comic relief

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɪk ɹɪˈliːf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmɪk ɹɪˈliːf/

Noun

comic relief (uncountable)

1. (narratology) The inclusion of a humorous character or scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
   • 2017 July 23, Brandon Nowalk, “The great game begins with a bang on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     The sequence where Sam carves off Jorah’s infected tissue in secret, stopping every few moments to shush his patient, is presented as comic relief why? Jorah reels back into a diagonal close-up whimpering like a dog. Yellow pus oozes to get those good gross-out laughs. Is the substance of this operation funny to anyone on its face?

Translations

inclusion of a humorous character or scene

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 滑稽こっけい場面ばめん／滑稽こっけい场面 (huáji chǎngmiàn), 喜劇きげき性せい鏡きょう頭あたま／喜き剧性镜头 (xǐjù xìng jìngtóu), 輕けい鬆す場面ばめん／轻松场面 (qīngsōng chǎngmiàn), 可か笑わらい的てき安心あんしん (kěxiào de ānxīn)

• Dutch: vrolijke noot
• Finnish: kevennys, koominen kevennys
• French: faire-valoir comique m
• German: Comic Relief, komische Entlastung
• Greek: κωμική ανακούφιση (komikí anakoúfisi)
• Italian: rilievo comico m
• Japanese: 息抜いきぬき (ja) (いきぬき, ikinuki)
• Korean: 희극 기복 (huigeuk gibok)
• Polish: komedia w poważnym dziele f
• Portuguese: alívio cómico
• Russian: шуточный сброс (šutočnyj sbros)
• Spanish: alivio cómico m, relevación cómica f

See also

• bathos