Comedy
I agree with Mel Brooks that tragedy is when I cut MY finger. Comedy is when YOU fall into an open sewer and die. Comedy needs to shower people with truth and grit which means sometimes stepping outside of the lines. Comedy needs to walk the thin line between civility and impropriety to be effective.
Comedy, from the Greek word komos which translates “to revel,” grew out of the ancient Greek satyr plays. Satyr (we get the word satire from this) plays were rude, crude, naughty burlesque-like plays that mocked everything from the gods to characters in plays just performed. Aristotle defined comedy’s purpose as “to amuse while correcting our faults” through telling stories focused of society’s foibles in general, rather than an individual’s. The original purpose of comedy was to expose society’s follies and vices in the hope that they will be better understood and corrected. This is still a valid definition of comedy today.
. 
