Author: Randal K. West Date Published: November 2013
Physical comedy has been around since the first man saw a friend fall flat on his face and started to laugh at it. It is not a subtle style of comedy at all, and can be used to lighten the mood of the scene with it’s almost instant hilarity. It is one of the hardest types of comedy to stage. But if done well, can cause a large amount of laughter.
The biggest mistake with trying to integrate physical comedy is to make it look realistic while not making it so obvious that the audience knows what is going on next. You also can’t just blindly throw in violence between to actors hoping the audience will find it humorous. You need a good balance of right time, right place, and right characters to use this type of comedy in a film.