Anarchic comedy film
Encyclopedia
Anarchic comedy is a genre
of cinema
using nonsensical, stream-of-consciousness humor. Films of this nature stem from a theatrical history
of anarchic comedy on the stage. Jokes and visual gag
s are utilized, usually in a non sequitur manner that eschews narrative for sheer absurdity. Like farce
, anarchic comedy uses wildly exaggerated characters and situations to provide humor, but unlike farce, where any outrageous event springs from the situation, the gags used in this type of comedy have no narrative context. The gags are often similar to slapstick
, but with less emphasis on physical violence and more emphasis on comic antics.
, minstrel show
s, the traveling medicine and Western shows, vaudeville
, burlesque
, and the music hall
. In these venues, especially the last three, comic business came in the form of sketches which generally had no self-contained narrative. Since the performers needed to get immediate reactions from the audience, any and all appropriate jokes were thrown in these sketches at the expense of telling a story.
' L'Arroseur Arrosé
(The Sprinkler Sprinkled) – or, in a one-reeler, showed repetition of the same basic gag – like 1912's That Fatal Sneeze. The famous comedians of the silent screen started out, in their two-reelers, using disconnected black-out sketches built around one theme (Buster Keaton
's The Playhouse, for example), but by the early 1920s they had moved on to more cohesive narrative forms and, thus, abandoned anarchic comedy altogether (although Buster Keaton re-captured the anarchic spirit with Sherlock, Jr).
were the main proponents of their own brand of no-holds-barred humor, captured for posterity in films like Animal Crackers
, Duck Soup, and Horse Feathers
. They had a knack for complex wordplay, double entendres, outrageous slapstick, and being able to walk into a room full of society people and leave the place in shambles. Another comedy team in the 1930s with an anarchic bent was Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey
, who, while not as creative as the Marx Brothers, were still fun in such films as Hook, Line and Sinker and Hips Hips Hooray.
There was also W.C. Fields, a vaudeville comedian who made the switch to film in the early 1930s and worked his own twist on the "up-the-society" theme. In such classics as The Bank Dick
and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
, Fields perfected an everyman persona who fights the world of henpecking housewives, bumbling bureaucrats, and obnoxious children with made-up words, a shyster's sense of chicanery, and a steady stream of liquor.
manages to spoof Hollywood musicals, the aristocracy, and the entire notion of narrative linearity, and whose Crazy House contains in its first fifteen minutes the wackiest comic business of the decade. Also in this decade, Bob Hope
, Bing Crosby
, and Dorothy Lamour
started making the casually anarchic farces known as the "Road" pictures. Hurried ad-libbing by all involved made otherwise corny comedies into gems such as Road to Morocco
and Road to Utopia
. Bob Hope would later return to the anarchic format in Son of Paleface
.
(Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
) and Jerry Lewis
(The Bellboy) definitely had some anarchic elements, as did the big budget comedy epics of the '60s, especially It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
, The Great Race
, and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
. The 1960s television series The Monkees
featured anarchic comedy to a great degree.
and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, they brought down institution after institution with deadly accuracy. Thus, the 1970s became the Golden Age of Anarchic Comedy; as American society was perceived by some to spiral out-of-control and some lost faith in government and the church as a result of perceived hypocrisy, the general public embraced a style of comedy that wasn't afraid to bite the hand that fed it. Movies such as MASH
, Bananas, Blazing Saddles, Nashville, National Lampoon's Animal House
, The Jerk, The Blues Brothers
, Caddyshack
, and Stripes
placed a thin veil of narrative over the basic theme of "slobs vs. snobs" and attacked the societal status quo, while the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team kept the stream-of-consciousness comedy alive with The Kentucky Fried Movie
and Airplane!
.
(Wayne's World
), Jim Carrey
(Ace Ventura
),
the Coen brothers
(Raising Arizona
, The Big Lebowski
), Will Ferrell
(Step Brothers
) and the Farrelly brothers
(Kingpin
, There's Something About Mary
).
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
of cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
using nonsensical, stream-of-consciousness humor. Films of this nature stem from a theatrical history
History of theatre
The history of theatre charts the development of theatre over the past 2,500 years. While performative elements are present in every society, it is customary to acknowledge a distinction between theatre as an art form and entertainment and theatrical or performative elements in other activities...
of anarchic comedy on the stage. Jokes and visual gag
Visual gag
In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humor visually, often without words being used at all.There are numerous examples in cinema history of directors who based most of the humour in their films on visual gags, even to the point of using no or minimal dialogue...
s are utilized, usually in a non sequitur manner that eschews narrative for sheer absurdity. Like farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
, anarchic comedy uses wildly exaggerated characters and situations to provide humor, but unlike farce, where any outrageous event springs from the situation, the gags used in this type of comedy have no narrative context. The gags are often similar to slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
, but with less emphasis on physical violence and more emphasis on comic antics.
History
The anarchic comedy has its roots in the low-brow popular stage, namely the circusCircus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
, minstrel show
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
s, the traveling medicine and Western shows, vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque 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...
, and the music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
. In these venues, especially the last three, comic business came in the form of sketches which generally had no self-contained narrative. Since the performers needed to get immediate reactions from the audience, any and all appropriate jokes were thrown in these sketches at the expense of telling a story.
Silent anarchic comedy
This type of moment-by-moment comedy made its way into early film. From the dawn of the medium through the mid-1910s, film comedies either showed one single gag – like the Lumière brothersAuguste and Louis Lumière
The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean , were among the earliest filmmakers in history...
' L'Arroseur Arrosé
L'Arroseur Arrosé
L'Arroseur arrosé is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent comedy film directed and produced by Louis Lumière and starring François Clerc and Benoît Duval...
(The Sprinkler Sprinkled) – or, in a one-reeler, showed repetition of the same basic gag – like 1912's That Fatal Sneeze. The famous comedians of the silent screen started out, in their two-reelers, using disconnected black-out sketches built around one theme (Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
's The Playhouse, for example), but by the early 1920s they had moved on to more cohesive narrative forms and, thus, abandoned anarchic comedy altogether (although Buster Keaton re-captured the anarchic spirit with Sherlock, Jr).
1930s
It was in the 1930s that the anarchic comedy started to blossom, as vaudeville performers raced to the big studios. The Marx BrothersMarx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
were the main proponents of their own brand of no-holds-barred humor, captured for posterity in films like Animal Crackers
Animal Crackers (film)
Animal Crackers is a 1930 American comedy film, in which mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding. The film was both a critical and commercial success upon initial release, and remains one of the Marx...
, Duck Soup, and Horse Feathers
Horse Feathers
Horse Feathers is a Marx Brothers film comedy. It stars the four Marx Brothers and Thelma Todd. It was written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S. J. Perelman, and Will B. Johnstone. Kalmar and Ruby also wrote some of the original music for the film...
. They had a knack for complex wordplay, double entendres, outrageous slapstick, and being able to walk into a room full of society people and leave the place in shambles. Another comedy team in the 1930s with an anarchic bent was Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey
Wheeler & Woolsey
Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were a famous American film comedy team of the 1930s....
, who, while not as creative as the Marx Brothers, were still fun in such films as Hook, Line and Sinker and Hips Hips Hooray.
There was also W.C. Fields, a vaudeville comedian who made the switch to film in the early 1930s and worked his own twist on the "up-the-society" theme. In such classics as The Bank Dick
The Bank Dick
The Bank Dick is a 1940 comedy film. W. C. Fields plays a character named Egbert Sousé who trips a bank robber and ends up a security guard as a result...
and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is a 1941 Universal Pictures comedy film starring W.C. Fields. Fields also wrote the original story, under the pseudonym "Otis Criblecoblis". Fields plays himself, searching for a chance to promote a surreal screenplay he has written, whose several framed sequences...
, Fields perfected an everyman persona who fights the world of henpecking housewives, bumbling bureaucrats, and obnoxious children with made-up words, a shyster's sense of chicanery, and a steady stream of liquor.
1940s
The 1940s produced Olsen and Johnson, two comedians whose Hellzapoppin'Hellzapoppin' (film)
Hellzapoppin' is a 1941 Universal Pictures adaptation of the musical of the same name directed by H.C. Potter. The cast includes Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson , Martha Raye, Mischa Auer, Shemp Howard, and The Six Hits.The credits for the movie assert that "any resemblance between Hellzapoppin and a...
manages to spoof Hollywood musicals, the aristocracy, and the entire notion of narrative linearity, and whose Crazy House contains in its first fifteen minutes the wackiest comic business of the decade. Also in this decade, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, and Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
started making the casually anarchic farces known as the "Road" pictures. Hurried ad-libbing by all involved made otherwise corny comedies into gems such as Road to Morocco
Road to Morocco
Road to Morocco is an 1942 American comedy film about two fast-talking guys tossed up on a desert shore and sold into slavery to a beautiful princess...
and Road to Utopia
Road to Utopia
Road to Utopia, filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946, is the fourth film of the "Road to …" series starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.-Plot:After the credits we see Sal and Chester Hooton, an old married couple...
. Bob Hope would later return to the anarchic format in Son of Paleface
Son of Paleface
Son of Paleface , is a western comedy film and sequel to The Paleface , directed by Frank Tashlin and written by Tashlin, Joseph Quillan and Robert L. Welch. It stars Bob Hope, Jane Russell and Roy Rogers.-Plot:...
.
1950s and 1960s decline
The 1950s saw a general decrease in anarchic comedy, although some works of Frank TashlinFrank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin, born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, also known as Tish Tash or Frank Tash was an American animator, screenwriter, and film director.-Animator:...
(Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is a 1957 American satiric comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield and Tony Randall, with Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Lili Gentle, Mickey Hargitay, and a cameo by Groucho Marx...
) and Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
(The Bellboy) definitely had some anarchic elements, as did the big budget comedy epics of the '60s, especially It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
, The Great Race
The Great Race
The Great Race is a 1965 slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, and with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan. The supporting cast includes Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn,...
, and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes is a 1965 British comedy film starring Stuart Whitman and directed and co-written by Ken Annakin...
. The 1960s television series The Monkees
The Monkees (TV series)
The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...
featured anarchic comedy to a great degree.
1970s revival and 1980s
When the Monty Python group made a big splash in cinema with such films as Monty Python and the Holy GrailMonty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1974 British comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python , and directed by Gilliam and Jones...
and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, they brought down institution after institution with deadly accuracy. Thus, the 1970s became the Golden Age of Anarchic Comedy; as American society was perceived by some to spiral out-of-control and some lost faith in government and the church as a result of perceived hypocrisy, the general public embraced a style of comedy that wasn't afraid to bite the hand that fed it. Movies such as MASH
MASH (film)
MASH is a 1970 American satirical dark comedy film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner, Jr., based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. It is the only feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise...
, Bananas, Blazing Saddles, Nashville, National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis. The film was a direct spin-off of National Lampoon magazine...
, The Jerk, The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers (film)
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
, Caddyshack
Caddyshack
Caddyshack is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis, and Douglas Kenney. It stars Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O'Keefe, Cindy Morgan, and Bill Murray...
, and Stripes
Stripes (film)
Stripes is a 1981 American comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, P. J. Soles, and John Candy. It also featured several actors in their first significant film roles, including John Larroquette, Sean Young, John Diehl, and Judge Reinhold. It was one...
placed a thin veil of narrative over the basic theme of "slobs vs. snobs" and attacked the societal status quo, while the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team kept the stream-of-consciousness comedy alive with The Kentucky Fried Movie
The Kentucky Fried Movie
The Kentucky Fried Movie is an American comedy film, released in 1977 and directed by John Landis. The film's writers were the team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker. This same team would go on to write and direct Airplane!, Top Secret! and the Police Squad! television series and its...
and Airplane!
Airplane!
Airplane! is a 1980 American satirical comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and released by Paramount Pictures...
.
Modern anarchic comedy
The surreal stylings of humor that mark the anarchic comedy still reigned supreme in the comedy of the '90s, predominantly in the work of Mike MyersMike Myers (actor)
Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...
(Wayne's World
Wayne's World
Wayne's World was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series Saturday Night Live. It evolved from a segment titled "Wayne's Power Minute" on the CBC Television series It's Only Rock & Roll, as the main character first appeared in that show...
), Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
(Ace Ventura
Ace Ventura
Ace Ventura is a fictional character, created by screenwriters Jack Bernstein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk. Ace was played by Jim Carrey in the films He was voiced by Michael Daingerfield in the animated television series.-Biography:Ace is a...
),
the Coen brothers
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
(Raising Arizona
Raising Arizona
Raising Arizona is a 1987 comedy film directed by the Coen Brothers and starring Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, William Forsythe, John Goodman, Frances McDormand and Randall "Tex" Cobb. Not a blockbuster at the time of its release, it has since achieved cult status...
, The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
), Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
(Step Brothers
Step Brothers (film)
Step Brothers is a 2008 American slapstick buddy-comedy film directed by Adam McKay, produced by Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller, and stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, who originally teamed up in Talladega Nights . The screenplay was written by Ferrell and McKay, from a story written by Ferrell,...
) and the Farrelly brothers
Farrelly brothers
Peter John Farrelly and Robert Leo "Bobby" Farrelly, Jr. , professionally known as the Farrelly Brothers are screenwriters and directors of ten comedy films, including There's Something About Mary; Dumb and Dumber; Kingpin; Hall Pass; Me, Myself & Irene; Shallow Hal; Stuck on You; Osmosis Jones;...
(Kingpin
Kingpin (film)
Kingpin is a 1996 slapstick comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers and starring Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Vanessa Angel, and Bill Murray...
, There's Something About Mary
There's Something About Mary
There's Something About Mary is a 1998 American comedy film, directed by the Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter. It stars Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon and Ben Stiller, and it is a combination of romantic comedy and gross-out film....
).
External links
- Anarchic Comedy at Allmovie