Portal:Comedy

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Comedy has a popular meaning (stand-up, along with any discourse generally intended to amuse), which differs from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece. The theatrical genre can be simply described as a dramatic performance pitting two societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Comedy contains variations on the elements of surprise, incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations, and there are many recognized genres.

Satire and political satire use ironic comedy to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, thus alienating their audience from the object of humor. Parody borrows the form of some popular genre, artwork, or text but uses certain ironic changes to critique that form from within (though not necessarily in a condemning way). Screwball comedy derives its humor largely from bizarre, surprising (and improbable) situations or characters. Black comedy is defined by dark humor that makes light of so called dark or evil elements in human nature. Similarly scatological humor, sexual humor, and race humor create comedy by violating social conventions or taboos in comedic ways. A comedy of manners typically takes as its subject a particular part of society (usually upper class society) and uses humor to parody or satirize the behavior and mannerisms of its members. Romantic comedy is a popular genre that depicts burgeoning romance in humorous terms and focuses on the foibles of those falling in love.

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Excel Saga is a manga series by Koushi Rikudou, and a TV anime series based on it and directed by Shinichi Watanabe (pictured). Both the anime and the manga are absurdist comedies following the attempts of the "secret ideological organization," Across, to conquer the city of Fukuoka as a first step towards world domination. Excel, the title character, is a key member of Across and ranks below only the organization's enigmatic leader, Ilpalazzo. In both the manga and anime, the city is defended by a shadowy government agency led by Dr. Kabapu, whose subordinates engage Excel and her junior officer, Hyatt on several occasions. The manga focuses on the development of its principal characters by means of satirizing life and culture in Japan. The English-language reception of the Excel Saga anime was generally positive, likening the humor in nature and quality to the works of Tex Avery and Monty Python. The Excel Saga manga began publication in Japan in the mid-1990s, serialized in Shonen Gahosha's Young King OURs, and as of August 2006 sixteen collected volumes have been published.

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Credit: C. Szeto

In physiology, a smile is a facial expression formed by flexing the muscles most notably near both ends of the mouth. The smile can be also around the eyes. Among humans, it's customarily an expression of pleasure, happiness, or amusement, but can also be an involuntary expression of anxiety, in which case it can be known as a grimace. There is much evidence that smiling is a normal reaction to certain stimuli and occurs regardless of culture. Happiness is most often the cause of a smile.

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Did you know...

...that the fight scene between Peter Griffin and a giant chicken on Family Guy episode Blind Ambition was originally created for the episode Cleveland Loretta Quagmire?
...that the Greek Phlyax plays of South Italy might have been an influence on Roman comedies of Plautus?
...that the sitcom pilot Free Agents is likely to become the third show from Channel 4's Comedy Showcase to be given a full series?
... that all four stars of Starved, an FX sitcom about eating disorders, struggled with eating disorders themselves, a fact unknown to producers until after casting?
... that the 1946 Mexican film Boom in the Moon starring Buster Keaton was not commercially released in the United States until 1983?

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Douglas Adams was a cult British comic radio dramatist, musician and author, most notably of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker's began on radio and developed into a "trilogy" of five books (which had sold more than fifteen million copies by the time of Adams's death) as well as a television series, a computer game and a feature film that was completed only after Adams's death. In addition, Douglas Adams also wrote or co-wrote three stories of science fiction staple Doctor Who and served the series as Script Editor during the seventeenth season. His other written works include the Dirk Gently novels, co-author credits on two Liff books and Last Chance to See, which was also based on a radio series. Towards the end of his life, he was a sought-after lecturer on topics including technology and the environment. Since his death at the age of 49, he is still widely revered in science fiction and fantasy circles.

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