Slapstick

Slapstick is a fun style of comedy that uses wild and exaggerated physical actions. These actions go beyond normal funny moves and can include pretend fights or funny mistakes with props. Even though it might look like someone is getting hurt, it's all part of the joke and done safely.

The word "slapstick" comes from a tool used in old Italian theater called commedia dell'arte. This tool, made of two thin pieces of wood, makes a loud "slap" sound when hit against another actor. This sound is meant to be funny without actually hurting anyone. You can still see this kind of humor today in shows like The Three Stooges, movies such as The Naked Gun, and funny characters like Mr. Bean.

Slapstick makes people laugh by turning everyday mistakes or pretend fights into silly, over-the-top scenes. It's been a popular way to make audiences laugh for hundreds of years.

Origins

The word "slapstick" comes from an Italian tool called the batacchio, also known as the "slap stick". This tool is made of two wooden slats that make a loud smacking sound when hit together. It was used in a style of comedy called commedia dell'arte. Actors could hit each other with this tool to make funny noises without hurting each other. Along with the whoopee cushion, it was one of the first kinds of special effects.

Early uses

Slapstick comedy has been around for many centuries. Shakespeare used chase scenes and playful beatings in his funny plays, like in The Comedy of Errors. In the early 1800s in England, pantomime included lots of slapstick comedy. One of its famous performers, Joseph Grimaldi, was very skilled at physical comedy. Comedy was also a big part of British music hall theatres, which became popular in the 1850s.

Punch and Judy shows, which started in England on May 9, 1662, often used a large slapstick prop for funny moments.

Fred Karno and music hall

British comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, George Formby, and Dan Leno learned their skills in places called music halls. A man named Fred Karno created funny sketches without talking in the 1890s. Chaplin and Laurel worked for him in a group called "Fred Karno's London Comedians."

In 1904, Karno made a very popular sketch called Mumming Birds at the Hackney Empire in London. It included a funny moment where someone gets hit in the face with a pie. This sketch was so liked that it became the longest-running one in music hall history. Chaplin and Laurel both performed in it, and Chaplin’s older brother Sydney was the first to do the pie gag for Karno.

One biography says Laurel thought Karno taught him and Chaplin most of what they knew about comedy. A film producer named Hal Roach called Karno a genius and said he started slapstick comedy. Many in Hollywood say they learned a lot from him.

In film and television

Slapstick humor became very popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries in British music halls and American vaudeville shows. Famous directors like Hal Roach and Mack Sennett used this style in black-and-white movies featuring comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, and Larry Semon. One common joke during this time was someone getting a pie in the face. Chaplin’s 1915 film A Night in the Show included this joke and brought a classic music hall sketch into his movies. Silent slapstick comedy was also popular in early French films made by Max Linder, Charles Prince, and Sarah Duhamel.

Slapstick grew to be a regular part of animated cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s. Examples include Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Walter Lantz’s Woody Woodpecker, the Beary Family, MGM’s Tom and Jerry, and Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. It also appeared later in Japanese Tokusatsu TV shows like Kamen Rider Den O, Kamen Rider Gaim, and Kamen Rider Drive, as well as in The Benny Hill Show in the UK. In the US, it was used in TV series like Gilligan’s Island, Batman, The Flying Nun, and I Love Lucy. The sitcom Three’s Company from the 1970s often included slapstick scenes. In 1990, Mr. Bean starring Rowan Atkinson debuted on British television and became popular worldwide.

20th century fad

In the early 1900s, people sometimes used slapsticks for fun during public events. During a parade in St. Louis in 1911, some people used slapsticks in ways that made others uncomfortable. An editorial in Asbury Park in 1914 suggested that police should stop people from using slapsticks because they could hurt others.