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TYPES OF COMEDIES The following are various sub-genres of comedy:
Hybrid genres
HISTORY 1900–1920s The very first movie to be produced was Thomas Edison 's Kinetoscope of his assistant Fred Ott in '' Record Of A Sneeze ''. This could also be considered the first to show a comedic element. Comedic films began to appear in significant numbers during the era of silent films, prior to the 1930s. These were mainly focused on visual humor, including slapstick and Burlesque . A very early comedy short was '' Watering The Gardener '' (1895) by the Lumière Brothers . Prominent Clown -style actors of the silent era include Charlie Chaplin , Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd . A popular trend during the 1920s and afterward was comedy in the form of animated cartoons. Several popular characters of the period received the cartoon treatment. Among these were Felix The Cat , Krazy Kat , and Betty Boop . However the development of the cartoon medium was inhibited by the lack of sound and color. 1930–1950s Toward the end of the 1920s, the introduction of sound into movies made possible dramatic new film styles and the use of verbal humor. During the 1930s the silent film comedy was replaced by dialogue from film comedians such as the W. C. Fields and the Marx Brothers . The comedian Charlie Chaplin was one of the last silent film hold-outs, and his films during the 1930s were devoid of dialogue, although they did employ sound effects. Screwball comedies, such as produced by Frank Capra , exhibited a pleasing, idealised climate that portrayed reassuring social values and a certain optimism about everyday life. Movies still included slapstick humor and other physical comedy, but these were now frequently supplemental to the verbal interaction. Another common comedic production from the 1930s was the short subject. Hal Roach Studio specialized in this form. While Columbia was prolific, producing 190 Three Stooges releases, alone. These non-feature productions only went into decline in the 1950s when they were migrated to the television. In the United Kingdom , film adaptations of stage Farce s were popular in the early 1930s, while the Music Hall tradition strongly influenced film comedy into the 1940s with Will Hay and George Formby among the top comedy stars of the time. In England in the late 1940s, Ealing Studios achieved popular success as well as critical acclaim with a series of films known collectively as the "Ealing comedies", from 1946 to 1956. They usually included a degree of social comment, and featured ensemble casts which often included Alec Guinness or Stanley Holloway . Among the most famous examples were '' Kind Hearts And Coronets '' (1949), '' The Lavender Hill Mob '' (1951) and '' The Ladykillers '' (1955). With the entry of the United States into World War II , Hollywood became focused on themes related to the conflict. Comedies portrayed military themes such as service, civil defense, boot-camp and shore-leave. The war-time restrictions on travel made this a boom time for Hollywood, and nearly a quarter of the money spent on attending movies. The post-war period was an age of reflection on the war, and the emergence of a competing medium, the television. In 1948 TV began to acquire commercial momentum and by the following year there were nearly a hundred television transmitters in American cities. By the 1950s the television industry had become a serious competition for the movie industry. Despite the technological limitations of the TV medium at the time, more and more people chose to stay home to watch the television. The Hollywood studios at first viewed the TV as a threat, and later as a commercial market. Several comedic forms that had previously been a staple of movie theaters transitioned to the TV. Both the short subject and the cartoon now appeared on the TV rather than in the theater, and the "B" movie also found its outlet on the television. '' often voted among the best comedy films of all time.]] As TV became filled with family-oriented comedies, the 1950s saw a trend toward more adult social situations. Only the Walt Disney studios continued to steadily release family comedies. The release of comedy films also went into a decline during this decade. In 1947 almost one in five films had been comedic in nature, but by 1954 this was down to ten percent. The 1950s saw the decline of past comedy stars and a certain paucity of new talent in Hollywood. Among the few popular new stars during this period were Judy Holliday and the comedy team phenom of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis . Lewis followed the legacy of such comedians as Keaton and Harold Lloyd, but his work was not well-received by critics in the United States (in contrast to France where he proved highly popular.) The British Film Industry produced a number of highly successful film series, however, including the Doctor Series , the St. Trinian's films and the increasingly bawdy Carry On Films . John And Roy Boulting also wrote and directed a series of successful Satires , including '' Private's Progress '' (1956) and '' I'm All Right, Jack '' (1959). As in the United States, in the next decade much of this talent would move into television. A number of French comedians were also able to find an English Speaking audience in the '50s, including Fernandel and Jacques Tati . 1960s–1980s The next decade saw an increasing number of broad, star-packed comedies including '' It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World '' (1963), '' Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines '' (1965) and '' The Great Race '' (1965). By the middle of the decade, some of the 1950s generation of American comedians, such as Jerry Lewis , went into decline, while Peter Sellers found success with international audiences in his first American film '' The Pink Panther ''. The bumbling Inspector Clouseau was a character Sellers would continue to return to over the next decade. Toward the end of the 1950s, darker humor and more serious themes had begun to emerge, including satire and social commentary. '' Dr. Strangelove '' (1964) was a satirical comedy about Cold War paranoia, while '' The Apartment '' (1960), '' Alfie '' (1966) and '' The Graduate '' (1967) featured sexual themes in a way that would have been impossible only a few years previously.
Among the leading lights in comedy films of the next decade were Woody Allen and Mel Brooks . Both wrote, directed and appeared in their movies. Brooks' style was generally slapstick and zany in nature, often parodying film styles and Genres , including Universal Horror Films ('' Young Frankenstein ''), Westerns ('' Blazing Saddles '') and Hitchcock films ('' High Anxiety ''). Following his success on film and on Broadway with '' The Odd Couple '' Playwright and Screenwriter Neil Simon would also be prominent in the 1970s, with films like '' The Sunshine Boys '' and '' California Suite ''. Other notable film comedians who appeared later in the decade were Richard Pryor , Steve Martin and Burt Reynolds . Most British Comedy films of the early 70s were spin-offs of Television Series , including '' Dad's Army '' and '' On The Buses ''. The greatest successes, however, came with the films of the Monty Python team, including '' And Now For Something Completely Different '' (1971), '' Monty Python And The Holy Grail '' (1975) and '' Monty Python's Life Of Brian '' in 1979. In 1980 the gag-based comedy '' Airplane! '', a Spoof of the previous decade's disaster film series was released and paved the way for more of the same including '' Top Secret! '' (1984) and the '' Naked Gun '' films. Popular comedy stars in the '80s included Dudley Moore , Tom Hanks , Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd . Many had come to prominence on the American TV series '' Saturday Night Live '', including Bill Murray , Steve Martin and Chevy Chase . Eddie Murphy made a success of comedy- Action films including '' 48 Hrs. '' (1982) and the '' Beverly Hills Cop '' series (1984–1993). Also popular were the films of John Hughes such as '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''. He would later become best-known for the '' Home Alone '' series of the early 1990s. The latter film helped a revival in comedies aimed at a family audience, along with '' Honey, I Shrunk The Kids '' and its sequels. 1990s–2000s One of the major developments was the re-emergence of the Romantic Comedy film, encouraged by the success of '' When Harry Met Sally... '' in 1989. Other examples included '' Sleepless In Seattle '' (1993), '' Clueless '' (1995) and '' You've Got Mail '' (1998) from the United States , and '' Four Weddings And A Funeral '' (1994), '' Sliding Doors '' (1998) and '' Notting Hill '' (1999) from the United Kingdom . Spoof remained popular as well, especially with the Scary Movie series and Not Another Teen Movie . Probably more representative of British Humour were the working class comedies '' Brassed Off '' (1996) and '' The Full Monty '' (1997). Other British Comedies examined the role of the Asian community in British life, including '' Bhaji On The Beach '' (1993), '' East Is East '' (1999), '' Bend It Like Beckham '' (2002) and '' Anita And Me '' (2003). Another development was the increasing use of "'' came out with satirical comedy. SEE ALSO
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