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Research Paper First Draft

Matt Coggins
THE 301 11/26/13

Commedia dellArte and Its Impact on Modern Comedy

Commedia dellArte is a style of theatre developed in the mid-16th century in Italy
that has had a major impact on comedy throughout history and directly influences how
comedy is written and performed today. It focused on improvisation, physicality, and
refined comedy that an audience could easily understand, using masks, stock
characters, nonsense language called grammalot, comic business known as lazzi, and
over the top acrobatics to tell their stories and entertain their audiences. Writers, actors
and directors from William Shakespeare all the way to modern sitcoms have drawn on
Commedia dellArte for inspiration, and this research will trace the impact of the style
through history as well as examining how each ingredient of commedia has influenced
comedy as we know it today.
Despite commedias impact on comedy through the ages, exact historical details
are uncertain and its beginnings are unclear. Katritzky points to an early forerunner to
Commedia dellArte called commedia erudita, learned comedy, the traditional scripted,
Aristotelian form of comedy performance that had begun to implore masks, physicality
and situations that would be common in Commedia dellArte (31-33). Some theorize
that Commedia dellArte arose from professional actors imitating and improving on the
amateur erudite form, preferring to enact more fast-moving action, crowd-pleasing

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presentation and popular entertainment over the amateurs wordy dialogues, as well as
using more improvisation (Katritzky 35).
It has been gathered that commedia emerged in the Italian marketplace around
1540 and soon took off as popular entertainment amongst Italians, soon being
performed by professional companies in theatres for common folk and nobles alike, a
marriage of literary societies and street performers (Hopkins). The actors were authors
and owners of their material and ran their troupes democratically, paying each
performer and sharing the stage and operating duties evenly. It was also the first style
of theatre to include women on the stage.
Touring commedia groups spread the style across Europe, sometimes taking up
residence in their host countries where it was most popular (France, in particular,
embraced commedia the most outside of Italy). According to Eric Weitz, the late
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries are considered the golden years of the
commedia dellarte (103). Around the end of this period, commedia is given its name by
Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni, which translates literally as comedy of the professional
guild, or comedy of skills. The spread of the style is a key ingredient to its lasting
impact.
The key to studying commedias lasting impact and its impact through history is
through the ingredients and characteristics used to formulate the style. Almost all of the
building blocks of Commedia dellArte are still present in modern theatre and comedic
convention. Commedia was founded on a basis of combining language, actions and
pantomime to create witty and tasteful entertainment, as defined in Nicolls The World of
Harlequin (15). The performers of commedia strove for true comedy as opposed to

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buffoneria (buffoonery), as, according to early performer Niccol Barbieri, the comedian
produces laughter as the sauce to his skilful (sic) speeches; the stupid buffoon makes it
the be-all and end-all of his display (Nicoll 15). This fundamental stance taken by early
commedia actors has shaped comedy through the ages and carved a line in the sand
between tasteful and cheap comedy.
The key ingredients that define Commedia dellArte and remain present in
comedy through the years are: stock characters, physicality, improvisation, a shopping
list of situations, and lazzi. Because of the connection to the populace of Venice and
need to make the performances easily understandable, commedias characters were
modeled after people audiences could identify with or easily recognize. Most troupes
used stock characters such as an old miser (Pantalone), a pretentious wit or doctor
(Dottore), young lovers (Inamorata), the braggart soldier (Capitano), and the clever
servants (Zanni). Often the servants would divide into a variety of characters:
Arlecchino, the clown; Brighella, the quick-tempered butler-type; Colombina, the smartmouthed lady servant; and others. Almost all situations were born from the servantmaster-lover relationships. These situations were almost always improvised from a
basic shopping list of entrances and exits, leaving actors freedom to shape the scene
and comedy as they wished and not be bogged down by dialogue or prescribed action
(Hopkins; Nicoll 24). Actors also developed what is known as lazzi, or repeatable comic
business, to add humor and flavor to their work; for example, typical lazzo could be a
Zanni pulling a chair out from under Capitano as hes about to sit. According to Weitz,
lazzi grows from a specific character in a given situation, but [lays] plot development to
the side for the benefit of making the audience laugh (107). These ingredients,

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combined with exaggerated masks and ornate costumes, helped define commedia as
the model for comedic performance, and have made impacts on comedic form since
their inception.
We can begin to trace Commedia dellArtes impact on comedy through history
almost immediately in seeing how Elizabethan playwrights, such as William
Shakespeare, adapted the style. Leo Salingar claims that touring Italian troupes during
the Renaissance made great impacts on Shakespeare through their plot devices and
writings alone; the trend at the time in Commedias forerunner commedia erudita was
the adaptation of Roman and Greek Old Comedies, bringing on a new wave of
popularity for playwrights such as Plautus and more (177). This impact is scene in plays
such as The Comedy of Errors (a retelling of Plautuss Menaechmi), The Taming of the
Shrew and Two Gentlemen of Verona (borrowing plots from Italian playwright Ludovico
Ariostos The Supposes), Twelfth Night (adapted from Italian play Gl'Ingannati), and
others (Salingar 189). Shakespeare also made use of the stock characters made
popular by Italian comedy and Commedia dellArte; several of his plays (comedy or not)
make use of Inamorata (Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius in A Midsummer
Nights Dream; Romeo and Juliet), the braggart soldier (Falstaff in Henry IV and The
Merry Wives of Windsor; Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew), Zanni (Puck in A
Midsummer Nights Dream, Tranio in The Shrew, Feste in Twelfth Night), and Pantalone
(the miserly suitors in The Shrew) (Salingar 224-231). The early stages of Commedia
dellArte made great impact on Shakespeares work through these stock characters and
plots, and influenced his counterparts (such as Ben Jonson) as well. Given

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Shakespeares large influence on drama through history, its no surprise that by

borrowing from commedia, he has assisted in its impact.
Post-Elizabethan age, Commedia dellArtes impact is still easy to trace as
history has progressed. Moliere, a popular Golden Age French playwright, drew heavily
on commedias stock characters, physicality and situations; often his plays revolved
around a schemer invading the home of a miserly man of the house, only to be undone
by clever servants and passionate lovers (Klass, Molire and Commedia dellArte).
Stock characters remained present in styles through the end of the 18 th and 19th
centuries, such as Comedy of Manners, but many of the broader and more lewd
aspects of commedia were forgotten in a time of moral responsibility.
In the 20th century, commedias impact shined bright once again with the rise of
silent film, and this influence lead the way for the connection to modern comedy.
Actor/director Charlie Chaplins famous Little Tramp was a clear descendant of
Arlecchino, and he also wrote his films with more improvisation in mind using a script
that read much like the commedia laundry list of business. Buster Keaton and Harold
Lloyd are also notable for their commedia influence: both modeled themselves after
zanni character types and employed vast amounts of lazzi in their work. For example,
Lloyds famous Modern Times involves several bits of lazzi involved with climbing a
building: swinging windows, mice in his trousers, and a finale dangling from the clock
outside. According to the Human Race Theatre, silent film comedy had to be heavily
commedia-like, as there was little dialogue and much of the comedy relied on
physicality; this connects easily to how Italian audiences needed to understand early
comedians without much dialogue (Commedia DellArte 10-13).

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From silent film, there was a definite resurgence of improvisation and comedy
troupes that culminated in the 1950s with The Compass Players, who later evolved in
The Second City troupe and raised famous comedians Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Amy
Poehler, Steve Carell, and many more. The success and teachings of Second City lead
to other groups and projects, including Upright Citizens Brigade and Saturday Night
Live (Commedia DellArte 14). According to Janet Coleman, the Compass group
gave great stature to the role of the comedian since it exhibited so clearly the
complexity of his or her process and intelligence and gave comedians place to ground
their creativity in the invisible reality of an empty stage (299). In essence, this is the
largest bit of commedias purpose that had finally come to play in the modern age: once
again, comedy of the skilled had returned.
The remainder of this research will be spent connecting the key ingredients of
Commedia dellArte to modern comedy (that produced since the mid-20th century), and
examining the extent of commedias influence. These areas of focus will be: stock
characters, lazzi, common situations, lewdness, and the framing of jokes.
One of the biggest influences Commedia dellArte has had on comedy since its
inception has been the stock characters it employed; not only the use of these
characters, but the specific characters themselves have carried through the years.
When commedia was conceived, stock characters served as an exaggerated mirror of
society so that audiences could instantly recognize and relate to them (Hopkins). This
is absolutely still true today, as our modern comedies wouldnt get far without us
knowing who to root for first. Thus, connections to the original stock characters are still
easy to find: Pantalone lives in Mr. Burns from The Simpsons (almost the epitome of the

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character), Frank from Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, or perhaps the stingy Mr.
Krabs on Spongebob Squarepants. Dottore has influence on Leslie Knope on Parks and
Recreation, Dr. Zoidberg on Futurama, and Michael Scott on The Office all are
professionals with an air of self-perceived wit that often come short of wittiness. Zanni
are still some of most popular characters to emulate. Arlecchino can be found most
obviously in Bart Simpson, Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, or Charlie on Its
Always Sunny; broad characters leaning on the side of immaturity and deviousness
the clowns of whatever ensemble they belong to. Conversely, Brighella is traditionally
played as a prouder, more clever and more aloof servant, and can be seen in Batmans
butler Alfred Pennyworth, Dennis from Its Always Sunny, or even Adam Sandler in
most of his films (leaning on a more temperamental interpretation of the character). The
Inamorata are omnipresent in any romantic comedy, but a concrete example would be
Marshall and Lily in How I Met Your Mother. Capitano has influence on any largepresence ladies man and tough guy with empty promises; Kramer from Seinfeld, Mac
from Its Always Sunny and Gob from Arrested Development fit the role perfectly.
Drawing on these examples, its easy to see how Commedia dellArtes characters have
become such a giant staple in the way comedy is made these days (Commedia
DellArte 6).
Delving into deeper analysis, one can deduce that lazzi has some of the biggest
influence on modern comedy, and is present in almost every worthwhile bit of comedy
today. The best example of modern lazzi comes from 50s sitcom I Love Lucy, in a
scene where Lucy and friend Ethel desperately try to deal with a conveyor belt gone
amok a perfect example of comic business that can be amplified as much as the

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performers see fit. Weitz points to sketch comedy as free-standing lazzo, which goes
on for as long as the writers/performers foresee it as bearing its comic weight (108).
One can see it frequently in Saturday Night Live a particular recent sketch called The
Californians involves actors frequently looking into the camera dramatically. Family
Guy also uses frequent lazzi a character getting hurt and continually letting out pained
noises, Stewie calling for his mother repetitively and eventually using different forms of
mom (Ma! Mum! Mumma!), and of course the shows oft-used cuts to flashbacks or
off-kilt jokes. Seinfeld would often employ lazzi through the character of Kramer, where
the character would often burst through Jerrys door and come up with crazy schemes.
Performers and writers alike lean on lazzi for quick laughs that have potential to build
and feed on the audiences reaction and the actors exploration.
Another obvious influence commedia has had on modern comedy has been
present in the situations commedia employed; in fact, there has been an entire genre of
televised comedy called the situational comedy (sitcom). Most situations in commedia
came out of the servant-master-lover relationships, and often involved the lovers
scheming against the masters while the servants orchestrated the plot. In translating
and adapting the stock characters to their modern uses, one can see the common
commedia plots echoed throughout situational comedy. That 70s Show often involved
the zanni types plotting to party or get high (Hyde, Kelso and Fez as Brighella,
Arlecchino and lower zanni, respectively) while the Inamorata (Eric and Donna)
explored their relationship and were constantly under scrutiny of their parents (Red and
Bob as Pantalone and Dottore, respectively). Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia always
concerns itself with its zanni-based cast trying to climb the social ladder but falling short

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because of their own immoral natures, or being put down by higher-class master figures
(including Frank, the Pantalone character, who is a member of the main group). These
two examples concern themselves with Zanni or Inamorata as the leads and
protagonists, as is common in most comedy since the 90s, but prior to that, it was more
common to have Pantalone figures as the protagonist (Archie Bunker in All in the Family
being the best example). David Grote, writing in 1983, pointed to the sitcom as the end
of comedy by operating against tradition, claiming that because Commedia dellArte had
established business men as someone audiences and young people couldnt trust, the
sitcom turned everything on end by reversing that idea, making the most likeable and
fatherly of heroes successful men of business, such as Cliff Huxtable or Mike Brady
(91). For this period, sitcoms werent following the commedia model or abiding by the
stock characters, instead focusing on moral lessons and family comedy. However,
now with an increasingly adult breed of audience, the trend in sitcoms has slipped back
to traditional commedia situations.
While not a major part of Commedia dellArte, something must be said about the
clever lewdness that came with the style and how it is mirrored in modern comedy. For
one, many stock characters operated from the crotch and often used sex as a
motivation (Pantalone and Capitano, in particular). Pantalones costume sometimes had
an added coin purse dangling from the crotch to allude to a penis, and would often be
seen as an incorrigible suitor (Nicoll 45, 47). A large amount of modern comedy
concerns itself with sex as a major source for humor. A good tie-in to Pantalones sex
drive comes in Two and a Half Men, where Charlie Sheen plays a younger, womanizing
miser not unlike a combination of Pantalone and Capitano, and most of the escapades

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of the show erupt from Charlies insane sex drive. Other comedies such as How I Met
Your Mother heavily focus on sexual conquests (Barney, the Arlecchino/Capitano
character of the show literally has a Playbook he runs on women, common lazzi for
the show). Occasionally the lewdness can also come in the form of double-entendre or
innuendo, which connects to the cleverness commedia strove for (as opposed to
buffoonery, which a lot of penis jokes can tend towards). A popular example of this is
the NPR's Delicious Dish - Schweddy Balls skit from Saturday Night Live, in which
Alec Baldwin plays a bakery owner being interviewed about his balls, which provide
the actors with several minutes of back and forth lazzi playing on the innuendo.
Lewdness has grown increasingly present in recent years, but one can easily draw a
line between the tasteful, skilled comedy and cheap buffoonery, as was the purpose of
Commedia dellArte.
Most importantly, Commedia dellArte has provided the framework for how to
effectively tell a joke and make an audience laugh. Often this model is boiled down to
set-up, reinforcement, and reversal (the surprise) (Weitz 120). A perfect example comes
in Seinfelds infamous contest, in which the main characters put money on who can
last the longest without masturbating. The setup comes from Kramer finding out about a
naked woman in the building across the street, who he watches with Jerry and George.
All three men are transfixed and are barely holding conversation when Kramer walks
back to his apartment in a trance. Elaine, the female friend, arrives and reinforces Jerry
and Georges transfixion with the woman, as well as focusing on them long enough to
cause the audience to slightly forget about Kramer leaving. The surprise comes when
Kramer bursts through the door and slams money on the counter, exclaiming Im out!

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This has been the standard for telling a joke since commedias inception, and has been
used in comedy ever since.
Commedia dellArte has a mind-blowing impact on modern comedy and almost
all comedy since it was conceived. Although the use of masks, elaborate costumes,
grammalot and other core functions of the style are no longer as present, it lives on
throughout the comic medium in stock characters, use of lazzi, common situations,
lewdness, physicality, and the way jokes are told. From Shakespeare to Seinfeld,
commedias influence has continued to be fundamental and strong in the way comedy
has been delivered, and will likely continue to be for as long as jokes are told.

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Works Cited
A Brief History of Commedia. Dir. Deborah May. Perf. Didi Hopkins.
NationalTheatre.org.uk. National Theatre, 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/a-brief-history-of-commedia>.
Coleman, Janet. The Compass: The Improvisational Theatre That Revolutionized
American Comedy. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1991. Print.
"Commedia DellArte: A Study Guide for Students for the Improvisational Theater Style
Comedy of Skills." Human Race Theatre. N.p., 28 Aug. 2009. Web. 10 Nov.
2013.
<http://www.humanracetheatre.org/commedia_dell'arte_AUG_7_SCREEN.pdf>.
Green, Martin, and John C. Swan. The Triumph of Pierrot: The Commedia Dell'Arte and
the Modern Imagination. New York: Macmillan, 1986. Print.
Grote, David. The End of Comedy: The Sit-Com and the Comedic Tradition. Hamden,
CT: Archon, 1983. Print.
Katritzky, M. A. The Art of Commedia: A Study in the Commedia Dell'Arte 1560-1620
with Special Reference to the Visual Records. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006. Print.
Klass, Nicole S. "MOLIRE AND COMMEDIA DELLARTE: PAST, PRESENT, AND
FUTURE." Thesis. University of Central Florida, 2006. Florida Virtual Campus.
2006. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
<http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0001272/Klass_Nicole_S200608_MFA.pdf>.
Klingvall, Micke. "Commedia Erudita." Commedia Dell'Arte & Vulgar Comedy.
WordPress, 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.

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<http://commedia.klingvall.com/commedia-dellarte/the-roots-of-commediadellarte/commedia-erudita/>.
Nicoll, Allardyce. The World of Harlequin: A Critical Study of the Commedia Dell'arte.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1963. Print.
Salingar, Leo. Shakespeare and the Traditions of Comedy. London: Cambridge UP,
1974. Print.
Weitz, Eric. The Cambridge Introduction to Comedy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP,
2009. Print.