
The Demise of Physical Comedy - spking
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-demise-of-physical-comedy
======
Kapura
Has the author of this piece never been on youtube, or worldstar, or twitter,
vine, tiktok... Physical comedy still exists, the risks have just been
relegated to the masses, rather than the comedian who wants to have a long
career free of pain.

Further, slapstick still has a lot of life in cartoons. The old Loony Tunes
and Merry Melodies were chock full of physical comedy, and modern cartoons
continue to carry that torch.

Physical Comedy isn't in decline, it's just moved out of the mainstream.

~~~
mc32
I do not know. If it’s out of the “main” stream then almost by definition it
would be in decline. Unless the mainstream was more of a small plurality
rather than a large one, which could be the case?

~~~
austhrow743
Those things are the mainstream.

------
WalterBright
> has been moralized out of existence.

I don't find slapstick, pratfalls, etc., funny anymore for different reasons.
It just isn't funny. But I still enjoy Laurel & Hardy, but not for the
slapstick.

It's more for the irrational logic the L&H characters use, which is on great
display in the one where they move the piano up the stairs, and in the one
where they sell Christmas trees door to door.

The running gags are funny because you know what is going to happen. You know
the piano is going to get destroyed (who would hire L&H to move a piano, and
the sound effects as the piano gets insulted are very funny in foretelling its
impending demise), but somehow that makes it even funnier. You know when Ollie
steps in a puddle it'll be 5 feet deep, and the funny part isn't so much him
getting wet it's his long-suffering expression looking directly into the
camera when he surfaces. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Monty Python's pratfalls aren't funny, either, but when they have a knight in
armor fall down the stairs, it's not the fall that's funny, its the foley
sound effect of a metal garbage can going down the stairs that's funny.

~~~
growlist
> Monty Python's pratfalls aren't funny

Does the guy running behind Graham Chapham in the Holy Grail knocking two
coconut halves together to mimic a horse count?

~~~
WalterBright
That's not a pratfall. And yeah, it's funny :-)

But the funniest is the crazy logic where they're trying to determine a
scientific procedure to unmask a witch.

"She turned me into a newt! .... .... uh, I got better."

~~~
WalterBright
> And yeah, it's funny

Part of the reason it's funny is the resolute failure of King Arthur to
understand that he's not actually riding a horse. Or maybe I shouldn't try to
analyze what funny is.

------
carapace
> a new Harold Lloyd is unthinkable because physical comedy depends on the
> proximity and possibility of death

I don't agree with that.

Gwyneth Paltrow is amazing at physical comedy. I can't remember the movie but
there's a scene where she's getting out of a cab and she just falls over and
it's friggin' hilarious. No death in sight.

Certainly death, properly appreciated, is funny. The only thing more absurd
than death is sex.

The reason physical comedy is so physically dangerous is that, generally, it's
only funny if you _go for it_ and that naturally causes injuries. Like playing
football, or WWE wrestling. Half-assing it isn't going to be entertaining.

~~~
synlatexc
Seconded.

To me physical comedy is about physicality: the body, its gestures and
movements.

Can it involve pain or the possibility of death? Sure, but that's not
essential.

I was always a fan of John Ritter in Three's Company. He'd flail about in
every episode, almost falling or tripping or just making crazy expressions
with his face.

~~~
nkrisc
I find Jackie Chan's physical comedy to be superb. It also doubles as
incredible fight scenes.

His fight scenes and stunts are riddled with humor.

------
b0rsuk
In a way, physical comedy still exists, but it's not official. The popularity
of "instant karma" gifs or subreddit, youtube pranks, freak accidents. I think
the last great slapstick actor was Jackie Chan though. I mean the need is
there, but no one caters to it.

~~~
microtherion
Yes. For the longest time I did not watch any "martial arts" movies, because I
was not interested in people fighting. But Jackie Chan's movies are really
primarily physical comedy:
[https://youtu.be/0ZFr4uiR5x0](https://youtu.be/0ZFr4uiR5x0)

~~~
WalterBright
Jackie Chan's "fight" scenes are actually dances. If you watch carefully,
you'll realize that they are choreographed to metronome precision.

Next time you watch one, try tapping your feet to the moves. You'll see :-)

~~~
mopsi
Indeed! There is a great video essay about Jackie Chan's style (and how it
differs from standard Hollywood action movies) on "Every Frame a Painting"
Youtube channel:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PCtIaM_GQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PCtIaM_GQ)

------
chrisdone
I think physical comedy just has a broader audience, which worked well in
silent movies and thereafter. The broadness is also why it’s considered cheap
and used sparingly. It’s like shouting. As Friends went on and the writing got
lazier every character was shouting all the time.

But a recent example of a well done pratfall I saw in a show mostly about
dialog and editing was Modern Family (season 2) where Cameron turns to give
his husband a kiss who pulls back (due to discomfort with public displays of
affection, the theme of the episode) and Cameron overleans and falls head over
heels over the back of the sofa quite roughly; he’s a big guy too. I laughed a
lot partly in surprise because I basically never see a pratfall in comedy
shows I like.

~~~
clucas
Yeah, using it sparingly is key. Tobias in Arrested Development would
occasionally have pratfalls that always got me. And just yesterday I saw this
video, where the physical comedy caught me off guard and had me laughing
harder than I have in a long time:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VzwVIakdxks](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VzwVIakdxks)

Of course my wife was only mildly amused, and she loves Oh Hello. No
accounting for taste in humor, I suppose.

~~~
LIV2
"We shan't be telling your mother this, shan't we" I lost it when I saw that
[https://youtu.be/tt8Iwf_87eY](https://youtu.be/tt8Iwf_87eY)

------
css
This article focuses wholly on the death-related or injury-related aspects of
physical comedy and none of the others, for example the excellent use of a
non-functional set in The Play that Goes Wrong (which The New Yorker reviews
quite highly [0]).

[0] [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-play-
that...](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-play-that-goes-
wrong-is-quite-good)

~~~
jfengel
Indeed, physical comedy is alive and well in the theater.

It may be that physical comedy has a better impact in theater, where it's
live, and they're taking the (apparent) risks right in front of you. On film,
modern wire work enables a lot of great action, but undercuts the immediacy of
it. Jackie Chan did amazing physical comedy on film, because you knew that he
was taking Harold Lloyd-type risks.

Physical comedy in the theater is a bit like stage magic: it's practiced
carefully and controlled so that they can do it safely every single time.
Professional wrestling is also a kind of live physical comedy, taking much
bigger risks than any actor would do (and way more than the actors' unions
would tolerate).

------
gitgud
Physical comedy is still prevalent in mainstream culture. I would argue that
the best comedians use it sparingly, but they do use it.

For example the show "The Trailerpark Boys" have reoccurring gags which depend
on slapstick physical humour, and they always make me laugh.

The slapstick comedy of the 1930's could be viewed with no context or even
sound. I think it's evolved since then, the _context_ (characters, plot,
motivations) of the physical comedy matters a lot more now...

------
vangale
I love this video from "Every Frame a Painting" which also mourns the loss of
physical comedy:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOzD4Sfgag](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOzD4Sfgag)

~~~
coldtea
Well, there he mourns visual comedy, which is not exactly the same (you can
have visual comedy without physical comedy -- well, aside from the performer
doing its thing).

Visual comedy could be made in the editing, backgrounds, etc (as in many
examples given in the video) even if the actors don't do physical comedy at
all.

~~~
hencq
True of course, though the video does have some examples of physical comedy as
well; no 7 in his list for example. Personally I love this example from Hot
Stuff:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30kUNex1cuI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30kUNex1cuI)

------
galago
Chris Farley as Matt Foley on Halloween:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LyqPdZjQTY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LyqPdZjQTY)
I think the ending of this sketch is a kind of masterpiece.

~~~
krustyburger
Michael Richards really tarnished his legacy post-Seinfeld, but his physical
comedy on that show was also top-notch.

------
gerbilly
Meredith MacNeill from the Baroness Von Sketch show does a lot of physical
comedy:

[https://www.facebook.com/cbc/videos/healthy-eating-is-
simple...](https://www.facebook.com/cbc/videos/healthy-eating-is-simple-its-
not-easy-but-its-simple-httpbitly2hsnm9m/1882889105364998/)

------
larrik
I think Brooklyn Nine-Nine nails physical comedy for a modern era. Andy
Samberg in particular has some great moments of physical comedy in it.

------
thrower123
My suspicion is that physical comedy is less relatable because the modern
audience is less acquainted with physicality in general. Slapstick doesn't
have quite have the same point if you've never given or received a slap, and
making light of grievous injury and workplace accidents doesn't have the same
ring when those aren't everyday facts of life.

------
dsr_
Here's my counterexample:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkBb4FWHxhI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkBb4FWHxhI)

Here's where you know Bill Irwin from, depending on your age:

\- voice and motions for TARS in Interstellar

\- repeat character on Law and Order: SVU

\- Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street

\- main cast member in Legion (one of the Cary Loudermilks)

Bill is proof that physical comedy is still relevant.

------
unholythree
Zach Galifianakis uses a fair amount of physical comedy. Some of the gags most
likely to make me laugh in his show Baskets are physical, but it also has lots
of situational humor and pathos. I think physical comedy used well can show
what's funny about a character on a deeper internal level.

------
WilTimSon
I'm puzzled by this take. Just because we don't have daredevils like Buster
Keaton letting houses fall on top of them doesn't mean physical comedy is
dead. Someone in the thread has already pointed out Kaitlin Olson's excellent
work on IASIP and I'd second her with a recommendation for The Mick.
Similarly, there's the wonderful Inside No. 9, which often features great
physical performances (not all episodes are comedy though.) Just because we
don't see it as often doesn't mean it's dead. The trends ebb and flow but good
physical comedy still exists.

------
growlist
We still have some of this in the UK: Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean), Lee Evans
(There's Something About Mary).

------
deanCommie
Comedy is about surprise.

As culture evolves, and as new ideas grow, you can mine intellectual and
verbal discourse for comedy that will continue to be surprising.

Can you do the same with physical comedy? Are there new boundaries or new
frontiers to mine there?

------
flashman
I'd argue physical comedy is more difficult than spoken comedy, because any
fool can deliver a line but it takes a master to sell you a fall. Is it any
wonder that physical comedy was more popular in the silent film era?

~~~
mjpuser
I dunno, man. Delivery is a thing.

------
mar77i
Gender this, ethnicity that...

I feel nothing reading that. Should I? I mean, isn't that... reinforcing isms
we were striving to overcome as a society?

------
chmaynard
The article seems to have overlooked the Blue Man Group. Their schtick
definitely has elements of physical comedy.

------
d--b
Mmmh, I don't know about this stunts arguments. Cartoons have had success with
physical comedy for decades. Yet, everybody knew that no real coyote flew off
a cliff...

I think that slapstick is simply overdone. We've seen so much of it that it's
just not funny anymore...

------
scarejunba
A Johnny English released last year. And there’s always Pink Panther.

------
amriksohata
People are no longer satisfied by simple comedy, they don't get their kicks as
easily due to faster paced life, they need more, dirty jokes etc

------
acollins1331
Good! Ill see videos where there are dozens of people just laughing at videos
of people falling over or getting kicked in the nuts or something else painful
to them... It's so cringe. When I see a video of a tree fall on someone's head
I cringe and feel terrible, not laugh. People are psychopaths, maybe I'm just
an empath.

------
notadoc
Staged slapstick doesn't have the same appeal to a generation accustomed to
people recording others doing stupid things with their cell phone, which is
the new physical comedy (even though many of those viral clips are staged
too).

The demise of comedy in general is a much more pertinent issue. Political
correctness and outrage culture has hobbled the ability to confront hard
subjects through humor.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
Do you really need to make fun of someone disadvantaged to have comedy? Do
folks not approach things like rape and discrimation and dealing with American
cops with comedy?

Have you not seen the bit by.. Josh Johnson? ... where he accidentally
catfishes the KKK?

Or watched Frankie Boyle? Or the Mash Report?

It is pretty obvious there is plenty of comedy out there that approaches
difficult and tough subjects through humor. Society is becoming less tolerant
of racism and sexism and homophobia and things like that - you know, the
political correctness of it. If your comedy includes making fun of men for
being too "gay" or women for being too manly... sure, political correctness
has caused a demise in your sort of humor, and good riddance.

~~~
aantix
In order to confront truths, you're going to risk being offensive.

There are plenty of logical inconsistencies, fallacies, half-truths, that
every social tribe adopts that need a mirror to reveal their ridiculousness.
Some may only be observed as an outsider from the group.

This is the service comedy has always provided.

We are humans. We are fallible.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
I specifically mentioned Frankie Boyle because folks tend to find him
offensive. He also hosts a show talking about serious-ish topics, generally in
a funny tone. The others were just comedic takes on more serious stuff.

But really, they were examples of comedy that the person claimed was hobbled
as a result of political correctness - and I don't see it as the case at all.
Comedy simply isn't what it was 30 years ago, but at the same time... comedy
isn't what it was 50 years ago either.

~~~
aantix
>If your comedy includes making fun of men for being too "gay" or women for
being too manly... sure, political correctness has caused a demise in your
sort of humor, and good riddance.

The very idea that there couldn't be any funny perspectives left on the above
topics shows that the idea of being emotionally protected has been elevated
above free speech.

The vocal minority of Twitter do not represent the general public.
[https://www.pewinternet.org/2019/04/24/sizing-up-twitter-
use...](https://www.pewinternet.org/2019/04/24/sizing-up-twitter-
users/#nws=mcnewsletter)

