1. Renaissance Theatre in Italy
Commedia Dell’arte
Renaissance Theatre in Italy

2. Sketch Comedy
Commedia dell’arte: comedy of types, players, or characters
It is the forerunner to modern sketch comedies and improvisations
Mad TV
Saturday Night Live
Studio C

3. Stock Characters Each scene had recognizable characters, and setting
Pantalone-foolish old man
Dottore-intelligent old man
Servants and Clowns-harlequin/zanni’s
Young lovers

4. Masks The comic characters all wore masks They covered half the face
Made of leather
Exaggerated features

5. Sound Effects
The comic effect was based on physical comedy and putting live sound effects with the action
Slide whistles
Slapsticks
Crashes
Music/Minstrels

6. Performance Example