History of Comedy Films

1. History of Comedy
TYLER BEEVER

2. Definition of Comedy
 professional entertainment consisting of jokes and sketches,
intended to make an audience laugh.
 a film, play, or broadcast programme intended to make an
audience laugh
 the style or genre represented by comedy films, plays, and
broadcast programmes.

3. First Comedy Film
 The first film comedy, which can
be traced to 1895 with The
Sprinkler Sprinkled, was a fairly
new genre.

4. Early Days of Comedy
 Between 1895-1929 silent film comedy relied heavily on
slapstick and burlesque humour.
 Slapstick is a style of humour involving physical activity,
chases, collisions and practical jokes.
 Slapstick comedy was made famous by Charlie Chaplin in the
beginning of the 1900s. His films keep entertaining us till this
day.

5. 1950s and 1960s
 Television played a major role in shaping comedy films, particularly during
the 1950s. Audiences began to stay at home for their entertainment
needs.
 In the early 1960s comedy films became much darker. Films were often
based on themes such as murder or war. For example 'Dr. Strangelove' is a
well-known comedy film from the 60s and the theme of the film is nuclear
warfare.

6. 1970s and 1980s
 Between 1970-1980 comedy films included a lot of foolish and
immature humour.
 Sketch films became much more common and the most
popular ones were made during these decades.

7. 1990s
 During the 1990s many influential comedy films were released
such as Dumb and Dumber and Home Alone.
 In the 1990s films became a lot more vulgar in comparison to
earlier films.

8. 2000 to Present
 Comedy films have continued to evolve with popular entertainment,
producing more sophisticated works in recent decades.
 Nowadays you can find all kinds of comedy films in the video store or
cinema such as romantic comedy.
 Every subgenre is represented, from Charlie Chaplin's slapstick antics to
the more sophisticated comedy.