Deadpan

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Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or body language. It is usually spoken in a casual, monotone or cantankerous voice, and expresses a calm, insincere or grave demeanor, often in spite of the ridiculousness of the subject matter. This delivery is also called dry humor or dry wit,[1] when the intent, but not the presentation, is humorous, blunt, oblique, sarcastic, laconic or apparently unintentional.

Etymology

The term deadpan first emerged as an adjective or adverb in the 1920s, as a compound word combining "dead" and "pan" (a slang term for the face). The oldest usage recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary comes from the New York Times (1928), which defines the term as "playing a rôle with expressionless face".[2] An example of this usage is in a scene from the 1934 film The Gay Bride in which a gangster tells a man on the other end of a phone conversation to "give it a dead pan" (with the emphasis on "pan"), so that the man does not inadvertently alert anyone else in the room as to the importance of what the gangster is about to say. The usage of deadpan as a verb ("to speak, act, or utter in a deadpan manner; to maintain a dead pan") is recorded at least as far back as 1942.[2]

Examples

Rat Pack comedian Joey Bishop, noted for his deadpan style, with Jennie and Terrie Frankel (Doublemint Twins), Sig Sakowitz, Tony Diamond, Sara Sue, Tippi Hedren and Mel Bishop.

Many popular American sitcoms also use deadpan expressions to deliver dry humor, most notably Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, The Office and Seinfeld. A good current example is the character April Ludgate from the TV show Parks and Recreation played by Aubrey Plaza. Another example is the often philosophical comedy of Steven Wright. Dry humor is often confused with highbrow or egghead humor, because the humor in dry humor does not exist in the words, their delivery, or both. Instead, the listener must look for humor in the contradiction between words, delivery and context. Failure to include the context or to identify the contradiction results in the listener finding the dry humor unfunny. However, the term "deadpan" itself actually only refers to the method of delivery.

Styles within deadpan

Deadpan can vary on subtlety. Obvious deadpan uses a high amount of contrast either with characters or situations. It may also take the role of mirror to characters who are unaware of their folly. Some of this can be seen with the characters Britney and Kevin in Daria. More subtle deadpan can test the observational limits of the audience and even play off the audience's awareness (and thus implied intelligence) of the audience. Some British comedy relies on this.

See also

Look up deadpan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

  1. ↑ Rishel, Mary Ann (2002). Writing humor. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 166. ISBN 0-8143-2959-4. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Oxford English Dictionary. "dead-pan, adj., n., adv., and v." Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011. accessed 17 February 2012. First published in A Supplement to the OED I, 1972
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