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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, jester and other riotous activity. "low comedy" (2013). In Encyclopædia Britannica 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.
Low comedy was first denoted as comedy for the commoners because it was most often practiced by street performers. Over time, as low comedy began to include lewd jokes and more physical comedy, more mainstream performers began to practice this type of comedy: stand-up comedians, Musical theatre, etc. This type of comedy also was employed in most cartoons. For instance, in Porky's Duck Hunt, Porky Pig is routinely subjected to physical slapstick. A 1945 Bugs Bunny cartoon which parodied and lampooned Hermann Goering included a scene wherein Bugs successfully tore off Göring's medals one by one and Göring's trousers fell off. Likewise Daffy Duck is routinely shot by Elmer Fudd in "Rabbit Fire" cartoons.
Low comedy, however, has lacked appreciation from most of society and is looked down upon in contrast to high comedy. The sole purpose of low comedy is to evoke laughter in people. Because there is no contextual message in most forms of low comedy, it is not highly respected. This does not undermine the fact that it is still an effective form of comedy for its reputation to cause laughter.
The classification of things considered to be low comedy constantly changes over time. As society changes, so do the ideas about what high and low comedy is. For example, due to the overdoing of sitcoms in the past, it is now considered shrill, vulgar, low society where everyone talk-screeches in some sub-human, mock-sophisticated language of incessant insult. Some sitcoms are somewhere in between low and high comedy. For instance the animated series The Simpsons routinely includes slapstick violence, yet has also satirized political issues and parodied classic films and literature.
Today, low comedy can be seen in almost any production. Sitcoms often base most of the plot on this type of comedy because of society influencing productivity and considering it a low form of comedy. Modern adaptations of Shakespeare's plays also use low comedy to convey a different understanding of the play. As You Like It for example is the story of a woman named Rosalyn who meets her male love interest while disguised as a man and inadvertently arouses the affection of a woman named Phoebe who repeatedly rejects her male suitor because she is in love with the man that Rosalyn is pretending to be.
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