slapstick

Meaning

Noun

• A style of humor focusing on physical comedy, such as slipping on a banana peel, and with foolish characters who get into humiliating situations.
• A pair of sticks attached at one end and used to create a slapping sound effect, used especially in slapstick comedy; a type of clapper.

Related

Similar words

• physical comedy

Origin

• slap + stick, . The pair of sticks was used by the comic character Harlequin in the commedia dell'arte.