History of Comedy Films

The history of comedy films is as varied as the technology that has allowed us to watch movies. Ever since movies gained popularity in the early 1900s, filmmakers realized we love to laugh just as much as we love on-screen drama. Early comedy films were silent and relied upon the actors' talents with timing and physical theater to get a rise out of the viewers. As movie technology evolved, so did the comedy.

Comedy has grown into a lush genre of many types of films. Below are the most common sub-genres of the comedy.

• Comedy of manners - A satire on the lifestyles of the social class

• Dark comedy - Based on taboo subjects such as murder or war.

• Fish out of water - The main character finds himself in a strange environment, such as gender-swapping roles or a rural chap in the big city (Crocodile Dundee).

• Gross-out films - Another popular style of comedy film in recent years, these movies focus on toilet humor and are often aimed at younger audiences.

• Parodies and spoofs - One of the most common types of comedies, these films satirize other genres or classic films with sarcasm and mockery.

• Romantic comedy - A comedy centered around a developing relationship.

• Screwball comedy - Most popular in the early days of films, screwball comedies are the most difficult sub-genre to define. They usually involve wacky, almost unbelievable situations and include lots of physical humor.

In addition to the above sub-genres, comedy is often merged with other types of film to produce sci-fi comedies, action comedies, and the like.

Comedy films first appeared during the early 1900s when movies were gaining ground in the public eye. In fact, the very first film to be copyrighted in the United States, the five-second-long Fred Ott's Sneeze, is often described as a comedy. Because of limited technology, early films were silent and thus focused on visual humor, especially the slapstick style made popular by Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton.

With the rise of sound in movies, comedy films could take their humor in new directions. Scriptwriters could incorporate jokes and craft complex situations that brought comedy to a whole new level. The Marx brothers were one of the first revolutionaries in the talking comedy film world, and their brand of fast-talking humor is still unique today.

One of the first new styles that emerged with talkie films was the screwball comedy, illustrated brilliantly by the Three Stooges. Screwball comedies were short and featured over-the-top physical humor more common in cartoons of the day. Modern examples of screwball comedies include Roman Atkinson's Bean.

Television played a major role in shaping comedy films, especially during the 1950s. Audiences began to stay at home for their entertainment needs and the movie industry noticed a sharp decline in attendance. To compensate, many films migrated to television or were morphed into episodic shows. Thus the situation comedy (sitcom) was born. I Love Lucy and The Abbott and Costello Show are two prime examples of early sitcoms that still have a loyal audience today.

The comedy film continued to evolve with popular entertainment, producing more sophisticated (and less-sophisticated) works in recent decades. In fact, movies such as Back to the Future and Monty Python and the Holy Grail have been voted as some of the funniest comedy movies of all time.

The modern moviegoer can expect to find all kinds of comedy films in the video store or cinema. Every sub-genre is represented, from Charlie Chaplin's slapstick antics to the more sophisticated comedy. There's something available to make just about anyone laugh.

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