Let's get physical: Rowan Atkinson and Peter Sellers
Rowan Atkinson: "Big laughs depend on physical rather than verbal humor."
Laughing Matters is a film by Rowan Atkinson (aka Mr. Bean) all about physical comedy.
Here’s a summary. Some excerpts…
Fear is one of the components too. Things that make us laugh are often related to things that make us afraid. For example, haunted places are full of sudden appearances. The only differences are what goes above the basics, like the music, sound design, and color.
…
Attitude:
Principle #1 The dim attitude and lack of awareness make a comedy act, funny.Principle #2 The aggressive attitude and the lack of consideration for others make a character funny.
Principle #3 Doing something socially embarrassing can make an action comic.
Principle #4 A good comic act, always has the comedian surviving till the end.
…
“In comedy, nothing transcends character,” Charlie Chaplin
To explain this further, Sir Rowan Atkinson says,
“And for the physical comedian, this means his ability to communicate through his body language. It’s about doing something quite normal in a funny way. The skill lies in the accuracy of human observation and the precision of the execution.”
Another good vid about Atkinson’s physical comedy…
From the vid: “This is the comedy of personality rather than the comedy of gags. It's not about doing funny things. It's about doing something quite normal in a funny way.”
And here are some fun scenes with Peter Sellers, another master of physical gags, as Inspector Clouseau: