What's the difference between comedy and tragedy?

Comedy


Definition:

  • (n.) A dramatic composition, or representation of a bright and amusing character, based upon the foibles of individuals, the manners of society, or the ludicrous events or accidents of life; a play in which mirth predominates and the termination of the plot is happy; -- opposed to tragedy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A philosophy student at Sussex University, he was part of an improvised comedy sketch group and one skit required him to beatbox (making complex drum noises with your mouth).
  • (2) Corden, a big star in the UK since he made his name with BBC comedy Gavin and Stacey but still a relative unknown in the US, will succeed Craig Ferguson who will step down from the show after a decade.
  • (3) Gola, who gave his first stand-up turn in 2001, has watched comedy in South Africa go mainstream.
  • (4) In a recent episode of the BBC Radio 4 comedy Alun Cochrane's Fun House , Cochrane joked of how he sleeps better in the living room.
  • (5) Days and Nights in the Forest , which began as a comedy about Calcuttan gents on safari for aboriginal villagers, before shading into something almost too dark for my comprehension.
  • (6) Comic writing can be a brutal, unforgiving business, yet it can produce great and multi-layered prose, combining comedy, pathos and satire.
  • (7) Castin' makes me feel good: Ghostbusters' diverse team is a victory Read more Dan Aykroyd heralds Ghostbusters cast as 'most magnificent women in comedy' Read more “There’s three drafts of the old concept that exists,” said Aykroyd.
  • (8) The first UK comedy show I ever performed was a total mess.
  • (9) I think the heart of good comedy really lives in truth and reacting to the absurdities, hypocrisies, abuses of power in the world.” Late night television is a no longer a glass of warm milk before bed, it’s a lunch buffet And as TV viewership declines and internet virality becomes as important as real-time eyeballs, cable networks might find that topical comedy is a smart, cost-effective way to grab cross-platform attention.
  • (10) Despite his insistence that comedy should be colour-blind, Amos admits black audiences prefer the black circuit, where "you know the material isn't going to be racist or make you feel awkward, where you feel like you belong".
  • (11) That's in 1888; by 1890 the tone is of comic resignation (there is much comedy in these pages) as Edmond realises that he has devoted the whole of his life "to a special sort of literature: the sort that brings one trouble".
  • (12) He's broken limbs, nearly lost fingers and contracted a potentially deadly bone-marrow infection, as well as performing a string of excellent comedy shows retelling his exploits.
  • (13) Charlize Theron is set to star opposite Seth MacFarlane in the Ted creator's new comedy western A Million Ways to Die in the West, tipped as a homage to Mel Brooks's classic movie Blazing Saddles .
  • (14) The series is widely regarded as the first British sitcom, focusing on characters and situations over a single half-hour sketch, rather than stand-up comedy or variety which was then dominant in British radio.
  • (15) "I was at a comedy club trying to do my act, and I got heckled and I took it badly and went into a rage," Richards said.
  • (16) Fines’ best actor nod fell in the comedy movie category, which he shared with Michael Keaton in Birdman, Bill Murray in St. Vincent, Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice and Christoph Waltz in Big Eyes.
  • (17) His first film appearances had included Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Small Back Room, and the comedy Dear Mr Prohack (both 1949), the latter adapted from an Arnold Bennett novel.
  • (18) Between festivals, Hardee played cameo roles in TV comedies such as Blackadder and The Comic Strip, and ran his own comedy club, the Tunnel, which he had opened at the southern end of the Blackwall Tunnel in 1984; it acquired a fearsome reputation as a graveyard for aspiring standups.
  • (19) Archer, which Reed originally pitched to the FX channel as "James Bond meets Arrested Development" takes this premise – the comedy of displacement activity – and runs with it.
  • (20) 23 May More films to see in 2014 • 2014 preview: thrillers • 2014 preview: comedy • 2014 preview: Oscar hopefuls • 2014 preview: science fiction • 2014 preview: romance • 2014 preview: drama • This article was amended on Thursday 2 January 2014.

Tragedy


Definition:

  • (n.) A dramatic poem, composed in elevated style, representing a signal action performed by some person or persons, and having a fatal issue; that species of drama which represents the sad or terrible phases of character and life.
  • (n.) A fatal and mournful event; any event in which human lives are lost by human violence, more especially by unauthorized violence.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Her story is an incredible tale of triumph over tragedy: a tormented childhood during China's Cultural Revolution, detention and forced exile after exposing female infanticide – then glittering success as the head of a major US technology firm.
  • (2) It is a tragedy that he abandoned Iraq, sacrificing the gains secured by American blood and treasure.
  • (3) The lesson, spelled out by Oak Creek's mayor, Steve Saffidi, was that it shouldn't have taken a tragedy for Sikhs, or anyone else, to find acceptance.
  • (4) Obama is expected to offer personal condolences to his counterpart Park Geun-Hye over the tragedy, but the South's unpredictable northern neighbour is set to dominate the agenda.
  • (5) The Australian prime minister and the Russian president discussed the Malaysia Airlines tragedy during a 15-minute meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit on Tuesday.
  • (6) The second tragedy to strike Jeremy was the death of his wife Caroline.
  • (7) Shavit’s new book, My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel , has received plaudits from the cream of the liberal, American, political elite.
  • (8) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Global trade unions called the collapse ‘mass industrial homicide’, while Vogue magazine described it as ‘tragedy on an epic scale’.
  • (9) The deputy prime minister branded the treatment meted out to the four-year-old by his mother, Magdelena Luczak, and stepfather, Mariusz Krezolek, as evil and vile, but suggested it was up to the whole of society to stop such tragedies.
  • (10) Senator Edward Kennedy lived his life precisely at the crossroads of all that he encountered – at the intersection of statesmanship, of history, of moral purpose, of tragedy, of compromise.
  • (11) It’s a huge, huge tragedy.” Kortney Moore, 18, said she was in a writing class when a shot came through the window and hit the teacher in the head.
  • (12) Tragedy was averted because there was a little delay as the prayers did not commence in earnest and the bomb strapped to the body of the girl went off and killed her,” he added.
  • (13) In a therapeutic tragedy perhaps even more widespread than the thalidomide disaster, untold lives were lost between 1949 and 1958 through the administration of inappropriate doses of chloramphenicol to newborn infants.
  • (14) It comes two years after the BSC stripped another Vedanta subsidiary of a safety award after the Observer drew its attention to the firm's involvement in one of the worst industrial tragedies in India's recent history.
  • (15) A s the protests in Turkey continue , spare a thought for the man whose personal tragedy few have the grace to acknowledge – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
  • (16) During his visit to Europe he did not speak at length on the subject of the shooting, but seemed more willing than Giuliani to distance the Dallas tragedy from the Black Lives Matter movement.
  • (17) But obviously if people have been injured or indeed killed that is a tragedy and our sympathies are with the victims and their families.” He added: “We never condone violence – whatever the cause.
  • (18) Sue Capon, who runs Brokerswood country park, said everyone was still coming to terms with the tragedy.
  • (19) They have taken a series of safety measures over the past decade aimed at preventing crowd crushes after tragedies such as the stampede in 2006, which resulted in 350 deaths, a building collapse in the same year which killed 76 and a stampede that killed more than 200 people in 2004.
  • (20) But the tragedy in Scotland is a reminder that public confidence – and even lives – are on the line too.