Comedy as a movie genre puts the majority of its emphasis on humour; it is one of the oldest genres of film. A very early comedy short was Watering the Gardener (1895) by the Lumière brothers. The film is a French short black and white silent film, it runs for approx 49 seconds, it is known as the earliest comedic film and uses slapstick as its main device.
A still of the film watering the Gardener (1895)
A popular trend during the 1920s and afterward was comedy in the form of animated cartoons. Several popular characters of the period received the cartoon treatment. Among these were: Felix the Cat, Krazy Kat, and Betty Boop.
A picture including the main characters of Krazy Kat: "Ignatz Mouse", "Officer Pupp" and "Krazy Kat".
As the 1920s came to an end and the 1930s began the addition of sound to films gave comedians the option to use verbal comedy in the films they made for example W. C. Fields an American comedian who became a well known actor in movies. Very few comedians held on to making silent films for example Charlie Chaplain, who continued to make films devoid of dialogue during the 1930s.
A picture of Charlie Chaplain
In the 1940s with America joining World War 2 Hollywood became obsessed with movies about conflict, comedies began to involve military themes such as service, civil defense, boot-camp and shore-leave. The post war era saw the emergence of a new way to watch movies; this was the dawn of the home television. In 1948 TV to acquire commercial momentum and by the following year there were nearly a hundred television transmitters in American cities.
By the 1950s the television industry had become a serious competition for the movie industry. Despite the technological limitations of the TV medium at the time, more and more people chose to stay home to watch the television.
Initially the Hollywood studios saw the television as a threat to their business but then they began to discover the television as another outlet for their films. A few comedic film types that had previously been exclusive to the movie theatre transitioned to the television, the cartoon and the B movie for example.
A television of 1958
The 1960s saw an increasing number of broad, star-packed comedies including It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) and The Great Race (1965). At the end of the 1950s early 1960s darker humor and more serious themes had begun to emerge Dr. Strangelove (1964) is an example of one such darker theme; it is a satirical comedy about Cold War paranoia.
A poster for the film Dr. Strangelove(1964), a comedy about cold war paranoia.
In the 1970s black comedies such as Catch 22 and MASH dealt with issues like the anti-war sentiment as well as treating the sensitive topic of suicide. As well as the above comedies there were many successful films over the 70s, a major star in some of these was Mel Brookes. He wrote directed and starred in some of his movies such as Young Frankenstein (1974) Blazing saddles (1974) and High Anxiety (1977)
A poster for the film Catch-22
A poster for the film Blazing sadles (1974)
Most British comedy films of the early 70s were spin offs of television series for example Dad’s army (1971) and On the buses (1971), both received a positive reception from the British public. Some of the greatest successes of the 70s were the Monty python team’s films including And Now For Something Completely Different (1971), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979).
A poster for the film The life of Brian (1979)
A poster for the film Dads army (1971)
In 1980 the gag-based comedy Airplane!, a spoof of the previous decade's disaster film series was released and paved the way for more of the same including Top Secret! (1984) and the Naked Gun films all of which were directed by David zucker among others.
A poster for the film Airplane! (1980)
One of the major developments of the 1990s was the re-emergence of the romantic comedy film, encouraged by the success of When Harry Met Sally... (1989). Other examples included Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Clueless (1995) and You've Got Mail (1998) from the United States, and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Sliding Doors (1998) and Notting Hill (1999) from the United Kingdom. Spoofs remained popular as well, especially with the Scary Movie series and Not Another Teen Movie.
A poster for the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
The late 90s to early 2000s saw British comedies examining the role of the Asian community within British life Bhaji on the Beach (1993), East Is East (1999), Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Anita and Me (2003). These showed a growing interest in looking at how Britain has changed culture wise since the days of Dads army for example.
A poster for the film Bend it like Beckham (2002)
Also in the early to mid 2000s there were "stoner" comedies, which usually involve two guys on an adventure with random things happening to them along the way. Big movies of this sub-genre would be Dude, Where's My Car (2000), Big Nothing (2006), Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), and Pineapple Express (2008). These movies usually have drug-related jokes and crude content
A poster for the film Dude where's my car? (2000)
