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Laughter Is Medicine

A Surgical Approach to Comedy 

By David Hogan 

David Hogan is an award-winning author of novels, short stories, stage plays, and screenplays.  He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Babson College and a dual citizen of Ireland and the US.  You can learn about David on his blog at DavidHoganWriter.com. 

ALICIA:  Rex!  Here, Rex!  Come, Rex!

REX:  (Enters.)  Stop treating me like a dog.  I’m going.

ALICIA:  Stay!  (Rex stops.)  I don’t treat you like a dog.

REX:  You do.

ALICIA:  No, I don’t.  (Points to chair.)  Sit!

That’s a scene from my play The Value of Verity, an adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest set in a modern American high school.  But how dog-like is Rex?  Does he pant, hang his tongue out, and seem wolfish?  Or is he not doggish in the least, but rather a proud and well-behaved (sorry, intelligent) high school sophomore repeatedly offended by the treatment from his sister?

Of course, this choice will depend on the actor, the director, and the production.  There will be productions where a canine-like Rex provides the perfect opportunity for physical and character comedy, and other productions where a continually offended and very human Rex evokes laughter and sympathy in equal measures.

The important thing is that, in addition to Alicia’s obliviousness, there are other things to laugh at.  That’s because the best comedies will always have more than one of four types of comedy happening simultaneously.

Let’s go over the four types of comedy:

1. Shakespeare said that brevity is the soul of wit, so let’s go on about that a little bit, shall we?  Because verbal comedy is one of the basic types of stage humor.  Besides wit, it occurs in the form of puns, malapropos, banter, sarcasm, and innuendo.  These are the original and eternal ways of making jokes.  The only problem with that is, as Tom Stoppard wrote in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, “Eternity is a terrible thought.  I mean, where's it going to end?”  He has a point, so I suppose I’ll stop writing about verbal comedy before Mrs. Malaprop from Sheridan’s The Rivals accuses me of being “as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.”
   
   
2. You won’t believe what happened to me as I was trying to write this next line.  I’d just finished a banana and was standing at my desk racking my brain about what to say about another type of comedy.  I couldn’t think of anything, so I spun around in frustration and then just kept spinning and spinning as I slipped on the peel I’d just discarded.  Oh well, perhaps as I nurse my wounded pride, I’ll use this as a workable, if clichéd, example of physical comedy.
   
   
3. Irony can be described as a linguistic device in which the actual or intended meaning is literally not the literal meaning.  But that’s not the irony I want to write about, which is ironic.  (Or is it?)  Dramatic irony, on the other hand, is when the audience of a play knows more than the characters do.  This is a classic form of situational comedy that also includes farce, reversals, escalation, and mistaken identity.  There’s nothing ironic about that.  (Or is there?)
   
   
4. Obsessive characters can be quite fun to watch as they go on and on and on about their obsessions.  The only concern is if they become tiresome as they go on and on and on.  Because going on and on and on about...  well, I think you get the idea about this type of character comedy so I don’t have to go on and on and on about any of the other types of comedic characters, including the eccentric, fool, straight man, etc.
   

Laughter is the best medicine because it triggers a cascade of rapid physical, neurological, and emotional benefits that lower stress, reduce pain, and more.  A hearty laugh acts as a natural tool to bring your mind and body back into balance.  In today’s world, we all can use a good laugh, and what better place to get it than in a theatre?  Of course, not everyone responds the same to the different types of humor, and people often have a preference for one style over another.  As a director, try to include multiple types of humor happening simultaneously in your staged comedy so that everyone can find something to laugh at.

While laughter is involuntary and personal, it is also contagious.  That’s why in any funny play, you hope to get someone laughing at some type of comedy — verbal, physical, situational, or character — so that they can infect others around them with their merriment.  Indeed, one of the most wonderful things for all playwrights and directors is watching actors turn mere words on a page into communal joy and laughter — that is, into the unique and uplifting magic of live theatre.