What's the difference between screwball and slapstick comedy?

Answer 1

Slapstick is an old form of comedy that comes out of comedia dell'arte forms that involves explicit physical jokes, whereas screwball comedy refers to a style of 1930's cinematic style in which the plots were highly contrived and ridiculous importing the comedy from the lines not the physical humour. The Marx Brothers would be a good example of slapstick comedy as well as The Three Stooges. Screwball, a higher form of comedy, would have been more Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, or Jack Benny pictures.

Answer 2

screwball is typified by bringing up baby, maybe the first screwball film, zany situations coming from all kinds of directions and the audience should not be able to predict plot. crazy things happen like Cary Grant in a dress, leopards in cars etc. Slapstick comes from theater where there used to be an actual slapstick that an actor would hit another actor with for a laugh. Think three stooges or extremely physical humor

Answer 3

Slapstick is purely physical: someone falls and I laugh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slapstick
Screwball sounds like just wackiness: can be physical, but also in puns, expressions, silly accents, like Monty Python
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacky_Comedy_film