Jim Williams

Comedy is harder to do than drama

I don't think that there is really a definitive answer to this but it has been my observation that it is much harder to make a good comedy film than it is to make a good drama. I can only think of a handful of really outstanding comedys. Big, Tootsie, Airplane, Play it again Sam, Mrs. Doubtfire, come to mind as outstanding. Beyond that I start to struggle to come up with what I would call a great comedy movie. On the other hand I can name dozens of great dramas off the top of my head.

To me a great comedy is one that does not resort to bathroom humor or gratuitous sex and nudity just to get a laugh. Mind you, I am no prude, but I just don't think that bathroom humor or gratuitous sex and nudity make a film great.

What are your thoughts. Do you agree that it is harder to make a great comedy than it is to make a great drama?

\"I reckon I\'d like some of them french fried pertaters. Mm-hmm.\"
Karl Childers

SteveP

The well-known story is of some famous old English actor on his death-bed being asked:

"Is dying hard?"

His reply:

"Dying is easy--COMEDY IS HARD!"

Chad R

It's true. Because comedy is far more subjective than drama. Not everyone finds the same material funny, and humor is often time cultural specific. However, many of the emotions that Dramas tap into are universal. As an example, everyone finds death to be sad, or breaking up with a lover hard. But, not everyone thinks that slipping on a banana peel is funny.

For instance, I would never declare "Mrs. Doubtfire" a classic of comedy. I found it maudlin and over-long. But you find it hysterical. That's not to say you're wrong, only that your idea of comedy is different than mine.

george kaplan

I certainly agree that comedy is harder to do than drama, and it gets less respect to boot. But I have to disagree with the idea that there are only a handful of great comedies. There are literally hundreds. I'd start listing them, but I wouldn't know where to stop.

"Movies should be like amusement parks. People should go to them to have fun." - Billy Wilder

"Subtitles good. Hollywood bad." - Tarzan, Sight & Sound 2012 voter.

"My films are not slices of life, they are pieces of cake." - Alfred Hitchcock

"My great humility is just one of the many reasons that I am vastly superior to everyone else." - Ramrod Clerk

Morgan Jolley

I usually enjoy comedy films that aren't aimed at a wide audience or that are made to be very much in either a darker sense (like American Beauty or Donnie Darko at some parts) or are just pure crude stuff (not gross out like Jackass, but more like South Park). For these reasons, I don't like most mainstream comedy.

I find Jack Black and SNL to be the two biggest enigmas of modern comedy. I don't find either funny at all (except SNL's political stuff), but they're both extremely popular.

Mike Graham

Roger Ebert noted the year Bowfinger came out that Eddie Murphy should've gotten an Oscar nod for his work in the film because he portrayed two completely different people within the same film; he went on to say that many, many actors find comedy harder then drama, but that the Academy rarely recognized this.

Dick

I am in my fifties. I still love slapstick. Good slapstick. I still admire and can laugh at much of The Three Stooges, though many find them insufferable. I never laughed for as long a time as when I first saw IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD. But even well into adulthood, I found the Public Service Announcement at the end of THE GROOVE TUBE so hysterical that I slid out of my seat and spend five minutes laughing on the floor..lost the contents of an entire box of malted milk balls, too. Yet, I cherish well-written dialog that is fast and witty, such as that found in THE LION IN WINTER and NORTH BY NORTHWEST and HIS GIRL FRIDAY. What I find positively offensive are the types of humor Adam Sandler and Martin Lawrence try to force down our throats, although I realize a large portion of the modern audience goes ga-ga over these guys. So, yes, comedy is truly subjective, and it is therefore necessarily harder to make a funny movie which appeals to a mass (but discerning) audience than to do so with drama.

Jim Williams

Amen to that. I am also in my 50s (although for some reason my credit report has me listed as being born in 1917). One of the funniest movies that I have ever seen, and still enjoy seeing over and over is The Pink Panther. It is witty, it has slapstick and is just plain hilarious. One movie that many, many people thought was great comedy was The Big Lewbowski. I personally found it to be only mildly humorous and the overuse of the "f" word made me think that the writers couldn't think of good humor so they resorted to shock humor. Once again I insist that I am no prude. I enjoy Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams who both use profanity in their routines, but I contend that you can be funny without using profanity as your only means to get a laugh. Just listen to any Bill Cosby routine and I guarantee you will be laughing out loud and you will never hear a single profane word.

\"I reckon I\'d like some of them french fried pertaters. Mm-hmm.\"
Karl Childers

ChuckSolo

Another issue pertaining to comedies is that it is harder to find actors who are specifically trained in the medium. Most actors are dramatically trained NOT comically trained.

Lew Crippen

No question that I agree with George on this subject.

I’m going out on a limb here Jim and making an (unwarranted) assumption that you don’t care much for film from about 20s though the 40s (and even 50s). There were a lot of great comedies made, almost none of which had gratuitous sex (though there was plenty of allusions to sex), nudity and bathroom humor.

In the silent era I would recommend almost any film by Buster Keaton. Steamboat Bill, Jr. and The General are just two of many. If you don’t care for his approach, you might try Charlie Chaplin: The Gold Rush is so funny that I still laugh out loud at some bits and Modern Times is funny and still relevant today. Laurel and Hardy also have some great bits—The Piano Mover is just one example.

Moving on, I find the Marx Brothers to be very funny, although (as with most comedy) their style does not appeal to everyone. My favorite is Duck Soup, but others like A Night at the Opera even better. These guys have plenty of sexual references, so be forewarned.

Then, there are a whole series of ‘screwball’ comedies, which again are not to everyone’s tastes, but I at least find them hilarious. Brining Up Baby, My Man Godfery, and The Philadelphia Story are just a few.

And then there are the films of Ernst Lubitsch such as The Shop Around the Corner and Ninotchka which sort of combine ‘screwball’ with philosophy.

Or the films of Preston Sturges--almost everyone a gem. Of them all I like The Palm Beach Story the best, but The Lady Eve, Hail the Conquering Hero, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek and Sullivan’s Travels all have their proponents. Personally I find these films so funny that when I am watching one, I am convinced that it is the best.

Billy Wilder is yet another director who made a series of films that are extremely funny. Since you mentioned Tootsie, give Some Like It Hot a try. Nothing at all against Tootsie and Dustin Hoffman, but a god many of us find Jack Lemmon in drag even funnier.

And if you want your comedy mixed with a thriller, Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes should have you wiping tears from your eyes.

For me (and I think for George), this just scratches the surface. And I could write another list beginning in the 50s and go on.