Comic timing emerges from a performer's joke delivery: they interact with an audience—
intonation,
rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
,
cadence
In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (199 ...
,
tempo
In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...
, and
pausing—to guide the audience's laughter, which then guides the
comedic
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc. ...
. The pacing of the delivery of a
joke
A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with ...
can have a strong impact on its comedic effect, even altering its meaning; the same can also be true of more physical comedy such as
slapstick. Comic timing is also crucial for comedic video editing to maximize the impact of a joke, for example, through a smash cut.
History
The use of comic timing can be first observed in the comic plays of the ancient Greeks. Specifically,
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...
indicated brief pauses in his works, such as ''
The Clouds
''The Clouds'' ( grc, Νεφέλαι ''Nephelai'') is a Greek comedy play written by the playwright Aristophanes. A lampooning of intellectual fashions in classical Athens, it was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423BC and was not ...
'', in order to elicit laughter from the unfolding events.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, along with comic playwrights before him, also utilized comic timing in much of his plays. For example,
Cleopatra's strategic interjections during
Mark Antony's speech in Act 1 Scene 2 of ''
Antony and Cleopatra'', shift an otherwise serious scene to a comic one.
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
notably continued the usage of comic timing into the late 19th century. In his 1894 play ''
Arms and the Man'' for instance, Shaw triggers laughter near the end of Act 2 through Nicola's calculated eruptions of composure.
While the use of comic timing continued to flourish on stage, by the mid-20th century, comic timing became integral to
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, and
stand-up comedy. In movies, comedians such as
Charlie Chaplin,
Laurel and Hardy, and
Buster Keaton perfected their comedic performances through precise timing in films like ''
One A.M.'', ''
The Lucky Dog
''The Lucky Dog'' (1921) is the first film to include Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy together in a film before they became the famous comedy duo of Laurel and Hardy. Although they appear in scenes together, Laurel and Hardy play independently. ...
'', and ''
The Playhouse'' respectively. In television,
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
notably utilized comic timing in her show ''
I Love Lucy
''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along wit ...
''. For example, in the episode "
Lucy Does a TV Commercial
"Lucy Does a TV Commercial" is the 30th episode of the 1950s television sitcom '' I Love Lucy,'' airing on May 5, 1952. It is considered to be the most famous episode of the show. In 1997, ''TV Guide'' ranked it #2 on their list of the " 100 Greate ...
" Ball acts out an advertisement within a fake television set, but ruins the illusion by a comically timed break of the TV's fourth wall. In stand-up,
George Carlin's routine "
Seven Words You Can't Say On Television" gets a laugh from the timing difference between the delivery of the first 6 words and the seventh. Additionally,
Rowan Atkinson's routine "No One Called Jones" utilized a slow comic timing in his list of student's names to reveal multiple
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
s.
While the above history highlights specific writers and performers, all workers in comedy, from
Victor Borge
Børge Rosenbaum (3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000), known professionally as Victor Borge ( ), was a Danish-American comedian, conductor, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in the North America and Europe. His ...
to
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral ...
and beyond, have utilized comic timing to deliver their humour most effectively.
Beat
A beat is a pause taken for the purposes of comic timing, often to allow the audience time to recognize the joke and react, or to heighten the suspense before delivery of the expected
punch line
A punch line (a. k. a. punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people laugh. It is the third and final part of the typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and the narrative which sets up ...
. Pauses—sometimes called "dramatic pauses"—in this context, can be used to discern subtext or even unconscious content—that is, what the speaker is really thinking about. A pause can also be used to heighten a switch in direction. As a speaker talks, the audience naturally "fills in the blanks", finishing the expected end of the thought. The pause allows this to happen before the comedian delivers a different outcome, thus surprising the listener and (hopefully) evoking laughter.
Pregnant pause
A pregnant pause (as in the
classical definition, "many possibilities") is a technique of comic timing used to accentuate a comedy element, which uses comic pauses at the end of a phrase to build up
suspense. It is often used at the end of a comically awkward statement or in the silence after a seemingly non-comic phrase to build up a comeback. Refined by
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century wit ...
, who introduced specific body language and a phrase in his pregnant pauses,
the pregnant pause has become a staple of
stand-up comedy.
See also
*
Comedic device
*''
L'esprit de l'escalier
''L'esprit de l'escalier'' or (, , ; ) is a French term used in English for the predicament of thinking of the perfect reply too late.
Origin
This name for the phenomenon comes from French encyclopedist and philosopher Denis Diderot's descrip ...
''
*
Timing (linguistics)
Isochrony is the postulated rhythmic division of time into equal portions by a language. Rhythm is an aspect of prosody, others being intonation, stress, and tempo of speech.
Three alternative ways in which a language can divide time are postu ...
References
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Comedy
Humor research