Why are comedic performances always overlooked?

Question

From what I've heard it's harder for an actor to play a comedic or a villain role but I've never seen these types of performances winning oscars. It always seems like it's the serious performances where the actor plays someone who's disabled, has some mental disorder or some historical figure who gets the oscar. I very rarely see comedic performances being praised and if they do they don't get nearly as much credit as serious performances. I still haven't seen Jim Carrey win an oscar. And Will Smith's best performance is considered to be the one in "The Pursuit of Happyness" rather than his other roles which were comedic. It seems like there's some underlying elitist attitude among the academy that comedy is just downright silly, immature and inferior. They seem to prefer performances that make them cry rather than laugh.

Answer 1

That's Hollywood

Answer 2

Comedy is simply not respected as an artform. Too bad. Nothing more valuable in this world than a good laugh. The academy is largely bull. The oscars mostly hype. People throw things at me when I say Eddie Murphy should have been nominated for "Nutty Professor." He played nine roles and all of them different. The public knows what it wants and good comedies will always make tons. At least we have that.

Answer 3

It is a kind of snobbishness that exists amongs some uninformed people who have assumed that serious acting is more important than comic acting, that tragedy is more important than comedy, etc etc.. Many people think stage acting is more important than film acting. same crap.

All acting is the same thing, requires the same thing of the actor. Some actors have preferences, but none is more difficult than the other, Actually acting is easy.

Answer 4

There's a misconception that comedians are not serious actors, when the truth is comedy is a lot harder to do than drama.