CAVIETNAM

Carter Asef

Farce comedy is a type of comedy in theatre that employs a number of different humors mainly centering on exaggerations and unbelievable coincidences. Almost every act within such a play is well overdone as if to just show the extreme absurdity of the event. The physical comedy within such a play usually follows suite as well. The overplayed, slap-stick style fights are usually clownish and very much comical as opposed to being serious and dramatic. A good template for farce comedy I believe would be //The Three Stooges//. In that show, each of the events is very much based on farce comedy. The absurd defying of odds such as all the balls going into one pocket on the break when the play billiards, the comical sounds each character makes, and the physical abuse between the characters all portray the humor often found within a farce play.

In the play //The Vietnamization of Vietnam//, one doesn’t have to look too far in order to find the various elements of farce comedy. Et, for one could be considered the “Shemp” of the play. He is perhaps the most childlike in the play out of everyone. Each action of his brings up memories of a very young child rather than the older more mature person he is. For instance, when he begins to argue with Ozzie, he is told to go to his room but instead stubbornly say “I won’t” after he has gone back and for the with Ozzie simply shouting vulgar things back and forth that they hope happens such as “I hope you get clap in your eye”. He continues on in the play being treated like a child rather than being a more typical member of society.

The farcical comedy continues in the scene. After Ozzie has wished it that Davey falls into a septic tank, Harry simply states that Davey and Liat just fell into such a septic tank. Such absurd coincidences are just what is often seen within such comedies. It is the simple absurdity of the circumstances that will often draw humor to what is potentially a much more serious issue.