British Comedy Guide

The Story Of Slapstick Page 3

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ December 27 2009, 12:28 AM GMT

For someone obssessed with accuracy, you certainly take a lackadaisical view when it suits your purpose. ;)

obssessed obsessed

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ December 27 2009, 12:28 AM GMT

For someone obssessed with accuracy, you certainly take a lackadaisical view when it suits your purpose. ;)

Jackass not being elligible for discussion on a programme about slapstick is quite accurate.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ December 27 2009, 12:32 AM GMT

To me, true slapstick is what Leevil says above, rather than just strapping fireworks to an idiots testicles and seeing what happens.

Oh, a slapstick snob, wait til I get on my blog, you'll feel the wrath of my virtual words then me laddo.

I'm not saying that Jackass was the quintessential slapstick, but it has certainly been the most popular in recent years. It should have had a mention in the Story of Slapstick, but it didn't get one due to ignorance by the programme makers.

Therefore, it aroused my ire.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ December 27 2009, 12:37 AM GMT

It should have had a mention in the Story of Slapstick, but it didn't get one due to ignorance by the programme makers.

That and it not being slapstick.

I haven't read the whole thread, nor watched the entire programme yet.
But I would say that Jackass is very slapstick.
People fall over, get hurt, people laugh.

Jackarse is a kind of stunt reality television show. Can the term slapstick be applied to this genre? Feels more suited to sitcoms, films, plays, etc (eg scripted and acted stuff).

Not sure if that makes any sense now...

I like slapstick!

To paraphrase quite a lot now, as the documentary was a while back and I have a terrible memory, they said that slapstick was making something scripted appear as if it had gone wrong. I.e. knowing exactly what would happen, when, and what the outcome would be. Jackass, on the other hand, was just stunts. Was the premise of the programme not that they were being idiots and anything could come from their antics?

Quote: Griff @ January 4 2010, 12:13 AM GMT

Surely slapstick is the faking of injuries for comedy purposes, based on the ancient theatrical prop of that name?

That sounds fair enough.

Quote: Griff @ January 4 2010, 12:13 AM GMT

Surely slapstick is the faking of injuries for comedy purposes

Yep, exactly.

Rolling eyes

Here we go again - the 'stunts' on Jackass were designed to invoke laughter, it was a comedy programme involving physical humour.

The set ups were all planned, though unscripted and spontaeneous. Practical jokes also made up a large portion of the show.

Technically, it is slapstick as defined by any dictionary definition. If you want to have a fight with the dictionary, then go ahead.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ January 4 2010, 12:44 AM GMT

Rolling eyes

Here we go again - the 'stunts' on Jackass were designed to invoke laughter, it was a comedy programme involving physical humour.

The set ups were all planned, though unscripted and spontaeneous. Practical jokes also made up a large portion of the show.

Technically, it is slapstick as defined by any dictionary definition. If you want to have a fight with the dictionary, then go ahead.

I did and I won. Thesaurus you're next and you're going down!

Quote: greensville @ January 3 2010, 11:57 PM GMT

Jackarse is a kind of stunt reality television show. Can the term slapstick be applied to this genre? Feels more suited to sitcoms, films, plays, etc (eg scripted and acted stuff).

That's my take on it too.

Re: Jackass v Slapstick or is it Slapstick v Slapstick?

Laurel and Hardy - genius at work, routines and not just routines but a beautiful bitter-sweet and very human relationship between the actors (on and off screen) that took development and brains. Not everyone had / has the talent to do slapstick. Plus no one got intentionally hurt.

Jackass - a bunch of brainless cocks who's only only talent is being stupid enough to take real physical pain in exchange for money... much like my hoes. And any idiot could do this, just look at Dirty Sanchez.

Shows like Young Ones and Bottom took slapstick to a new level and yet these are still incomparable to Jackass, even if the events portrayed are comparable or identical (e.g. darts in face, explosive farts).

The distinction is that Bottom as the extreme end of slapstick is still about the portrayal of imagined pain. But more than that, its about the relationship dynamics, which even in Bottom was the bedrock of the comedy. Take away the relationship of Eddie and Richie and the violence becomes random, meaningless. Isolated from its context, it would lose its humour.

Jackass is none of the above. Jackass is reality, slapstick is portrayal of reality or a heightened reality. A war report would never go up for an Oscar as best action movie, even though they portray the same type of events.

The only distinction is that Jackass is apparently for entertainment but if that was the case, happy slapping should also qualify as a sub-genre of slapstick. That, too, is real violence for the entertainment of others.

Jackass, as suggested above, fits into a sub-genre of reality TV rather than slapstick, in my mind.
:)

Surely it's closer to You've Been Framed than anything we'd really consider to be a 'reality' show. Although I guess YBF is quite reality-ish in a way.

I refer you to my answer listed above. It is not a reality show in that it had a regular cast and the antics were all planned but most importantly, it was filmed as a comedy show.

Quote: SlagA @ January 4 2010, 12:06 PM GMT

Re: Jackass v Slapstick or is it Slapstick v Slapstick?

Laurel and Hardy - genius at work, routines and not just routines but a beautiful bitter-sweet and very human relationship between the actors (on and off screen) that took development and brains. Not everyone had / has the talent to do slapstick. Plus no one got intentionally hurt.

Jackass - a bunch of brainless cocks who's only only talent is being stupid enough to take real physical pain in exchange for money... much like my hoes. And any idiot could do this, just look at Dirty Sanchez.

Your snobbishness does not make you accurate. Again, I refer you to the textbook definition of slapstick.

I am tired of arguing fact vs opinion.

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