He was an outstanding satirist and many of his novels can be seen as acute comedies of manners.
If Senna may come to be regarded as a classic sports movie, Donor Unknown could be seen as a classic indie comedy – even if it, too, is a documentary.
The plot of the play can be seen as a blending of a comedy of racial and cultural stereotypes with a love story and an historical drama.
When it seemed implausible that Donald Trump could win the Republican nomination, his endless barrage of crass insults, his ignorant demonization of immigrants and Muslims, and his total absence of knowledge on any issue, could be seen as fodder for good political comedy.
But Allen, speaking on the first anniversary of his appointment, doesn't want Channel 4 comedy to be seen as just dangerous and strange.
The result is good news for lead actors Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis: following his success in Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes, properties that had the benefit of pre-existing awareness, Downey can now be seen as bankable in an original-screenplay comedy; meanwhile Galifianakis, no one-trick pony, has proved himself outside The Hangover.
While some may feel that any jokes related to a tragedy are inappropriate, the clip could be seen as illustrating a fundamental tenet of comedy: that laughter leads to catharsis, and catharsis leads to healing.
A co-production with New Zealand Opera, where it was staged earlier this year, McColl's staging grows out of the premise that Rossini's comedies could be seen as the soap operas of their day: it reimagines The Italian Girl as a trashy Latino telenovela.
Mostly featuring young performers doing variations on relationship comedy, they could be seen as test runs for the next "Girls".
On the other hand, Ms. Prince, at 50, no longer wants to be seen as what Mr. Doyle called "a cutesy comedy redhead".
