The concept behind the Comic Relief is simple enough: a character that is meant to make the audience laugh.
But is it meant specifically for characters designed to be found funny out of universe? Or is it for any "funny character"?
Of course, a character whose main role or trait is to entertrain other characters in-universe, is very likely that they were meant to entertrain the audience as well, directly or indirectly. But the two roles aren't always synonimous: for example, a Deadpan Snarker's quips are meant to be funny for the audience, so it's a comedy relief character. But usually, a Deadpan Snarker isn't being snarky for the sake of other characters in-universe. Traditionally, the Deadpan Snarker's quips are a way to insult other characters, not entertrain them.
So, most Deadpan Snarkers don't count as the "funny one", regardless of how funny we might find them. Similarly, the Absent-Minded Professor's and The Klutz's antics are almost always Played for Laughs, so they too count as comedy relief characters. But neither of those character types is intentionally trying to act funny, for the sake of other characters, except in rare cases. That's just how they're supposed to act.
So, would it be a misuse of Plucky Comic Relief if it described that member of a work who intentionally tries to be funny? Or is just for "characters that the audience should find funny"?
Class Clown is the only trope I've found in the index that requires the character to act as the "funny one" in-universe, but as the name suggests, it's restricted to school settings.
I think I tried asking this in Trope Finder before, but got no responses, and it's still something that's confusing me.
The concept behind the Comic Relief is simple enough: a character that is meant to make the audience laugh.
But is it meant specifically for characters designed to be found funny out of universe? Or is it for any "funny character"?
Of course, a character whose main role or trait is to entertrain other characters in-universe, is very likely that they were meant to entertrain the audience as well, directly or indirectly.
But the two roles aren't always synonimous: for example, a Deadpan Snarker's quips are meant to be funny for the audience, so it's a comedy relief character. But usually, a Deadpan Snarker isn't being snarky for the sake of other characters in-universe. Traditionally, the Deadpan Snarker's quips are a way to insult other characters, not entertrain them.
So, most Deadpan Snarkers don't count as the "funny one", regardless of how funny we might find them.
Similarly, the Absent-Minded Professor's and The Klutz's antics are almost always Played for Laughs, so they too count as comedy relief characters. But neither of those character types is intentionally trying to act funny, for the sake of other characters, except in rare cases. That's just how they're supposed to act.
So, would it be a misuse of Plucky Comic Relief if it described that member of a work who intentionally tries to be funny? Or is just for "characters that the audience should find funny"?
Class Clown is the only trope I've found in the index that requires the character to act as the "funny one" in-universe, but as the name suggests, it's restricted to school settings.
I think I tried asking this in Trope Finder before, but got no responses, and it's still something that's confusing me.
Oo oo ah ah