The Problem of Comedy

by Robert McKee (from The Story)


Comedy writers often feel that in their wild world the principles that guide the dramatist don’t
apply. But whether coolly satiric or madly farcical, comedy is simply another form of storytelling.
There are, however, important exceptions that begin in the deep division between the comic and
tragic visions of life.


The dramatist admires humanity and creates works that say, in essence: Under the worst of
circumstances the human spirit is magnificent. Comedy points out that in the best of circumstances
human beings find some way to screw up.


When we peek behind the grinning mask of comic cynicism, we find a frustrated idealist. The comic
sensibility wants the world to be perfect, but when it looks around, it finds greed, corruption,
lunacy. The result is an angry and depressed artist. If you doubt that, ask one over for dinner.
Every host in Hollywood has made that mistake: “Let’s invite some comedy writers to the party!
That’ll brighten things up.” Sure . . . till the paramedics arrive.


These angry idealists, however, know that if they lecture the world about what a rotten place it
is, no one will listen. But if they trivialize the exalted, pull the trousers down on snobbery, if
they expose society for its tyranny, folly, and greed, and get people to laugh, then maybe things
will change. Or balance. So God bless comedy writers. What would life be like without them?


Comedy is pure: If the audience laughs, it works; if it doesn’t laugh, it doesn’t work. End of
discussion. That’s why critics hate comedy; there’s nothing to say. If I were to argue that Citizen
Kane is a bloated exercise in razzle-dazzle spectacle, populated by stereotypical characters,
twisted with manipulative storytelling, stuffed full of self-contradictory Freudian and
Pirandellian clichés, made by a heavy-handed showoff out to impress the world, we might bicker
forever because the Citizen Kane audience is silent. But if I were to say A Fish Called Wanda is
not funny, you’ll pity me and walk away. In comedy laughter settles all arguments.


The dramatist is fascinated by the inner life, the passions and sins, madness and dreams of the
human heart. But not the comedy writer. He fixes on the social life – the idiocy, arrogance, and
brutality in society. The comedy writer singles out a particular institution that he feels has
become encrusted with hypocrisy and folly, then goes on the attack. Often we can spot the social
institution under assault by noting the film’s title.


THE RULING CLASS attacks the rich; so too Trading Places. A Night at The Opera, My Man Godfrey,
M*A*S*H assaults the military, as do Private Benjamin and Stripes. Romantic Comedies – His Girl
Friday, The Lady Eve, When Harry Met Sally – satirize the institution of courtship. Network, Police
Academy, Animal House, This Is Spinal Tap, Prizzi's Honor, The Producers, Dr. Strangelove, Nasty
Habits, and Camp Nowhere strike at television, school, fraternities, rock ’n’ roll, the mafia, the
theatre, Cold War politics, the Catholic Church, and summer camp, respectively. If a film genre
grows thick with self-importance, it too is ripe for mockery: Airplane, Young Frankenstein, Naked
Gun. What was known as Comedy of Manners has become the sitcom-a satire of middle-class behaviour.


When a society cannot ridicule and criticize its institutions, it cannot laugh. The shortest book
ever written would be the history of German humour, a culture that has suffered spells of
paralyzing fear of authority. Comedy is at heart an angry, antisocial art. To solve the problem of
weak comedy, therefore, the writer first asks: What am I angry about? He finds that aspect of
society that heats his blood and goes on an assault.


farcical

             směšný, trapný

to peek

             nakouknout

grinning

             šklebící se

lunacy

             šílenství

rotten

             shnilý, zkažený

exalted

             vysoce postavený

folly

             pošetilost

razzle-dazzle

             humbuk, povyk

populated

             zalidněný

to bicker

             hádat se

to single out

             vyčlenit, vybrat si

encrusted

             pokrytý

ripe

             zralý

mockery

             výsměch