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Physical Comedy

Every episode covering Physical Comedy.

"Screwball is something that has language, plot and physicality. Slapstick is physicality. And it may involve language. It may not. It may be entirely silent."

— Mel Killingsworth  |  DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy

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DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy

How do you make extended technical scenes funny on the page?
AI✦Mel and Chas dissect how to write slapstick and farce on the page by examining three scripts that deploy different types of physical comedy--vehicles in Bringing Up Baby, prop-based gags in Happy Endings, and bodily humor in Bridesmaids.✦
⏱ 1h 35m
26 FEB 2025
Listen to learn how formatting--white space, caps, dashes--becomes your comedy toolkit without a director.
▶ More Info
Mel joins Chas to tackle physical comedy. We limited our homework selection to extended scenes (as opposed to moments and sight gags) in live action projects and – with the help of our Patreons – selected early sequences from BRINGING UP BABY, the pilot for HAPPY ENDINGS and that wonderful food poisoning scene in BRIDESMAIDS… →

KEY IDEAS

Using Repetition to Visualize Humor

"The words on the page and the repetition are mimicking the edit, so we can visualize the humor and the repetition of it."

— Chas Fisher (00:19:03) · DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy

Screwball vs. Slapstick: Language, Plot, and Physicality

"Screwball is something that has language, plot and physicality. Slapstick is physicality. And it may involve language. It may not. It may be entirely silent."

— Mel Killingsworth (00:04:16) · DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy