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Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be funny or entertaining by eliciting laughter, particularly in the theatre, cinema, stand-up comedy, television, radio, novels, or any other kind of entertainment. The phrase comes from Ancient Greece when political satire performed by comic poets in theatres impacted the public opinion of voters in Athenian democracy. A dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or cultures against one other in an amusing agon or struggle might be defined as Greek comedy.

Northrop Frye described these two conflicting sides as a “Society of Youth” and a “Society of the Old.” According to a new perspective, the basic agon of comedy is a fight between a relatively helpless youngster and the cultural constraints that stand in the way of his dreams. In this fight, the adolescent is restricted by his lack of social authority, and he has no alternative but to resort to ruses that elicit dramatic irony and laughter.

Satire and political criticism employ humor to portray people or institutions as silly or corrupt, therefore distancing the audience from the target of their satire. Parody is a kind of criticism that subverts popular genres and forms without necessarily criticizing them.

Other types of comedy include screwball comedy, which is defined by a kind of humor that incorporates darker elements of human conduct or human nature, and black comedy, which is characterized by a form of humor that involves odd, unexpected (and implausible) events or characters. Similarly, scatological humor, sexual humor, and racial humor make people laugh by breaking societal taboos in amusing ways.

Similarly, scatological humor, sexual humor, and racial humor make people laugh by breaking societal taboos in amusing ways. A comedy of manners usually focuses on a particular segment of society (typically upper-class society) and utilizes humor to mock or ridicule its members’ conduct and habits. Romantic comedy is a popular genre that uses humor to describe the budding passion and focuses on the follies of individuals who are falling in love.

The term “comedy” comes from the Classical Greek kmida, which is a combination of o kômos (revel) and ida (comic) (singing; ode). In current use, the adjective “comic” (Greek kmikós), which means “relating to comedy,” is typically restricted to the sense of “laughter-provoking.” The word commedia came into contemporary use through the Latin comoedia and the Italian Commedia, and it has taken on different meanings over time.

The Greeks and Romans only used the word “comedy” to describe theatrical plays having pleasant endings. Comedy, according to Aristotle, is the imitation of persons who are worse than the norm (where tragedy was an imitation of men better than the average).

On the other hand, Characters in comedies are not worse than average in every aspect, save in the sense that they are Ridiculous, which is a subspecies of the Ugly. The ridiculous may be described as an error or deformity that does not cause pain or injury to others; for example, a mask that makes others laugh is something ugly and deformed without inflicting suffering.

The word was broadened in the Middle Ages to encompass narrative poetry with joyful endings. Dante used the phrase in the title of his work, La Commedia, in this meaning.

As time went on, the term became more linked with any performance meant to make people laugh. During the Middle Ages, the word “comedy” evolved to mean sarcasm and, subsequently, humor in general.

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