55 comedy genres

• Action comedy

  Action comedy is a hybrid genre that combines elements of action fiction with comedy. While early action films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the American action film genre in the… Wikipedia ↗

• Aldwych farce

  The Aldwych farces were a series of twelve stage farces presented at the Aldwych Theatre, London, nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. All but three of them were written by Ben Travers. They incorporate and develop British low comedy styles, combined with cl… Wikipedia ↗

• Alternative Cabaret

  Alternative Cabaret was a group of politically motivated performers, jokingly described by one of its founder members, Tony Allen, as 'a sort of collective of comedians, musicians – dope smokers, dole scroungers, tax evaders, sexual deviants, political extremi… Wikipedia ↗

• Alternative comedy

  Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe content that wa… Wikipedia ↗

• Bedroom farce

  A bedroom farce or sex farce is a type of light comedy focusing on the sexual pairings and recombinations of characters as they move through improbable plots and slamming doors. Wikipedia ↗

• Burlesque

  A burlesque (English pronunciation: /bɜːrˈlɛsk/ ; French pronunciation: [byʁlɛsk] ) is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. The word … Wikipedia ↗

• Burletta

  In theater and music history, a burletta (Italian, meaning "little joke", sometimes burla or burlettina) is a brief comic opera. In eighteenth-century Italy, a burletta was the comic intermezzo between the acts of an opera seria. The extended work Pergolesi's … Wikipedia ↗

• Carnivalesque

  The Carnivalesque is a literary type that subverts and liberates the assumptions of the dominant style or atmosphere through humor and chaos. It originated as "carnival" in Mikhail Bakhtin's Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics and was more developed in Rabelais a… Wikipedia ↗

• Character comedy

  Character comedy is a genre in which a stand-up comedian performs as a character they have created. Examples include Al Murray's crotchety Pub Landlord and Rich Hall's musician "uncle" Otis Lee Crenshaw; both of these won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Com… Wikipedia ↗

• City comedy

  City comedy, also known as citizen comedy, is a genre of comedy in the English early modern theatre. Wikipedia ↗

• Clean comedy

  Clean comedy is a comedy genre that is generally free of ribaldry: explicitly sexual content, profanity, politically or racially controversial jokes, toilet humor, and similarly objectionable material. Comedians may try to circumvent clean-comedy restrictions … Wikipedia ↗

• Comedic journalism

  Comedic journalism is a new form of journalism, popularized in the twenty-first century, that incorporates a comedic tone to transmit the news to mass audiences, using humour and/or satire to relay a point in news reports. Comedic journalism has been applied t… Wikipedia ↗

• Comedy drama

  Comedy-drama, also known by the portmanteaus dramedy and seriocomedy, is a hybrid genre that combines elements of comedy and drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, illness, betrayal, grief, etc.) are ha… Wikipedia ↗

• Comedy horror

  Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can also parody or s… Wikipedia ↗

• Comedy music

  Comedy music or musical comedy is a genre of music that is comedic in nature. Its history can be traced back to the first century in ancient Greece and Rome, moving forward in time to the Medieval Period, Classical and Romantic eras, and the 20th century. Vari… Wikipedia ↗

• Comedy of humours

  The comedy of humours is a genre of dramatic comedy that focuses on a character or range of characters, each of whom exhibits overriding traits or 'humours' that dominate their personality, desires and conduct. This comic technique may be found in Aristophanes… Wikipedia ↗

• Comedy of intrigue

  The comedy of intrigue (French: comédie d'intrigue), also known as the comedy of situation(s), is a genre of comedy in which dramatic action is prioritised over the development of character, complicated strategems and conspiracies drive the plot, and farcical … Wikipedia ↗

• Comedy of manners

  The comedy of manners is a genre that uses wit and intellectual dialogue to satirize the social behaviors, artificialities, and strict codes of a specific contemporary society. In this genre, the central focus is on whether characters can maintain equilibrium … Wikipedia ↗

• Comedy thriller

  Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy and thrillers, combining suspense with sustained humor. It incorporates the core elements of thriller storytelling—high stakes, danger, escalating tension, and the possibility o… Wikipedia ↗

• Comic novel

  A comic novel is a novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's literary choice to make t… Wikipedia ↗

• Comédie larmoyante

  Comédie larmoyante (French for 'tearful comedy') was a genre of French drama of the 18th century. In this type of sentimental comedy, the impending tragedy was resolved at the end, amid reconciliations and floods of tears. Plays of this genre that ended unhap… Wikipedia ↗

• Contemporary clowning

  Contemporary clowning (also called modern clowning) is a school of physical comedy that emphasizes interactivity with the audience and surroundings, use of props and a level of absurdity. While it can overlap with the classic white-face school of clowning, the… Wikipedia ↗

• Cringe comedy

  Cringe comedy is a subgenre of comedy that derives humor from social awkwardness, guilty pleasure, self-deprecation, idiosyncratic humor, and personal distress. Cringe comedy frequently pulls from mundane situations and is often used in pseudo-reality TV shows… Wikipedia ↗

• Documentary comedy

  Documentary comedy is a form of comedy. The comic material used is presented in documentary style—usually, a report on a particular theme or issue—and with the same investigation and reporting methods used to gather the material. Well-known documentary comics… Wikipedia ↗

• Escolinha

  Escolinha (Portuguese: [es.kɔˈlĩ.ɲɐ], little school) is a popular comedy genre in Brazilian media. It usually consists of a fictional classroom where an ensemble cast of adult actors play different overly stereotypical comic characters and attempt to answer qu… Wikipedia ↗

• Facetia

  Facetia (singular; plural: facetiae) is a European literary genre from the Renaissance consisting of short humorous stories, jokes, jests, witticisms or drollery, often obscene or coarse. The first printed joke book is Facetiae (full title: Poggii Florentini O… Wikipedia ↗

• Fantasy comedy

  Fantasy comedy, also called comic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and tone. Typically set in imaginary worlds, fantasy comedy often involves puns on, and parodies of, other works of fantasy. Wikipedia ↗

• Farce

  Farce is a form of comedy that relies on amusing and highly implausible plots, stereotyped or exaggerated characters, physical humor and misunderstandings to entertain an audience. It originated in masked improvised farces in Ancient Rome, rose in popularity f… Wikipedia ↗

• Front-facing camera comedy

  Front-facing camera comedy is a comedic genre filmed on the front-facing camera of smartphones in which performers deliver in-character monologues while directly facing the camera, sometimes playing multiple roles. Early iterations of front-facing camera comed… Wikipedia ↗

• Impersonator

  An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: Living history: After close study of some historical figure, a performer may dress and speak "as" that person for an audien… Wikipedia ↗

• Impressionist (entertainment)

  An impressionist or a mimic is a performer whose act consists of imitating sounds, voices and mannerisms of celebrities and cartoon characters. The word usually refers to a professional comedian/entertainer who specializes in such performances and has develope… Wikipedia ↗

• Insult comedy

  Insult comedy is a comedy genre in which the act consists mainly of offensive insults, usually directed at the audience or other performers. Typical targets for insult include people in the show's audience, the town hosting the performance, or the subject of a… Wikipedia ↗

• Madrigal comedy

  Madrigal comedy is a term for a kind of entertainment music of the late 16th century in Italy, in which groups of related, generally a cappella madrigals were sung consecutively, generally telling a story, and sometimes having a loose dramatic plot. It is an … Wikipedia ↗

• Manzai

  Manzai (漫才) is a traditional style of comedy in Japanese culture comparable to double act comedy. Manzai usually involves two performers (manzaishi)—a straight man (tsukkomi) and a funny man (boke)—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around… Wikipedia ↗

• Mo lei tau

  Mo lei tau (traditional Chinese: 無厘頭; simplified Chinese: 无厘头; Jyutping: mou4 lei4 tau4; pinyin: Wúlítóu; lit. 'nonsensical') is a type of slapstick humour associated with Hong Kong popular culture that developed during the late 20th century. It is a phenomeno… Wikipedia ↗

• Mockumentary

  A mockumentary (a portmanteau of mock and documentary) is a type of film or television programme depicting fictional events, but presented as a documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyse or comment on current events and issues in a satirical way by … Wikipedia ↗

• Observational comedy

  Observational comedy is a form of humour based on commonplace aspects of everyday life, especially small details and shared experiences. In a typical observational routine, the comedian highlights something familiar to the audience that is rarely discussed exp… Wikipedia ↗

• Pantomime

  Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining broad and topical humour and cross-dressing actors with a story based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale. Pantomime i… Wikipedia ↗

• Physical comedy

  Physical comedy is a form of comedy focused on manipulation of the body for a humorous effect. It can include slapstick, clowning, mime, physical stunts, or making funny faces. Physical comedy originated as part of the Commedia dell'arte. Wikipedia ↗

• Political satire

  Political satire is a type of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics. Political satire can also act as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where political speech and dissent are banned. Political satire is usually di… Wikipedia ↗

• Prop comedy

  Prop comedy is a comedy genre in which performers use humorous objects, or conventional objects in humorous ways. The stages and films term "prop", an abbreviation of "property", refers to any object an actor handles in the course of a performance. Though some… Wikipedia ↗

• Satyr play

  The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is strong; satyr play… Wikipedia ↗

• Savoy opera

  Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard … Wikipedia ↗

• Schwank (comedy)

  In German-speaking cultures, Schwank (pronounced [ʃvaŋk] ) is a genre of short funny tale, verse, song, play, opera, etc. In German, common meanings for the word Schwank are "prank", "funny tale", told for entertainment. The Kleines Literarisches Lexikon (196… Wikipedia ↗

• Science fiction comedy

  Science fiction comedy (sci-fi comedy) or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits the science fiction genre's conventions for comedic effect. The genre often mocks or satirizes standard science fiction convention… Wikipedia ↗

• Screwball comedy

  Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1950s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristics simil… Wikipedia ↗

• Sex comedy

  Sex comedy (also known as sexual comedy and erotic comedy) is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sex comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, literary works such as those … Wikipedia ↗

• Shock humour

  Shock humour is a style of comedy intended to shock the audience. This can be achieved through excessively foul toilet humour, pop cultural references, overt violent and sexual themes, profanity, mocking of serious themes (otherwise known as black comedy), or … Wikipedia ↗

• Sick comedy

  Sick comedy was a term originally used by mainstream news weeklies Time and Life to distinguish a style of comedy/satire that was becoming popular in the United States in the late 1950s. Mainstream comic taste in the United States had favored more innocuous fo… Wikipedia ↗

• Stand-up comedy

  Stand-up comedy is an art form that involves a stand-up comic and an audience. Comics perform on a stage and deliver humorous and satirical monologues, sometimes incorporating physical acts (act outs). These performances are typically composed of tightly craft… Wikipedia ↗

• Stoner film

  Stoner film is a subgenre of comedy film based on marijuana themes, where recreational use often drives the plot, sometimes representing cannabis culture more broadly or intended for that audience. Wikipedia ↗

• Tragicomedy

  Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragic and comic forms. Most often seen in dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the overall mood or a serious play with a hap… Wikipedia ↗

• Vaudeville

  Vaudeville (; French: [vodvil] ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1870s until the early 1930s. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian United Kingdom, a typical North… Wikipedia ↗

• Wordplay

  Wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of wordplay include puns, phonetic mix-ups such as spoonerisms… Wikipedia ↗

• Zombie comedy

  Zombie comedy, often called zom com or zomedy, is a film genre that aims to blend zombie horror motifs with slapstick comedy as well as morbid humor. Wikipedia ↗