Types of Comedy Films

When we think about some of cinema history's earliest and most recognizable names, we often think of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Laurel & Hardy. These stars are forever cemented into the history books of Hollywood, and what’s the one consistent theme they all share? They're comedy actors. 

Laurel & Hardy. Image via Wikipedia 

Comedy is one of the oldest genres in the world. From the earliest forms of theater and the silent film era to today's Netflix specials, laughter remains universal. However, looking at the broad range of comedy works, it’s not like they all fall into one category. Think about it: While the 2000s teen comedy “American Pie 2,” the ’80s slapstick comedy “Airplane!”, and the ’90s family Christmas comedy “Jingle All The Way” are all classified as comedies, how they approach humor, as well as the delivery of that comedy, is entirely different across all three films. You could say it’s very much a spectrum.

This article will help break down some of the core sub-genres. 

Action comedy

“The Nice Guys." Image via Warner Brothers 

Arguably, action comedies are the most bankable type of comedy films, often released as summer blockbusters starring today’s biggest names. With fast-paced action sequences, comedic elements, and larger-than-life protagonists often paired with a bumbling sidekick, action comedies are a fan favorite. With witty dialogue, one-liners, physical comedy, and high-octane scenes, what’s not to love?

You’ll often find that the laws of physics and other elements of realism are lessened in action comedies. Our heroes and main characters will survive explosions and impacts that would usually wound a character in a serious drama, if not mortally wound. The goal of an action comedy is to combine the elements of action films, where suspense and thrill are part of the parcel, intending to make you laugh rather than fear for the character’s safety. 

“Hot Fuzz” via Focus Features

And just as comedy can be broken down into subcategories, those subcategories can also be further refined to give an even more specific idea of the type of film you’re watching.

For example, action comedies can be further recategorized into buddy cop comedies, spy comedies, superhero comedies, martial arts comedies, and sports comedies. These still feature the high-octane elements of an action comedy but are focused explicitly within their respective niches.

Slapstick comedy

Slapstick comedy is another timeless sub-genre that has spawned decades of great films and brought several movie stars into superstardom, such as Dick Van Dyke, Charlie Chaplin, and Jim Carrey. 

Slapstick comedy falls somewhere between the theater of the absurd and a clown show at the circus. 

Exaggerated humor. Exaggerated actions. Ludicrous situations. Yet, everyone other than our primary protagonist is usually dead serious. And that’s what makes slapstick work. Slapstick comedies work best when the narrative or plot is one step away from being an incredibly serious drama. However, the absurdity of the protagonist’s actions makes it undeniably funny. 

Chris Farley as “Beverly Hills Ninja." Image via IMDB

Though it holds a mere 13% review rating, legendary actor Christian Bale says "Beverly Hills Ninja," a ridiculously silly slapstick comedy, is one of his favorites.

Deadpan comedy can also be considered a subcategory of slapstick. It’s a distinct style of humor that relies on an emotionless or overly serious delivery of something absurd. In many deadpan comedies, the usual slapstick formula is flipped; the protagonist remains intensely serious while the world around them spirals into chaos.

Leslie Nielsen is the most iconic example of this approach, and his filmography is a blueprint for writing and acting deadpan comedy. 

While family comedies are their own subcategory as well, you’ll often find that they borrow heavily from slapstick comedy to provoke laughter from younger viewers. 

Parody

A parody or spoof film is a comedy sub-genre that was incredibly popular throughout the early 1990s and 2000s with “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” “Not Another Teen Movie,” “The Scary Movie” franchise, and so on. As the name implies, a parody imitates a particular film or genre, with deliberate exaggeration for comedic effect.

We’re sure you likely know what “Space Balls” is a parody of just from the thumbnail itself. 

The parody artform relies heavily on audiences understanding the genre conventions or the existing media for the comedy to succeed. The punchlines often revolve around the source's preconceptions; the jokes may fall flat without that familiarity.

“Black Dynamite” is a parody of the 1970s blaxploitation films. Image via Sony

It’s also worth noting that, due to the absurdity of parody, it’s quite common to see parody elements within slapstick comedy. 

For example, in the 1992 film, “Wayne’s World,” Wayne is pulled over by a police officer played by Robert Patrick, holding up a Polaroid picture and asking, “Have you seen this boy?” Wayne’s reaction is to look directly into the camera and scream. That’s a slapstick moment, but it’s also a parody of a scene from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," where the T-1000 (played by Robert Patrick) is looking for John Connor. Again, though, the punchline only lands if you’ve seen the original scene in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." 

Black comedy

Comedy is often cited as one of the hardest forms of media to write because humor is subjective. In an action film, a car hurtling towards innocent bystanders is likely to be tense for most viewers. A joke, however, may not always land the same way with different audiences. This is why black comedy is one of the hardest sub-genres to navigate.

Black comedy, also known as dark comedy or gallows humor, is a genre of comedy that makes light of topics that are usually incredibly serious. The juxtaposition between the serious subject and the comedic elements makes the film humorous. 

Given that black comedy often revolves around topics like violence, death, politics, racial stereotypes, and elements of war, you’ll frequently find that many black comedies are also referred to as satirical. That’s because they use humor as a tool to ridicule or critique political ideologies, social norms, or cultural behaviors.

Romantic comedy

Ah, sweet romance and love. Navigating this complex human territory is often anything but simple. Your high school crush moves away. Or that office co-worker finally admits they have feelings for you, but it’s far too late. These complexities are often serious and dramatic and anything but funny. While the film below, "Past Lives," looks fantastic, it appears that laughs will be few and far between.

But this is where romantic comedies (also known as rom-coms) can remove that complex edge. As the name implies, rom-coms merge romance and humor into a single film.

“Bridget Jones's Diary” via Universal

The core aspect of a romantic comedy is where the plot, narrative, or characters find themselves in quite unrealistic situations, but situations that are key for the spark of romance to begin. 

Whether that’s a desperate homeowner desperate for income who dates an undateable college grad (“No Hard Feelings”), or two people who cannot stand to be in each other’s company but decide to act as a couple to avoid external confrontations (“Anyone But You”), it's these absurd moments that help set the romance in motion and instigate the comedy.  

“Anyone But You” via Sony Pictures

Because of this, there are elements of slapstick in rom-coms. With witty, playful dialogue that wouldn’t sound natural in the real world and miscommunications that rely on slightly dumbfounded characters, rom-coms often subtly lean into slapstick territory.

Filmmaking aspects 

Of course, this is not to say the comedy subgenres stop here. It’s like diving deep into a music genre on Spotify; you find even more layers once you start exploring.

Comedies can be further distilled into sports comedies, coming-of-age comedies, comedies that use situational humor, surreal comedies, or those that follow the filmmaking style of a documentary, known as "mockumentaries." However, despite the ability to continue diving into sub-genres with no end, one element stays consistent: the look of a comedy.  

While comedy has a particular tone in its writing, the way it looks is equally important. The mise-en-scène of a shot can evoke emotion in the audience just as much as the dialogue can.

With that in mind, we typically want to use bright colors and a vibrant palette, and most sequences are usually shot on a bright, sunny day. 

“Liar Liar." Image via Universal

You’d want the cinematography to feel stable and fluid rather than erratic and shaky. Most importantly, the lighting. Shadows can convey a lot; the mystery and darkness they create can be very suggestive tools. But in comedy, that’s not what we’re aiming for. We’re looking for what’s known as high-key lighting.

“Mr. Bean’s Holiday.” Image via Universal Pictures 

High-key lighting is a technique that minimizes shadows. Its roots can be traced back to the Golden Era of Hollywood, when sets were drenched in somewhat theatrical light. As a result, there would be little to no shadow on set. In the shot below from the comedy “Wedding Crashers,” note that even though the sunlight is coming from the right-hand side, the left side of the actors' faces are still equally illuminated. 

“Wedding Crashers." Image via New Line Cinemas

For whatever reason, that style endured; it carried through into commercials, music videos, musicals, and, more commonly, sitcoms—and most importantly, comedy films. While there’s no definitive point where lighting officially shifts from low-key to high-key, the general idea is that the subject’s face is evenly lit with fill light, leaving little to no shadow on the talent.

This creates a playful, joyful tone that contributes directly to the film's overall feeling.

Where have the comedies gone?

At the start of this article, we mentioned that comedy films don't necessarily have the same impact or are not produced in the same numbers as they were 15 to 20 years ago. Why is that? Well, there are many reasons and they tend to overlap.

So, let’s examine some of the contributing factors to why only a handful of comedy films are made each year and why they often don’t have the same cultural impact as “Happy Gilmore” or “Naked Gun” did in days gone by.

First, studios have moved away from mid-sized movies in favor of low-risk, high-reward films in a money-orientated business. These typically fall into two categories:

• Small movies with little significant commitment, like many A24 films, often have budgets under $10 million, or
• Big-budget movies with lots of star power or franchise appeal, films that are likely to recoup their costs, and more 

Historically, comedy films have never really been huge money-makers. They often just about break even, sometimes recoup a decent amount, and on rare occasions become mega earners like "American Pie." With a budget of $11 million, it grossed $235 million at the box office. But successes like that are few and far between.

Continuing on the trend of finances: sometime in the 2010s, big American-made films began premiering internationally first, as opposed to premiering domestically in the U.S. and then having a staggered release in Europe a few weeks or months later.

There were several reasons for this shift, such as building momentum, capitalizing on the large population sizes of audiences outside of America (which could increase the total revenue early on), and using those international earnings as marketing leverage. Studios could advertise that a film had already made X amount overseas before it even hit American theaters. And, of course, it helped reduce piracy. 

However, as noted throughout this article, comedy is highly subjective. Across different cultures, it doesn’t always land the same way, primarily when delivered through subtitles. If comedy films were already somewhat of a gamble domestically, they became an even bigger gamble internationally.

This brings us to another significant factor: the death of the home video and rental service.

Not too long ago, while appearing on the YouTube show "Hot Ones," Matt Damon explained why studios don’t tend to make the kinds of films they used to—referencing "Good Will Hunting" as an example. He pointed out that if a movie didn’t make all of its money back at the box office, there used to be a second wave of revenue six months down the line through home video sales and rentals.

That second wave no longer exists in a world dominated by digital streaming.

So, if a comedy film had just broken even at the box office, studios could still rely on post-theatrical income to push it into profitable territory. But with streaming, that additional wave of money has all but disappeared.

As a result, with all of these elements combined, the output of comedy films has dwindled. This isn’t to say they’re on the extinction list; there are still a number of comedies produced and released each year, and many are received very well. But much like the Western genre, the steady production line of comedy films that ran strong from the 1970s through the early 2000s has largely come to a halt.

This was one lengthy guide, but you should now have a solid understanding of the core basics of comedy films, the different subcategories, and even a few insights into how to approach making your own. 

Comedy is just one of many film genres, each with its own storytelling conventions and unique challenges. For a deeper understanding of genres and genre theory, you can explore our guide: Film Genres Explained.