Sick comedy was a term originally used by mainstream news weeklies ''
Time'' and ''
Life'' to distinguish a style of
comedy/
satire that was becoming popular in the United States in the late 1950s.
[ Foreword to the 1995 Italian edition of Bruce's book.] Mainstream comic taste in the United States had favored more innocuous forms, such as the topical but (for the time) inoffensive
one-liners in
Bob Hope's routines. In contrast, the new comedy favored
observational
Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. The ...
monologues, often with elements of
cynicism,
social criticism and
political satire.
As a guest at the first airing of the ''
Playboy's Penthouse'' show in 1959, Lenny Bruce objected to a ''Time'' article indiscriminately grouping seven new comedians, labeling them as "sick comics".
[ Also appears on the 2004 Bruce anthology ''Let The Buyer Beware'', Disc One, last track ''Lenny On Playboy's Penthouse (with Hugh Hefner & Nat "King" Cole)''.)] (These were
Lenny Bruce
Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), known professionally as Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of comedy which ...
,
political satirist Mort Sahl,
Shelley Berman
Sheldon Leonard Berman (February 3, 1925 – September 1, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, and lecturer.
In his comedic career, he was awarded three gold records and he won the first Grammy Award for a spoken comedy reco ...
,
Jonathan Winters,
Mike Nichols and
Elaine May
Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with her ...
, and
Tom Lehrer.)
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Stand-up comedian
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...
Daniele Luttazzi says: "the term sick comedy then ended up being used to encompass a bit of everything: the humor of the '' Mad'' magazine as Jules Feiffer, the cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
s by Charles Addams
Charles Samuel Addams (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters, signing the cartoons as Chas Addams. Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams Fa ...
as the monologues by Mike Nichols and Elaine May
Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with her ...
, the traditional comedy by Shelley Berman
Sheldon Leonard Berman (February 3, 1925 – September 1, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, and lecturer.
In his comedic career, he was awarded three gold records and he won the first Grammy Award for a spoken comedy reco ...
and the hipster comedy of Dick Gregory."
See also
* Beat Generation
The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...
* Black comedy
References
{{Comedy footer
Comedy genres
1960s fads and trends
Stand-up comedy