what is slapstick acting?

Question

for example, the acting of matthew perry in the character of Chandler Bing, is regarded as slapstick acting. What exactly is this type of acting?

Answer 1

As I am a huge Matthew Perry fan, I will not disagree with your example, as he is a brilliant comic and actor, but when I think "slapstick", I think of people like Dick Van Dyke who used to trip over things, run into doors and fall awkardly. I think of the character of Steve Urkell, played by Jaleel White, who was tripping over things and getting stuck in precarious and embarrassing positions. I think of the Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy, they are extreme physical comedic characters.

The style is derived from the Commedia dell'arte that employed a great deal of physical abuse and tumbling. The phrase comes from the club-like object composed of two wooden slats which, when struck, produced a loud smacking noise; with little force transferred from the object, called the 'slap stick' in English, to the person being struck, allowing actors to strike each other repeatedly with great audio effect while causing very little actual damage.

It is meant to be funny, due to the nature of the absurd... this wouldn't really be happening to someone, so therefore it's ok to laugh. In socitey we are supposed to be civil and sympethetic to those who are hurt, but the absurdity of the situation "allows" us to enjoy it.

Answer 2

Slapstick Actors

Answer 3

A "slapstick" is an actual device. In a great many classical comedies, there are scenes in which (for example) masters "beat" their servants. A slapstick would be used to demonstrate this highly exaggerrated kind of stage mayhem. The stick really isn't used to inflict pain (audiences wouldn't find that amusing), but they make a loud "slapping" noise...hence the name.

Over the years, "slapstick" has become a genre term, referring to very BROAD physical comedy...lowbrow stuff. Think 3 Stooges...Farrelly Bros...Jim Carrey...etc.

Answer 4

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence or activities. (E.g., A character being hit in the face with a frying pan or pie, getting matches lit between the toes, or running full-speed into a wall.) The style is common to those genres of entertainment in which the audience is supposed to understand the very hyperbolic nature of such violence to exceed the boundaries of common sense and thus license non-cruel laughter. Its greatest modern representations thus lie in cartoons and the simple, amplified film comedies aimed at younger audiences. Though the term is often used pejoratively, the performance of slapstick comedy, based on exquisite timing and unerring calculation of execution, character reaction and audience laughter, is considered among the more difficult tasks facing a live performer.

Answer 5

The Three Stooges, masters of slapstick, no doubt!

Answer 6

an acting that relys on physical gags
bumping into stuff, knocking things over, or frequently tripping, falling down. the latter being given the term "pratfall"

Although a master of characters, Peter Sellers had some outsanding moments of physical gags and slapstick

Chevy Chase was known as a physical comedian for his trademark pratfalls on the original SNL

Answer 7

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Answer 8

It's like the THREE STOOGES,or ILOVE LUCY,LAURAL7HARDY.THING they used before sound ,in comedy.