Physical Comedy

Physical comedy is a type of comedy that relies heavily on physical and non subtle jokes, including but not limited to pratfalls, silly faces, and walking into walls.

It can be used to lighten the mood in a scene, especially one that is dialogue heavy, although some shows are exclusively physical comedy throughout. These are mostly short, since jokes won't be as funny when they have gone on for too long, and there is only so much material that you could repeat before it completely stops being funny.

Physical comedy might not seem like much compared to comedy based on dialogue, but it takes a lot to pull it off right. This is especially true when it comes to improv; the show Who's Line Is It Anyway involves a lot of physical comedy in games that are based around prompts from the audience.

The comedy wasn't planned out, and that is one of the things that makes it most funny - as the actors try to rearrange themselves so that someone is always standing, lying, and sitting, their scene is being changed and they have to keep a flowing story that fits with their actions. The things that happen aren't always realistic, but this makes it funny, and watching the actors scramble to get into place always gives a laugh too.




Vulture Supercut: The Physical Comedy of Chris Pratt

Parks and Recreation is an American comedy sitcom that uses a good mix of both physical and verbal comedy. By far some of the best comedy of the show is done by actor Chris Pratt, who initially was only a guest star but worked so well that they kept him on for seven seasons. Both his scripted and improvised comedy is hilarious, and he does it all in such a way that it seems genuine, as opposed to shows that are 100% over the top and obviously so.