal.

The slapstick in the series is often due to the janitor, usually simply called Janitor, who is in a constant battle with J.D. This started with J.D. allegedly sabotaging a door with a penny, causing Janitor to have to repair it. This prompts Janitor to seek revenge, often by hurting J.D. in any way he sees fit.

J.D. and Turk have a special relationship, described as a bromance, or guy-love. They are not in any way romantically involved, but their friendship goes way beyond the levels most people are comfortable with. This results in hilarious situations, especially when they are ridiculed for it and try to change their ways.

A major motive in the series is J.D.’s fantasies. These come in the shape of him dreaming away and imagining a situation developing in an often absurd manner. In later seasons it becomes apparent his co-workers are aware of this and sometimes imitate him. Also some other characters in the series are shown to have similar fantasies.

Janitor

Drama

Although this blog focuses on humour it’s impossible to discuss Scrubs without mentioning the
drama. There’s a lot of it, but it’s executed in a way many people don’t find disturbing. It doesn’t impede the humour and on occasion it actually contributes to the comedy. Much of the drama involved includes J.D. and his relationships, notably with Elliot Reid, another intern and later doctor, as well as with Kim Briggs, a doctor and the mother of J.D.’s first child. The dialogue and roles within the relationships are generally well-written and realistic enough to be relatable, but still weird enough to be funny.

The end

After the seventh season Scrubs was well-known, well-loved and popular around the globe. At this point NBC announced it would not continue with an eighth season and it appeared as though the series was to end at its peak. Then ABC announced it would be airing an eighth season and then aired a ninth season as well. During these two seasons extra characters were introduced, some of the main characters got lesser parts or completely disappeared and the focus shifted from J.D. and Turk to Lucy Bennet, who takes over narration from J.D. after only a few episodes of introduction.

These changes alienated a large part of the series’ audience and resulted in it being cancelled after the 9^th season. This is a pity, since the series was so strong and popular and, had it been cancelled after season 7 or 8, would have been fondly remembered for years to come. Although the series still has some following and is still being broadcast in different countries, it is not as popular as it used to be and it probably never will be again. The older seasons are still quite popular though and the DVDs featuring the older seasons are well-sold around the world and that is the true legacy left behind by J.D., Turk, Janitor, and all the other marvellous cast from Scrubs.

Comedy Series Review: Monty Python

Monty Python in 1969

This legendary English group are experts in surreal comedy. They started a revolution in comedy and inspired countless other comedians and humorous acts in Europe and the Americas alike. There is much too much to say about these legends, so we'll keep this to a short introduction and go in to specific parts in later posts.

Monty Python were formed my John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. Perhaps their most famous work is the television series Monty Python's Flying Circus which first aired in 1969. Now, over 40 year later, the series has been rerun on different stations countless times translated or subtitled in many different languages, the troupe has won numerous awards and have been quoted by hundreds if not thousands of artists and comedians as major inspiration. Their influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on popular music and pythonesque is now an officialy recognized word in British English.

Pythonesque (ˌpaɪθəˈnɛsk)

adj

1.                        denoting a kind of humour that is absurd and unpredictable; zany; surreal

Nobody ever does...

Besides Monty Python's Flying Circus Monty Python is known for their films. Some films they have made as a troube include Monty Python's The Meaning of Life; Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Monty Python's Life of Brian. Notably two of these films ridicule Christianity. Life of Brian is a parody of the story of Jesus Christ, and The Holy Grail is a parody of the classic legend of King Arthur going on his holy quest to search for the Holy Grail.

Recurring factors in both the Flying Circus and the films is the fact that nearly all female roles are played by the (male) members of Monty Python. Generally this results in a badly-disguised man in a dress with little to no make-up and an exaggerated high-pitch female voice. This is used to comic effect as well as to eliminate the need to hire female actresses for minor roles.

Besides their on-stage work and their films and television series, Monty Python have also recorded several albums with humorous songs. Some of these songs were derived from, or later used in, their sketches or films.

Monty Python are among the most legendary comedians in history, along with the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel&Hardy. Why this is completely justified will be looked at in later posts. Don't go away!

Comedy Series Review: Little Britain

Daffyd - The only gay in the village

Little Britain, the guide to Britain for the non-British is an award-winning comedy sketch show produced for the BBC by Matt Lucas and David Walliams and voiced by Doctor Who-star Tom Baker. The show focuses on “Great British institutions” which are mainly extreme parodies of normal
people and groups such as FatFighters (a WeighWatchers parody), libraries, (mental) health care, and the elderly. As with most British humour there is an awful lot of self-deprecation to the point where it became controversial with, mainly older, members of the public taking offense and the series was re-edited for release on BBC 1, after the original cuts had aired on BBC 3, which is aimed at a younger audience.

Although the series received some criticism for supposedly suppressing minorities in both the British and American version of the show, it has also received great critical acclaim and a following among the public.

'Lou' and 'Andy' two main characters

Something the show's creators get too little recognition for is the good they have accomplished with their show. Ever since its inception they have worked with Comic Relief to collect money for charity work around the world. They have created dedicated sketches, often together with celebrities, to raise awareness or to urge people to donate to Comic Relief.

Another charity effort, which has gained somewhat more recognition, is David Walliams' work for Sport Relief, another charity. His efforts include swimming the river Thames, swimming the Channel, swimming the Street of Gibraltar and (co-)hosting several Sport Relief telethons. He has raised millions of pound for Sport Relief with his activities.

Also both creators are advocates for gay rights, even though they often ridicule gay people in their show. Also David Walliams isn't gay and he is married to a Dutch female supermodel (Lara Stone). He has however stated that it shouldn't matter whether one is gay, straight, bisexual or whatever else, since he figures people fall in love with a person's character, rather than genitalia.

Nowadays both actors, although no longer working on Little Britain, have successful careers, with Lucas living in West-Hollywood and both actors working on different projects. 

Comedian Bio: John Cleese

John Cleese on the Muppet Show in 1977

This world-famous comedian has a species of lemur, an astroid and a municipal rubbish heap named after him. He has declined both a CBE and a Life Peerage appointment on account of the former being 'silly' and the latter would require him to spend winters in Britain, which he doesn't wish to do.

John Cleese first rose to great fame through co-founding Monty Python. This comedy ensemble will be discussed elsewhere on this blog on more detail, but here we will note they have left quite a legacy.

After Monty Python John started working on Fawlty Towers, together with his then wife Connie Booth. Fawlty Towers went on to become one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time. John Cleese has referred to Fawlty Towers as the his best work and he has stated he doesn't want to make any new comedy work, as it will never live up to Fawlty Towers.

Besides this work, Cleese has worked on several comedy films, including hit film A Fish called Wanda. He has also starred in two James Bond films, Rat Race, two Harry Potter films and numerous other films, both humorous and serious. Also he has done voice-acting for a range of video games and he has starred in commercials in different countries, including Australia, Britain and the Netherlands.

In addition to acting, Cleese has also written and produced films such as The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation As We Know It, most of the Fawlty Towers episodes and the script for A Fish called Wanda. Also Cleese has written books, some of which together with a psychiatrist written as a dialogue and some books with a comedy theme.

Cleese is a multi-talented actor, writer and producer who's still active, despite his previous attempts as retirement. He could have been a Commander of the British Empire, but thought it was 'silly'. He also declined a Life Peerage (Baronship) on account of not wanting to spend winters in Britain. He is a master of dark humour, writing his eulogy at Graham Chapman's funeral as a parody of the Parrot Sketch he wrote for Monty Python. He rightly remains one of the most admired comedic geniuses of our time.

Comedy Analysis: Comedy in Music

'Weird' Al Yankovic in 2010

Humour in music is one of the oldest forms of humour. Ever since the dawn of music, it has been
used to tell humorous stories, and over the last decades this has only increased. Especially with the rise of the internet and sites such as youtube.com and blip.tv where users can upload and share their own content the amount of humorous songs and parodies has sky-rocketed.

A prime example of a comedian singer who had made his breakthrough through Youtube, is Bo Burnham. This young talent started in 2006 and signed a four-record deal with Comedy Central Records only two years later. His songs often feature controversial subjects such as disability, white supremacy and homosexuality. Often in a satirical form.

A musician who has made his living from musical comedy and became famous through parody songs featured on Dr. Demento's radio show is “Weird Al” Yankovic. He has parodied famous songs both older and contemporary hits, including Eat it (a parody of Michael Jackson's Beat it), Perform this way (a parody of Lady GaGa's Born this way) and Amish Paradise (a parody of Coolio's Gangster Paradise). Also he has written his own original work (Albuquerque, Trapped in the drive-thru, Skipper Dan) and several polka-remixes of then-contemporary hits.  Weird Al differentiates from many other parody-artists in that he gets permission from all the original artists to parody their song.

Another example of a comedy group that became famous through Youtube is the Key of Awesome. This ensemble makes parodies of contemporary hits, sometimes with a direct link to the original artist (such as their parody of Adele's Someone like you which is about Adele's problems with her boyfriends) as well as original songs, usually about a film or television series (such as The Dark Knigh is Confused about the Dark Knight). Their songs are generally not politically motivated or controversial but they are generally entertaining and have gained the group a strong following.

Even well-known artists have been known to produce comedy songs. An example is Neil Patrick Harris, who has made a Youtube-series titled Neil's Puppet Dreams which often includes humorous songs about a variety of subjects. Also the band Lonely Island has gained stardom by making comedy songs, often in collaboration with famous artists such as Akon, Michael Bolton and Justin Timberlake.

Humour in music has been around for centuries and is not going anywhere soon. A welcome source of entertainment, easy to take with you in the car, it is an enjoyable form of comedy. 

Comedy Analysis: Comedy and the Law

Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau

Comedy in many forms is a mirror to our society, often criticizing or parodying elements of our politics, religion and culture. But how far can comedy go? And do regular laws apply in comedy? Let's take a look.

Drugs

With drug law, especially in regard to marijuana slowly being relaxed in many countries, this is a hot topic. How does drug use, legal or otherwise, feature in comedy?

Drugs are commonly found in comedy and humoristic programming, particularly when aimed at a young-adult and older teenage audience. Shows such as American Dad, Family Guy, South Park, How I Met Your Mother and It's always Sunny in Philadelphia feature regular mention and depiction of drug use. Often this is not limited to marijuana or alcohol use and abuse, but stretches to crack cocaine or even crystal meth, which is often considered the most damaging and most addictive drug in existence. Usage of these drugs is sometimes condoned and sometimes is shown to lead to damaging effects, however it mostly serves a humorous purpose.

Racism

This is a sensitive topic. Racism is illegal is most countries but it still is a recurring element in humour. British humour has included racism (both to others and in self-deprecation) and American humour has included it more and more over the last decade or so. This can be in any form ranging from subtle remarks to outright racism towards characters or sometimes real-life people or groups. Generally this racism can be against any race, so a character may be derogatory against people of their own race, or against other races. More and more often however, racism is shown to backfire.

Pedophilia

Although in most countries pedophilia and the depiction of child-porn is illegal and generally frowned upon, some shows do tend to stretch the boundaries as far as they can. This often proves easiest for animated shows such as South Park since the depiction is obviously not real and no actual children are needed to portray the scene. This results in an entire episode centered around an 8-year old trying to get a blow-job from another minor and another show where 8 or 9 year olds are being treated for sex addiction. Family Guy features Herbert the Pervert as a recurring character, but he is never successful in his attempts to 'get' boys.

Generally it can be said that comedy does have a little more freedom than other forms of media, since there is often some form of legal protection in place securing a show's right to free speech, parody and ridicule, which is harder called upon when making a 'serious' show or film. Especially animated comedies can in some cases stretch the boundaries further, for the obvious reason there are no actual actors that might get involved in uncomfortable or dangerous situations. Shock laughs can also be used in comedy but is often frowned upon by the public as well as other comedians and writers.

There are many other laws which may or may not be broken or bent in comedy and humour but we can't discuss them all here, so we will cover those later in another post. 

Comedy Series Review: How I met your Mother

Ted and Barney, the show's best character

A father telling his children the story about how he met their mother. How exactly does this turn into a 9 season show with over 200 episodes? By being bloody brilliant, that's how.

This series follows Ted Mosby, an architect who tells the story to his two children in the year 2030. Because he is telling the story in the future, the episodes showing the story are set in the year of airing. This is an interesting choice, since major real-life events will have to be incorporated into the series in some way and can not simply be omitted.

Ted lives with his best friend Marshall Eriksen and later also with Marshall's fiancée Lily Aldrin. Ted's self-proclaimed 'best friend and bro' Barney Stinson constantly tries to hook him up with girls. Barney himself is a real ladies man, having slept with over 200 women and authoring a 'Playbook' with trics and stories to get girls to sleep with him. These can be anything from pretending to be a famous and/or rich person, or working a girl's daddy issues. He has a near-obsessive love for his suits, on one occasion grieving over the loss of one of his suits as if it were a family member.

There are quite a few running gags in the series, including Barney's occupation. When he's asked what he does for a living he invariably answers “Ah, please...”. In the last season (SPOILER ALERT) he reveals his job is to P.L.E.A.S.E. (Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything) and as such being a fall guy for the company's wrongdoings. He has however been conspiring with the government in a long-term scheme to take revenge on his boss for stealing his girlfriend prior to the series (/spoiler).

In the first few episodes Ted meets Robin Scherbatsky, a local news anchor, whom he sometimes refers to as 'aunt Robin'. She's a news anchor and Ted dates her for a while. They even plan on moving in together but this doesn't work as Ted isn't willing to part with his belongings (which were mostly given to him by his ex-girlfriends). Ted continues to tell his children exactly who he has dated previously to their mother and goes into inappropriate detail in regards to his premarital sex-life.

The series as a whole has some traits in common with Friends and has been compared to it as well. The main difference is there is no Ross-and-Rachel-like relationship in this series. Also the setting and comedy have been updated and include more modern technology. Over the years the season has gathered a solid following and remains popular. Reruns are currently aired by different stations and the series can be found on services like Netflix and on many websites.

The shows final episode led to explosive backlash

There is however one massive flaw in this series. It's been talked about hundreds of times, and will probably be talked about again, but the final episode is horrendous. In the last 30 or so minutes a decade of television was ruined. Let me explain why. The show is called How I met your Mother however, in the last 30 minutes, the mother is killed off by a disease she was never before mentioned of having, and replaced by the 'aunt' who the main character (Ted) had been chasing for years prior to meeting the mother. The rest of the series had shown Ted and Robin together before, and had always tried to explain why they shouldn't be together. To throw all this away in the last thirty minutes of the last episode is disrespectful to the mother's character, to Ted and the mother's relationship and to the fans. 

A great show, which died a messy and bloody death. I would still wholeheartedly recommend the series to anyone, but stop the last episode halfway and imagine your own ending.