Includes bibliographical references and index.

Cut to the Chase (1907-1909)Silent Super Star: Max Linder (1905-1912); Ethnic Comedy and the American Character (1900-1916); Mack Sennett's Commedia dell'Arte (1912-1917); American Comedy Gets Some Manners: Flora Finch, John Bunny, Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew (1908-1917); The ''Mark of the Ridiculous'' of Charlie Chaplin's ''Pierrot'' (1914-1918); The Mark of the Ridiculous and American Middle Class Silent Comedy of Manners (1915-1929); Conclusion: The Loss of Silents; Notes; References; Further Reading; Chapter 2 Pie Queens and Virtuous Vamps: The Funny Women of the Silent Screen.

''You Don't have to Speak Funny Words to Make Things Funny'': Charlie Chaplin versus the Three StoogesNotes; References; Further Reading; Part II Comic Performers in the Sound Era; Chapter 4 Mutinies Wednesdays and Saturdays: Carnivalesque Comedy and the Marx Brothers; Unaccustomed Laughter; Plurality Humor; Rabelais on Celluloid; Delirious Abandon; Notes; References; Further Reading; Chapter 5 Jacques Tati and Comedic Performance; Notes; References; Further Reading; Chapter 6 Woody Allen: Charlie Chaplin of New Hollywood; The Nebbish; The Artist; Notes; References; Further Reading.

Chapter 7 Mel Brooks, Vulgar Modernism, and Comic RemediationThe Last Gas(p) of Vulgar Modernism; Be a Clown!; Chicken Fat and Blackouts; Bodily Eruptions and Generic Transformations; Sound Gags and Silent Movies; ''Hey, It Worked in Blazing Saddles''; References; Further Reading; Part III New Perspectives on Romantic Comedy and Masculinity; Chapter 8 Humor and Erotic Utopia: The Intimate Scenarios of Romantic Comedy; References; Further Reading; Chapter 9 Taking Romantic Comedy Seriously in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Before Sunset (2004); References; Further Reading.

A wide-ranging survey of the subject that celebrates the variety and complexity of film comedy from the 'silent' days to the present, this authoritative guide offers an international perspective on the popular genre that explores all facets of its formative social, cultural and political context A wide-ranging collection of 24 essays exploring film comedy from the silent era to the presentInternational in scope, the collection embraces not just American cinema, including Native American and African American, but also comic films from Europe, the Middle East, and KoreaEssays explore sub-genres.

Print version record.