"Deadface" redirects here. For the electrical engineering technique, see Deadfacing.
Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour[1] is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blunt, ironic, laconic, or apparently unintentional.
The term deadpan first emerged early in the 20th century, as a compound word (sometimes spelled as two words) combining "dead" and "pan" (a slang term for the face). It appeared in print as early as 1915, in an article about a former baseball player named Gene Woodburn written by his former manager Roger Bresnahan. Bresnahan described how Woodburn used his skill as a ventriloquist to make his manager and others think they were being heckled from the stands. Woodburn, wrote Bresnahan, "had a trick of what the actors call 'the dead pan.' He never cracked a smile and would be the last man you would suspect was working a trick."[2][3]
George M. Cohan, in a 1908 interview, had alluded to dead pans without using the actual term "deadpan". Cohan, after returning from a trip to London, told an interviewer that "the time is ripe for a manager to take over about a dozen American chorus girls and wake up the musical comedy game. The English chorus girls are dead–their pans are cold.”[4]
The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1928 New York Times article as having the first appearance of the term in print.[5] That article, a collection of film slang compiled by writer and theatrical agent Frank J. Wilstach, defines "dead pan" as "playing a role with expressionless face, as, for instance, the work of Buster Keaton."[6] There were several other uses of the term, in theater and in sports, between the 1915 Bresnahan article and the 1928 article in the Times.[3]
The usage of deadpan as a verb ("to speak, act, or utter in a deadpan manner; to maintain a dead pan") is recorded at least as far back as 1942.[5]
Rat Pack comedians Joey Bishop and Brad Jewell, noted for their deadpan style, with Jennie and Terrie Frankel (Doublemint Twins), Sig Sakowicz, Tony Diamond, Sara Sue, Tippi Hedren and Mel Bishop
The English music hall comedian T. W. Barrett, working in the 1880s and 1890s, is credited with being the first to perform in a deadpan manner, standing completely still and without a smile.[7]
Early in his vaudeville days, Buster Keaton developed his deadpan expression. Keaton realised that audiences responded better to his stony expression than when he smiled, and he carried this style into his silent film career.[8] The 1928 Vitaphone short film The Beau Brummels, with vaudeville comics Al Shaw and Sam Lee, was performed entirely in deadpan.[9] The 1980 film Airplane! was performed almost entirely in deadpan;[10] it helped relaunch the career of one of its supporting actors, Leslie Nielsen, who transformed into a prolific deadpan comic after the film.[11] Actor and comedian Bill Murray is known for his deadpan delivery.[12]
Deadpan delivery runs throughout British humour.[14] In television sitcoms, John Cleese as Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers and Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder in Blackadder are both frustrated figures who display little facial expression in their put-downs.[15] Atkinson also plays authority figures (especially priests) while speaking absurd lines with a deadpan delivery. Monty Python include it in their work, such as "The Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch.[16] For his deadpan delivery Peter Sellers received a BAFTA for Best Actor for I'm All Right Jack (1959). A leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, Peter Cook delivered deadpan monologues in his double act with Dudley Moore.[17] In his various roles Ricky Gervais often draws humour from an exasperated sigh.[18] While in his various guises such as Ali G and Borat, the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen interacts with unsuspecting subjects not realising they have been set up for self-revealing ridicule; on this The Observer states, "his career has been built on winding people up, while keeping a deadpan face."[19]
Dry humour is often confused with highbrow or egghead humour, because the humour in dry humour does not exist in the words or delivery. Instead, the listener must look for humour in the contradiction between words, delivery and context. Failure to include the context or to identify the contradiction results in the listener finding the dry humour unfunny. However, the term "deadpan" itself actually refers only to the method of delivery.
^Rishel, Mary Ann (2002). Writing humor. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 166. ISBN0-8143-2959-4.
^Bresnahan, Roger (20 Jan 1915). "Roger Bresnahan's Own Tale". 490 Washington Street. p. 10.
^ ab"Deadpan – Caught in the Web of Words". Retrieved 2021-11-13.
^Darnton, Charles (1 Feb 1908). "George M. Cohan Froze in London, But in Paris–Ah!–He Managed to Thaw Out". New York World. p. 3.
^ abOxford English Dictionary. "dead-pan, adj., n., adv., and v." Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011. accessed 17 February 2012. First published in A Supplement to the OED I, 1972
^"Slang of Film Men". New York Times. 11 Mar 1928. p. 6 (Section 8). Retrieved 13 Nov 2021.
^Busby, Roy (1976). British Music Hall: An Illustrated Who's Who from 1850 to the Present Day. London: Paul Elek. p. 22. ISBN0 236 40053 3.
^"Deadpan: the comedy of Buster Keaton". Telescope. CBC.ca. 17 April 1964. from the original on 2016-01-01. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
^Knipfel, Jim (29 May 2015). "Shaw and Lee: Vaudeville's Loony Futurists". OZY. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
^Dudek, Duane. . Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
^Dalton, Andrew; Thomas, Bob. . The Monitor. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010.
^Bernstein, Jonathan (October 30, 2015). "Will Bill Murray ever make another good movie?". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
^Thomas, E. C. (2014). The Everything Big Book of Jokes: Hundreds of the Shortest, Longest, Silliest, Smartest, Most Hilarious Jokes You've Never Heard!. Adams Media. p. 16. ISBN978-1-4405-7698-0. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
^Andy Bloxham (10 March 2008). "British humour 'dictated by genetics'", Daily Telegraph. Accessed 31 July 2019
^"Blackadder rides again in festive schedule". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
^"John Cleese and Mick Jagger are wrong – Monty Python's silly walks are still hilarious". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
^"Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, The 25 best comedy duos". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
^"The king of deadpan". The Irish News. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
^"Sacha Baron Cohen: Our man from Kazakhstan". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
External links
The dictionary definition of deadpan at Wiktionary
February 18, 2023
deadpan, deadface, redirects, here, electrical, engineering, technique, deadfacing, humour, humour, deliberate, display, emotional, neutrality, emotion, commonly, form, comedic, delivery, contrast, with, ridiculousness, absurdity, subject, matter, delivery, me. Deadface redirects here For the electrical engineering technique see Deadfacing Deadpan dry humour or dry wit humour 1 is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter The delivery is meant to be blunt ironic laconic or apparently unintentional Contents 1 Etymology 2 Examples 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksEtymology EditThe term deadpan first emerged early in the 20th century as a compound word sometimes spelled as two words combining dead and pan a slang term for the face It appeared in print as early as 1915 in an article about a former baseball player named Gene Woodburn written by his former manager Roger Bresnahan Bresnahan described how Woodburn used his skill as a ventriloquist to make his manager and others think they were being heckled from the stands Woodburn wrote Bresnahan had a trick of what the actors call the dead pan He never cracked a smile and would be the last man you would suspect was working a trick 2 3 George M Cohan in a 1908 interview had alluded to dead pans without using the actual term deadpan Cohan after returning from a trip to London told an interviewer that the time is ripe for a manager to take over about a dozen American chorus girls and wake up the musical comedy game The English chorus girls are dead their pans are cold 4 The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1928 New York Times article as having the first appearance of the term in print 5 That article a collection of film slang compiled by writer and theatrical agent Frank J Wilstach defines dead pan as playing a role with expressionless face as for instance the work of Buster Keaton 6 There were several other uses of the term in theater and in sports between the 1915 Bresnahan article and the 1928 article in the Times 3 The usage of deadpan as a verb to speak act or utter in a deadpan manner to maintain a dead pan is recorded at least as far back as 1942 5 Examples EditSee also List of deadpan comedians Rat Pack comedians Joey Bishop and Brad Jewell noted for their deadpan style with Jennie and Terrie Frankel Doublemint Twins Sig Sakowicz Tony Diamond Sara Sue Tippi Hedren and Mel Bishop The English music hall comedian T W Barrett working in the 1880s and 1890s is credited with being the first to perform in a deadpan manner standing completely still and without a smile 7 Early in his vaudeville days Buster Keaton developed his deadpan expression Keaton realised that audiences responded better to his stony expression than when he smiled and he carried this style into his silent film career 8 The 1928 Vitaphone short film The Beau Brummels with vaudeville comics Al Shaw and Sam Lee was performed entirely in deadpan 9 The 1980 film Airplane was performed almost entirely in deadpan 10 it helped relaunch the career of one of its supporting actors Leslie Nielsen who transformed into a prolific deadpan comic after the film 11 Actor and comedian Bill Murray is known for his deadpan delivery 12 Many popular American sitcoms use deadpan expressions to deliver dry humour including Curb Your Enthusiasm Arrested Development and My Name Is Earl More recent examples are Andre Braugher as Captain Raymond Holt from the TV show Brooklyn Nine Nine Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing in Friends Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson and Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation Jennette McCurdy as Sam Puckett in iCarly and Louis C K in Louie Another example is the comedy of Steven Wright 13 Deadpan delivery runs throughout British humour 14 In television sitcoms John Cleese as Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers and Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder in Blackadder are both frustrated figures who display little facial expression in their put downs 15 Atkinson also plays authority figures especially priests while speaking absurd lines with a deadpan delivery Monty Python include it in their work such as The Ministry of Silly Walks sketch 16 For his deadpan delivery Peter Sellers received a BAFTA for Best Actor for I m All Right Jack 1959 A leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s Peter Cook delivered deadpan monologues in his double act with Dudley Moore 17 In his various roles Ricky Gervais often draws humour from an exasperated sigh 18 While in his various guises such as Ali G and Borat the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen interacts with unsuspecting subjects not realising they have been set up for self revealing ridicule on this The Observer states his career has been built on winding people up while keeping a deadpan face 19 Dry humour is often confused with highbrow or egghead humour because the humour in dry humour does not exist in the words or delivery Instead the listener must look for humour in the contradiction between words delivery and context Failure to include the context or to identify the contradiction results in the listener finding the dry humour unfunny However the term deadpan itself actually refers only to the method of delivery See also Edit Comedy portalBlack comedy Blank expression Minimisation psychology Straight man Throwaway lineReferences Edit Rishel Mary Ann 2002 Writing humor Detroit Wayne State University Press p 166 ISBN 0 8143 2959 4 Bresnahan Roger 20 Jan 1915 Roger Bresnahan s Own Tale 490 Washington Street p 10 a b Deadpan Caught in the Web of Words Retrieved 2021 11 13 Darnton Charles 1 Feb 1908 George M Cohan Froze in London But in Paris Ah He Managed to Thaw Out New York World p 3 a b Oxford English Dictionary dead pan adj n adv and v Second edition 1989 online version December 2011 accessed 17 February 2012 First published in A Supplement to the OED I 1972 Slang of Film Men New York Times 11 Mar 1928 p 6 Section 8 Retrieved 13 Nov 2021 Busby Roy 1976 British Music Hall An Illustrated Who s Who from 1850 to the Present Day London Paul Elek p 22 ISBN 0 236 40053 3 Deadpan the comedy of Buster Keaton Telescope CBC ca 17 April 1964 Archived from the original on 2016 01 01 Retrieved 4 November 2015 Knipfel Jim 29 May 2015 Shaw and Lee Vaudeville s Loony Futurists OZY Retrieved 16 January 2020 Dudek Duane 25 years and still laughing Airplane maintains its cruising Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Archived from the original on 30 April 2008 Retrieved 23 February 2009 Dalton Andrew Thomas Bob Airplane Forbidden Planet actor Nielsen dies The Monitor Archived from the original on 8 December 2010 Bernstein Jonathan October 30 2015 Will Bill Murray ever make another good movie The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 2022 01 12 Retrieved November 3 2015 Thomas E C 2014 The Everything Big Book of Jokes Hundreds of the Shortest Longest Silliest Smartest Most Hilarious Jokes You ve Never Heard Adams Media p 16 ISBN 978 1 4405 7698 0 Retrieved June 29 2017 Andy Bloxham 10 March 2008 British humour dictated by genetics Daily Telegraph Accessed 31 July 2019 Blackadder rides again in festive schedule The Guardian Retrieved 22 July 2021 John Cleese and Mick Jagger are wrong Monty Python s silly walks are still hilarious The Guardian Retrieved 26 August 2019 Peter Cook amp Dudley Moore The 25 best comedy duos The Telegraph Archived from the original on 2022 01 12 Retrieved 22 July 2021 The king of deadpan The Irish News Retrieved 31 July 2019 Sacha Baron Cohen Our man from Kazakhstan The Guardian Retrieved 19 October 2019 External links Edit The dictionary definition of deadpan at Wiktionary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Deadpan amp oldid 1132937863, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
