Television comedy

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Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first United States television programs was the comedy-variety show Texaco Star Theater , which was most prominent in the years that it featured Milton Berle - from 1948 to 1956. [1] The range of television comedy has become broader, with the addition of sitcoms, improvisational comedy, and stand-up comedy, while also adding comedic aspects into other television genres, including drama and news. Television comedy provides opportunities for viewers to relate the content in these shows to society. Some audience members may have similar views about certain comedic aspects of shows, while others will take different perspectives. This also relates to developing new social norms, sometimes acting as the medium that introduces these transitions. [2]

Contents

Genres

Sitcom

Cast of I Love Lucy, listed clockwise from top left: William Frawley (Fred Mertz), Desi Arnaz (Ricky Ricardo), Lucille Ball (Lucy Ricardo), and Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz) I Love Lucy Cast.JPG
Cast of I Love Lucy , listed clockwise from top left: William Frawley (Fred Mertz), Desi Arnaz (Ricky Ricardo), Lucille Ball (Lucy Ricardo), and Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz)

The situation comedy, or sitcom, has become one of the most commonly-watched types of television comedy. [3] As the name suggests, these programs feature recurring characters placed in humorous situations. The first television sitcom was the U.K.'s Pinwright's Progress , ten episodes being broadcast bi-weekly from November 1946 to May 1947. [4] Since the early 1950s, with shows including Hancock's Half Hour in the U.K. (derived from a radio show), [5] and I Love Lucy in the United States, sitcoms have become more prominent among television viewers. I Love Lucy was popular in Nielsen's audience ratings, topping the viewing charts in four out of their six years on the air. [6] Sitcoms will often portray comedic moments through audience laughter, either through live audiences or a laugh track. [7] They are almost always a half-hour in length, and in some cases, they will film using a multiple-camera setup. Sitcoms are seldom presented as realistic depictions of life, but they can generate honest humour through the relationships between and development of characters.

Improvisational comedy

Improvisational comedy is a genre that features actors creating dialogue while in the process of acting. It has a history of prominence in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. [8] Before appearing on television, comedy programs were already present on the radio. [8] Several of these programs, including The Day Today and The Mary Whitehouse Experience , eventually transferred over to television. [8] Whose Line is it Anyway? was created in 1988 by The Comedy Store Players, Mike Myers' improvisation students in London. [8] It began broadcasting in the UK before expanding to the US, with Drew Carey starring in the American version until its cancellation. [8]

Some sitcoms may also use improvisation when filming. The actors of Curb Your Enthusiasm had general episode summaries to rely on, but would often create their own lines when they were in front of the camera. [8]

News comedy

News comedy is a genre that brings humour into stories reported on mainstream news, commonly adding this by creating mostly-fictional jokes to summarize true events. It is a common way for young adults to learn about the political news and events of their time. [9] [10] Programs that have accomplished this include The Daily Show and "Weekend Update" on Saturday Night Live . The Daily Show became more well-known when Jon Stewart began hosting in 1999. [9] The award-winning show mocks political events and candidates, and brings in correspondents to report further on these events and people. [9] During the 2000 U.S. presidential election, 435,000 young adults viewed Stewart's coverage, while 459,000 watched traditional news. [9] Despite its satirical approach, journalists have stated that programs such as The Daily Show and "Weekend Update" still broadcast real news, which ensures that its producers are aware of how to cover this news in a way that viewers can gain knowledge. [9] [10]

Stand-up

Stand-up comedy has been represented on television. Stand-up comedians have been a staple of variety and late-night talk shows; talk-variety shows such as The Tonight Show traditionally open with a comedy monologue performed by the program host. Television stand-up reached a peak of popularity on British schedules with the ITV programme The Comedians .[ citation needed ] Their style of comedy was swept away almost entirely in the Britain of the early 1980s when a new generation of stand-ups challenged what they saw as racist and sexist humour and revolutionised the form under the banner alternative comedy. In the US, stand-up comedy programs became popular on many cable television channels beginning in the mid-1980s, as such "brick wall" shows (nicknamed for the stereotypical use of a fake brick wall as a backdrop) were cheap to produce and air. Stand-up humour later had mixed fortunes on the small screen, often shunted away to the small hours or as part of a larger entertainment extravaganza.[ citation needed ]

Gameshow

Some gameshows may give the guests a chance to perform stand up comedy to win a round. Examples of this genre in the UK include Have I Got News For You , 8 Out of 10 Cats , Mock the Week , and Never Mind the Buzzcocks . In the US this is a less common genre, Oblivious being one of the few examples. In Japan and South Korea, these comedy gameshows, often with subtitles and word bubbles, are extremely popular.[ citation needed ]

Comedy drama

A comedy-drama, is a program that combines humor with more serious dramatic elements, aiming for a considerably more realistic tone than conventional sitcoms. These programs are shot with a single-camera setup and presented without a laugh track, and typically run an hour in length. This can refer to a genre of television or radio drama series. There are different subgenres within this category, such as the medical comedy dramas like M*A*S*H and Grey's Anatomy , legal comedy dramas like Ally McBeal and Boston Legal , and the musical comedy drama Glee .[ citation needed ]

Sketch comedy

Sketch comedy programs differ from sitcoms in that they do not basically feature recurring characters (though some characters and scenarios may be repeated) and often draw upon current events and emphasize satire over character development. Sketch comedy was pioneered by Sid Caesar, whose Your Show of Shows debuted in 1950 and established many conventions of the genre. American sketch comedy reached a later peak in the mid-1970s with the debut han Saturday Night Live , originally a variety program but soon devoted mostly to sketches. In the UK, two of the more successful examples are Monty Python's Flying Circus and Little Britain .[ citation needed ]

Animated cartoon

Animated cartoons have long been a source of comedy on television. Early children's programming often recycled theatrical cartoons; later, low-budget animation produced especially for television dominated Saturday-morning network programming in the US.

Impact on society

Ellen DeGeneres, pictured here in 1997. She made a large impact on television when she came out as lesbian on her sitcom, Ellen (1994-1998). Ellen97.jpg
Ellen DeGeneres, pictured here in 1997. She made a large impact on television when she came out as lesbian on her sitcom, Ellen (1994–1998).

Audience interpretations

Television comedy is described by media scholar Bore as a way to bring audiences to a collective sense in viewing and enjoying commonly-watched programs across societies. [11] [7] One specific way this can be done is through laugh tracks. While some view laugh tracks as ways to allow audiences to lightheartedly poke fun at characters, others see them as ways to restrict viewers to only laugh at certain moments. [7] For the latter, it can also be seen as collectively taking over the real laughter of viewers watching from home. [3]

Another aspect of audience's interpretations of comedy on television refer to how far writers go when poking fun at characters or real-life people. Saturday Night Live found itself in controversy when a sketch was performed, imitating politician David Paterson for both his political abilities and his blindness. [12] This brought up the idea of two central forms of humour that comedies will use: one prioritizes the joke itself and how it generates laughter from an audience, while the other prioritizes the personal characteristics of whom an actor is impersonating. [12]

Changing norms throughout comedy's history

Comedy has been a television genre prominent for introducing concepts that typically do not align with series' respective social norms. [2] One of these concepts is same-sex intimacy. The appearance of these scenes were not popular in the early days of comedy, and in shows such as Roseanne and Ellen , ratings could be changed up to TV-14 and receive a "mature content" warning as a result. [2] [13] Ellen DeGeneres famously came out on her show, although ABC cancelled Ellen one year later, with some gay rights groups protesting this decision. [13]

I Love Lucy became the first sitcom to have a multilingual couple. [6] Lucy was American and spoke English, while Ricky was Cuban and spoke Spanish. [6] The relationship between spouses in sitcoms has also changed throughout history. In earlier shows, the women would be the ones who made comedic errors, while the men, having more dominance, would become upset at their wives. [14] Some more recent shows, such as The King of Queens , would have the opposite roles, with the male characters making more mistakes, while their more sophisticated wives would become upset at their husbands for their actions. [14]

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comedian</span> Person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish, or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience directly is called a stand-up comedian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laugh track</span> Recorded laughter in broadcast comedy show

A laugh track is an audio recording consisting of laughter usually used as a separate soundtrack for comedy productions. The laugh track may contain live audience reactions or artificial laughter made to be inserted into the show, or a combination of the two. The use of canned laughter to "sweeten" the laugh track was pioneered by American sound engineer Charles "Charley" Douglass.

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 was an "alternative" to the mainstream stand-up of the day which took place in working men's clubs, and was characterised by unoriginal gags often containing elements of sexism and racism. In other contexts, it is the nature of the form that is "alternative", avoiding reliance on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. Patton Oswalt has defined it as "comedy where the audience has no pre-set expectations about the crowd, and vice versa. In comedy clubs, there tends to be a certain vibe—alternative comedy explores different types of material."

<i>The Carol Burnett Show</i> American variety/sketch comedy television show (1967–1978)

The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. In 1975, frequent guest star Tim Conway became a regular cast member after Waggoner left the series. In 1977, Dick Van Dyke replaced Korman but it was agreed that he was not a match and he left after 10 episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultivation theory</span> Theory examining long-term effects of TV

Cultivation theory stands as a significant sociological and communications framework developed by George Gerbner and it was designed to unravel the enduring impacts of media consumption, with a primary focus on television. At its core, the theory posits a compelling hypothesis: individuals who invest more time in watching television are prone to perceive the real world through a lens aligning with the prevalent depictions in television messages, in contrast to their counterparts with lower television viewership but comparable demographic profiles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British humour</span>

British humour carries a strong element of satire aimed at the absurdity of everyday life. Common themes include sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek, banter, insults, self-deprecation, taboo subjects, puns, innuendo, wit, and the British class system. These are often accompanied by a deadpan delivery which is present throughout the British sense of humour. It may be used to bury emotions in a way that seems unkind in the eyes of other cultures. Jokes are told about everything and almost no subject is off-limits, though a lack of subtlety when discussing controversial issues is sometimes considered insensitive. Many British comedy series have become successful internationally, serving as a representation of British culture to overseas audiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick at Nite</span> American evening block on Nickelodeon

Nick at Nite is an evening programming block on the American basic cable channel Nickelodeon. Running from prime time to late night, the block primarily targets adult and older youth audiences. It initially consisted of syndicated shows and films from the 1950s to the 1970s. Over time, the block shifted its programming to airing more recent sitcoms and films, primarily those from the mid-1990s to the 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian humour</span>

Humour is an integral part of the Canadian identity. There are several traditions in Canadian humour in both English and French. While these traditions are distinct and at times very different, there are common themes that relate to Canadians' shared history and geopolitical situation in North America and the world. Though neither universally kind nor moderate, humorous Canadian literature has often been branded by author Dick Bourgeois-Doyle as "gentle satire," evoking the notion embedded in humorist Stephen Leacock's definition of humour as "the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life and the artistic expression thereof."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political satire</span> Political commentary in a style of humor based on parody

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black sitcom</span> Sitcom starring a predominant African American cast

A black sitcom is a sitcom that principally features black people in its cast. Prominent black sitcoms to date typically come from the United States with African American casts. Although sitcoms with primarily black characters have been present since the earliest days of network television, this genre rose to prominence in the 1990s, mostly then on upstart networks outside the Big Three.

American humor refers collectively to the conventions and common threads that tie together humor in the United States. It is often defined in comparison to the humor of another country – for example, how it is different from British humor and Canadian humor. It is, however, difficult to say what makes a particular type or subject of humor particularly American. Humor usually concerns aspects of American culture, and depends on the historical and current development of the country's culture. The extent to which an individual will personally find something humorous obviously depends on a host of absolute and relative variables, including, but not limited to geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, and context. People of different countries will therefore find different situations funny. Just as American culture has many aspects which differ from other nations, these cultural differences may be a barrier to how humor translates to other countries.

Germany has a long tradition of television comedy stretching as far back as the 1950s, and with its origins in cabaret and radio.

Mitten im 8en was an Austrian TV soap/comedy series produced by the ORF which ran from 10 May to 29 June 2007. The title translates to "In the Middle of the 8th" (district), referring to Vienna's Josefstadt.

Indonesian comedic forms have evolved from folk drama to comedic films and television shows. The most popular form of modern stage comedy in Indonesia is comedy troupes doing skits or sketches. In the film industry and television, the most popular comedy in Indonesia today is stand up comedy, such as that performed by Stand Up Indo. Several TV networks air stand up comedy shows, including Kompas TV with its program Stand Up Comedy Indonesia (SUCI). After SUCI was introduced, other networks like Metro TV and Indosiar have likewise introduced comedy shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studio audience</span> Audience present for the recording of all or part of a program in a studio

A studio audience is an audience present for the recording of all or part of a television program or radio program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack.

A sitcom is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comedy</span> Genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous

Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term originated in ancient Greece: In Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses which engender dramatic irony, which provokes laughter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian comedy</span> Australian television series

Australian comedy refers to the comedy and humour performed in or about Australia or by the people of Australia. Australian humour can be traced to various origins, and today is manifested in a diversity of cultural practices and pursuits. Writers like Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson helped to establish a tradition of laconic, ironic and irreverent wit in Australian literature, while Australian politicians and cultural stereotypes have each proved rich sources of comedy for artists from poet C. J. Dennis to satirist Barry Humphries to iconic film maker Paul Hogan, each of whom have given wide circulation to Australian slang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sentimental comedy</span>

Sentimental comedy is an 18th-century dramatic genre which sprang up as a reaction to the immoral tone of English Restoration plays. In sentimental comedies, middle-class protagonists triumphantly overcome a series of moral trials. These plays aimed to produce tears rather than laughter and reflected contemporary philosophical conceptions of humans as inherently good but capable of being led astray by bad example. By appealing to his noble sentiments, a man could be reformed and set back on the path of virtue. Although the plays contained characters whose natures seemed overly virtuous and whose problems were too easily resolved, they were accepted by audiences as truthful representations of the human predicament.

References

  1. ↑ "Texaco Star Theater". Television Academy Interviews. 2017-10-22. Archived from the original on 2020-06-04. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
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  3. 1 2 Wünsch, Michaela (2016-04-01). "Comedy, Repetition and Racial Stereotypes on Television". Cinergie – Il Cinema e le Altre Arti (9): 103–116 Pages. doi:10.6092/ISSN.2280-9481/6879. Archived from the original on 2021-10-18. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  4. ↑ Saul, Marc (September 2016). "Pinwright's Progress". Television Heaven. Archived from the original on 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  5. ↑ "Hancock's Half-Hour". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
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  12. 1 2 Becker, Amy B.; Haller, Beth A. (2014-01-01). "When Political Comedy Turns Personal: Humor Types, Audience Evaluations, and Attitudes". Howard Journal of Communications. 25 (1): 34–55. doi:10.1080/10646175.2013.835607. hdl: 11603/7338 . ISSN   1064-6175. S2CID   144799232.
  13. 1 2 Carter, Bill (1998-04-25). "ABC Is Canceling 'Ellen'". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  14. 1 2 Walsh, Kimberly; Fursich, Elfriede; Jefferson, Bonnie (2008-09-01). "Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast: Gender Role Portrayals in Sitcoms Featuring Mismatched Couples". Journal of Popular Film and Television. 36 (3): 123–132. doi:10.3200/JPFT.36.3.123-132. ISSN   0195-6051. S2CID   145534450.
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