Comedy Genre
By Sammy Ali

What is Comedy?
Comedy is a genre of film that uses humour as
entertainment for the audience. The aim of a comedy
film is to bring laughter from the audience through
stories and characters featured in the film. Comedies
have a tendency to become a hybrid-sub genre as
humour can be incorporated into many other genres.
Some films include;
• Happy Gilmore- A rejected hockey player who takes up
golf in order to save his grandmother’s house.
• Groundhog Day- This film features a grumpy old man
who finds himself living the same day repeatedly.

Action Comedy
This type of sub-genre combines action with
humour. Action Comedy relies on the characters
to bring out the humour, whilst the action scenes
tends to be less intense than full-on action
movies.
Some examples include;
• Beverly Hills Cop
• Rush Hour
• Hot Fuzz

Anarchic Comedy
Anarchic usually refers to a sub-genre of comedy which uses a
stream of consciousness humour. The humour tends to be
nonsense with an exaggeration of characters and situations.
Anarchic films often use slapstick, however is considered to be
less violent compared to other films. Unlike classic comedy,
Anarchic movies doesn’t rely on the narrative to explain the
context of humour.
Some film examples include;
• Monty Python
• Holy Grail
• Blazing Saddles
• Animal House

Black Comedy
Black Comedy is a sub-genre of both Comedy and Satire.
These type of films usually explore the concept and
topics that are considered taboo in our society. Black
Comedy takes topics and situations which are held as
serious and converts them to a comical storyline for the
audience to enjoy, without taking offence. Due to this
approach, some audiences may laugh as they feel
uncomfortable.
Examples of this sub-genre used in films;
• Fargo
• Harold and Maude
• Love Bomb

Horror Comedy
Horror Comedy combines both the traditional
horror and comedy movie themes and
characters. These types of films aim to scare the
audience, and also provide comical outlets that
let the audience laugh through their fear.
Examples;
• Zombieland
• Beetlejuice
• Shaun of the Dead.

Parody/Spoof
This type of sub-genre entirely basis itself in reality.
The aim of these films is to impersonate, ridicule or
scoff at serious situations and people. These films
rely heavily on satire and can be used in means of
either social or political commentary. Parody/Spoof
can also be taken as a form of fake documentary,
which is also known as ‘Mockumentary’.
Examples of this;
• Life of Brian
• Naked Gun
• Scary Movie series

Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy is a genre aimed to catch the viewers
heart with a combination of love and humour. This type
of sub-genre is light-hearted and places two protagonists
in a humorous situation. These type of films revolve
around a romantic ideal, such as true love, which end in
triumphs over any given situation or obstacle, which
therefore creates a happy ending.
Examples include;
• Roman Holiday
• Where Harry met Sally
• Knocked Up

Slapstick
Slapstick comedy is a type of sub-genre which
incorporates physical comedy into the story. These
types of films use visual action, including harmless
violence to depict humour. Slapstick films usually
rely on comedic timings and a controlled
performance of a single actor.
Examples of this include;
• Caddyshack
• Safety Last!
• Tommy Boy