low comedy

American  

noun

1. comedy that depends on physical action, broadly humorous or farcical situations, and often bawdy or vulgar jokes.

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low comedy British  

noun

1. comedy characterized by slapstick and physical action

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• low comedian
  noun

Etymology

Origin of low comedy

First recorded in 1600–10

Example Sentences

Sounds sad, but the show blends high and low comedy with weighty themes and melancholic moments.

From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2025

But he’s now knocking 70 and suffering through an undignified low comedy of back problems, tinnitus and spiritual malaise.

From The Guardian • Aug. 11, 2019

Through its narrow canon, the tone of “Star Wars” has always been determinedly self-serious, whereas the Marvel movies, like the decades of comics they sprang from, veer wildly from high drama to low comedy.

From New York Times • Oct. 19, 2017

Despite the borderline low comedy of the outhouse dialogue, Friedenberg is more alert to the couple’s mutual regard.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 4, 2016

For my own part, though I almost invariably play low comedy parts, yet, as a rule, I prefer pathos, I think.”

From The Idler Magazine, Volume III, April 1893 An Illustrated Monthly by Various