David Hyde Pierce exemplifies the Buster Keaton principle of comedy: If you begin with a poker face, a rigid posture and an attitude of wary passive aggression, all subsequent body language becomes explosively expressive.
When he laid hands on Katherine Heigl in "Knocked Up," I was seriously alarmed — the beauty-and-the beast coupling seemed a violation of the basic principles of romantic comedy.
Clive James identifies what he calls the "jobswap" principle of great comedy: the simple technique of inserting a character into a profession for which they are temperamentally unsuited.
London's new telly channel London Live has announced (in principle at least) its own strand of comedy pilots, while satellite outlet Comedy Central releases details of its new sitcom Operation Slut – about a woman "on a mission to enjoy a variety of men with no attachments or heartbreak".
The principles of exaggeration and absurdity endure, but comedy must be made exaggerated and absurd for a whole new set of people.
There are flashes of comedy.
Masters of comedy, not commerce.
A colossal sense of comedy, fun, humor.
But there are spurts of comedy.
Because the essence of comedy is nastiness.
