How is comedy related to its institutional context? Neale and Krutnik, in this wide-ranging discussion of the genre, propose that comedy always involves deviation from aesthetic and cultural conventions and norms.

Steve Neale and Frank Krutnik both lecture in Film Studies at the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Introduction 1 Section 1 1 Definitions, genres, and forms 2 Comedy and narrative 3 Gags, jokes, wisecracks, and comic events 4 Laughter, humour, and the comic 5 Verisimilitude Section 2 6 Hollywood, comedy, and The Case of Silent Slapstick 7 The comedy of the sexes Section 3 8 Comedy, television, and variety 9 Broadcast comedy and sit-com