Fantasy comedy (also called comic fantasy) is a subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and tone. Typically set in imaginary worlds, fantasy comedy often involves puns on, and parodies of, other works of fantasy.
Literature
The subgenre rose in the nineteenth century. Elements of fantasy comedy can be found in such nineteenth century works
as some of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales,
Charles Dickens' "Christmas Books", and
Lewis Carroll's Alice books.
["Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle,ed, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy, (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. ] The first writer to specialize in the subgenre was "F. Anstey" in novels such as
Vice Versa (1882), where magic disrupts Victorian society with humorous results.
Anstey's work was popular enough to inspire several imitations, including E. Nesbit's light-hearted children's fantasies,
The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) and
The Story of the Amulet (1906).
The United States had several writers of fantasy comedy, including James Branch Cabell, whose satirical fantasy
Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice (1919) was the subject of an unsuccessful prosecution for obscenity.
[Edgar MacDonald, "James Branch Cabell" in E. F. Bleiler, ed. Supernatural Fiction Writers (pp. .789-796). New York: Scribner's, 1985. ] Another American writer in a similar vein was
Thorne Smith, whose works (such as
Topper and
The Night Life of the Gods) were popular and influential, and often adapted for film and television.
[Keith Neilson, "Thorne Smith" in Bleiler, ed. Supernatural Fiction Writers. (pp. 805–812), 1985.] Humorous fantasies narrated in a "gentleman's club" setting are common; they include John Kendrick Bangs'
A House-Boat on the Styx (1895),
Lord Dunsany's "
Joseph Jorkens" stories, and Maurice Richardson's
The Exploits of Englebrecht (1950).
[David Langford, "Humor", in
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005
, (p.401-404).]
According to Lin Carter, T. H. White's works exemplify fantasy comedy,[Lin Carter, ed. Kingdoms of Sorcery, p 121–2. Doubleday and Company Garden City, NY, 1976.] L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt's Harold Shea stories are early exemplars. The overwhelming bulk of de Camp's fantasy was comic.
In more modern times, Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, Piers Anthony's Xanth books, Robert Asprin's MythAdventures of Skeeve and Aahz books, and Tom Holt's books provide good examples,
Other media
The subgenre has also been represented in television, such as in the television series
I Dream of Jeannie,
Kröd Mändoon. Examples on radio are the
BBC's
Hordes of the Things and
ElvenQuest. Fantasy comedy films can either be parodies (
Monty Python and the Holy Grail), comedies with fantastical elements (
Being John Malkovich, Barbie) or animated (
Shrek). It has also been used with fantasy as the primary genre and comedy as the secondary, as in the case of
and its .
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