In any discussion or argument, it’s helpful to discuss the terms – so how is “visual comedy” defined?

Beginning with the obvious, visual comedy should not contain dialogue.  Sound on the other hand is vital and can sell a joke as is often seen in the work of Jacques Tati – one of the few great “silent” comedians to have come along well after the advent of sound.

Ideally it would not even have text.  The great Buster Keaton hated titled cards always preferring to tell his stories through action – visual comedy is mostly concerned with action. This is equally true of live action and animation.

In his seminal film (labelled a ‘lecture) “Laughing Matters – Visual Comedy” Rowan Atkinson explains some of the common elements he finds in visual comedy.

• Costume (Character Design) – An often ill-fitting costume can make a character and provide a means in itself to comic action. Chaplin discovered the character of the Tramp “the moment I dressed, the clothes and the make up made me feel the person he was.”
• Objects Behaving in Unexpected Ways – items (or people) of the wrong/unexpected size can be found to be funny (e.g. the ridiculously tall Al from Police Squad). These jokes he says, “depend on sudden shocks and strange transformations that undermine the normal laws of our existence”
• Transformation – Transformation come up again and again in visual comedy. In fact, accord to Atkinson “The simplest way to transform pain into  comedy is through the use of overstatement… or  understatement.” Another example of the transformation can be in the found in the surreal transformations in the work of George Melies and throughout animation
• Parody or Mimicry – Sometimes assumed to require dialogue, parody can be visual.  Chaplin always stressed the importance of communicating with body language.  Without dialogue, there is true character to be found in body language. In fact Atkinson goes further and dismisses the idea of gags in favour of character – “This is the comedy of personality rather than comedy of gags, it’s not about doing funny things, it’s about doing something quite normal in a funny way.  The skill lies in the accuracy of human observation and the precision of the execution.”
• Embarrassment and Fear – Again these can be very visual – the “Funniest Moment in British Sitcom History” is Del Boy falling through the open bar in Only Fools and Horse. Atkinson again makes his feelings clear stating that “All comedy is rooted in fear”

The physical comedian can be like aliens to the viewer – this is true of everyone from early vaudeville performers of in the English Music Halls through to Mr Bean and beyond. They are like us, but a little different.

Atkinson breaks down the three types of physical comedian.  These are echoed not only in the Commedia Dell’Arte, but in Ancient Greek comedy and  the three classical clown personas. Briefly they are

• The ‘Auguste’ – (Harry Langdon or Spongbo Squarepants) innocent, inept, but tenacious
•  The ‘Whiteface’ – (Daffy Duck) This character thinks very highly of himself and is sure the audience will love everything he does.
• The ‘Character – (Baby Herman in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’) This character is originally thought of as being defined by a certain trait such as an occupation