Visual gag - Citizendia

In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humor visually, often without words being used at all. Humour or humor (see spelling differences) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke Laughter and provide Amusement

There are numerous examples in cinema history of directors who based most of the humour in their films on visual gags, even to the point of using no or minimal dialogue. The first known use of a visual gag was in the Lumière brothers' 1895 short, L'Arroseur Arrosé ("The Waterer Watered"), in which a gardener watering his plants becomes the subject of a boy's prank. L'Arroseur Arrosé (also known as The Waterer Watered and The Sprinkler Sprinkled) is an 1895 French

Silent film comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton often used visual humour because the technology used to record voices in film did not yet exist. Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr ( April 20, 1893 &ndash March 8, 1971) was an American Film actor and producer Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton ( October 4 1895 &ndash February 1 1966) was an Academy Award -winning American One of the most famous directors of visual comedies in the sound era was Jacques Tati. Jacques Tati (October 9 &ndashNovember 5) was a noted French comedic Filmmaker. His 1967 film Playtime, which eschewed a conventional plot, central characters and close-up shots in favour of countless visual gags happening simultaneously, is perhaps the defining example. Play Time is French director Jacques Tati 's fourth major film and generally considered to be his masterpiece work A currently-active director who uses primarily visual humour in his films is Sweden's Roy Andersson. Roy Andersson (born 31 March 1943) is a Swedish Film director, best known for his films A Swedish Love Story and The 2003 animated film The Triplets of Belleville is nearly dialogue-free and relies largely on visual humour. Les Triplettes de Belleville is a 2003 animated Feature film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet.

Visual gags are often used in surreal comedy, with many Monty Python's Flying Circus sketches making use of them, such as the "Mrs Gorilla" sketch in which a series of middle-aged women have been shopping and bought piston engines. Comedy (from the Greek κωμωδίαkomodia has a popular meaning (any discourse generally intended to amuse especially in Television, Film, and Monty Python’s Flying Circus (also known as Flying Circus or during the final series just Monty Python) is a BBC Sketch comedy A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is a Heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating Pistons to convert Likewise, many elements of the "Hell's Grannies" sketch, featuring Keep Left signs attacking passersby, are sight gags. Monty Python’s Flying Circus (also known as Flying Circus or during the final series just Monty Python) is a BBC Sketch comedy

The 1998 movie BASEketball features several prominent visual gags, such as stadium workers operating a chicken shredder after a game, or the character of Squeak Scolari's head being used as a punching bag. BASEketball is a 1998 David Zucker comedy Feature film starring South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone

Another movie which relies heavily on visual gags is 1998's Wrongfully Accused. Wrongfully Accused is a 1998 Comedy film starring Leslie Nielsen as Ryan Harrison a violinist who's been framed for murder by a one-armed One visual gag from this movie had a woman's tongue slip into a man's ear and come out the other side of his head.

Visual gags are also exploited in the popular comedy television programme Just for Laughs Gags.

As Rowan Atkinson explains in his lecture Funny Business, an object or a person can become funny in three different ways. Rowan Atkinson (born 6 January 1955 is an English Comedian, actor and writer famous for his title roles in the British television comedies Blackadder They are:

By being in an unusual place
By behaving in an unusual way
By being the wrong size

Most sight gags fit into one or more of these categories.

See also