Low comedy

A traditional Punch and Judy booth, at Swanage, Dorset, England

Low comedy, or lowbrow humor, is a type of comedy that is a form of popular entertainment without any primary purpose other than to create laughter through boasting, boisterous jokes, drunkenness, scolding, fighting, buffoonery and other riotous activity.[1] It is characterized by "horseplay", slapstick or farce. Examples include the throwing of a custard pie into someone's face. The definition has expanded to include obvious physical jokes, such as the wedgie.

The term "low comedy" was coined by John Dryden in his preface to his play An Evening's Love.[2]

  1. ^ "low comedy" (2013). In Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ "Dryden's Works Vol. 3 (of 18)". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 19 April 2019.