slapstick: Quick Facts

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Photos and Videos

Comic illustration of Harlequin in a colorful diamond-patterned costume entering a room where Pierrot, dressed in white with red trim, greets him; another figure sits at a table.

Watch Larry Fine, Moe Howard, and Shemp Howard as the Three Stooges from the film “Sing a Song of Six Pants,” 1947

Buster Keaton sitting on the floor with a film camera on top of him, as if the camera fell on Keaton.

Laurel and Hardy in The Flying Deuces, 1939

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Topics

slapstick comedy satire farce low comedy situation comedy stand-up comedy comedy of manners New Comedy satyr play sentimental comedy Old Comedy

Key People

Oliver Hardy in a tuxedo and boater hat, smiling slightly, in a 1931 black and white studio portrait.

Oliver Hardy

American actor

Stan Laurel

Stan Laurel

English actor and comedian

Mack Sennett

Mack Sennett

Canadian-born director and producer

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Lou Costello

American actor