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Glite Dictionary
low comedy

low comedy

1 6.7
Funny acting in plays or films that uses physical actions and rude jokes
  • noun
  • /loʊ ˈkɒmədi/
  • NSFW
translation icon : comedia burda
  • The theater production relied heavily on low comedy, using exaggerated physical humor to entertain the crowd.
  • high and low comedy
  • drama and low comedy

Examples

  • Your brand of low comedy always did appeal to adolescent mentality.

    Bewitched (2005)

  • The line between high diplomacy and low comedy is sometimes painfully fine.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • It's a slight thing, that play, full of parodies of Euripides and a lot of low comedy to do with men disguised as women.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • - AND LOW COMEDY WAS HIS FAVORITE.

    Saving Lincoln (2013)

  • The movie was filled with low comedy, featuring slapstick gags and silly pranks that made the audience laugh.

  • Many people enjoy low comedy because it offers simple humor that doesn't require deep thinking.

Synonyms

comedy
vslow comedy
350 1.0

A funny event or series of events that makes people laugh

is a narrower form that stresses physical and crude humor over wit
farce
vslow comedy
64 5.3

A funny play with exaggerated, impossible situations and silly acting

leans more toward physical gags and crude jokes than toward satire
slapstick
vslow comedy
5 4.9

Comedy that uses clumsy falls and silly chases to make people laugh

also depends on crude jokes and not on clever sophisticated dialogue

Antonyms

high comedy
  • Literature
1 8.4

Funny plays or films that use clever, polite jokes to make fun of rich people's manners

How Sophisticated

high comedy
  • Literature
1 8.4
farce
64 5.3
slapstick
5 4.9
low comedy
  • NSFW
1 6.7

Surface Forms

low comedy singular
low comedies plural

Morphology

low + comedy

The meaning is directly compositional: 'low' (inferior/crude) modifies 'comedy' (humorous performance), so a learner who knows both words can infer a form of humour that is coarse, physical, or vulgar. This adjective+noun pattern and the contrast with 'high' or 'sophisticated' comedy is cross-linguistically common, making the expression immediately understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The phrase low comedy may come from a simple image: low meaning near the ground, with slips, falls and messy gags that happen 'low' on stage. So low comedy now means 'comedy that uses slapstick, physical action, and rude jokes'.