Comedy for Animators

Chapter 5Essential Characters

This chapter describes a selection of characters who have appeared over and over again since the beginning of theater. By no means is this an exhaustive list of all known funny guys, but it is a good foundation to build on. Some of them are simple, and some are complex. Some are realistic, and others are not. All of them should be familiar in some way. Often it is because they represent some simple truth that we recognize. There are some basic human behaviors that will never change. We are all born foolish and spend our lives trying desperately not to look like it. We see foolishness in others, and love to see it made fun of. Foolishness may come in the form of the seven deadly sins of greed, lust, sloth, wrath, ...