New Comedy

American  

noun

1. Greek comedy arising toward the end of the 4th century b.c. that employed stock characters and plots drawn from contemporary bourgeois life, the formulas of which were adopted by later Roman writers for the comic stage.

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Etymology

Origin of New Comedy

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

He has gone on to win both the BBC New Comedy Award and British Comedian of the Year, demonstrating the strength and mainstream appeal of the acts.

From BBC • Feb. 25, 2023

Ridley, who won the BBC New Comedy award in 2014, is thought to be the first stand-up comedian in the UK to use a communication aid during his act.

From BBC • Jun. 6, 2018

A Lucille Ball New Comedy Festival was held, but quickly fizzled in the early 1990s.

From New York Times • Aug. 6, 2012

The New Comedy dominated the later Attic stage and called into life the Roman.

From Euripedes and His Age by Murray, Gilbert

There arose in the fourth century, b.c., a kind of play that we could understand at once, the so-called New Comedy of Menander and Philemon.

From Euripedes and His Age by Murray, Gilbert