All the types of comedy on Broadway

From stand-up to satire to slapstick to situation comedy, and plenty more in between, there are plenty of laughs to be had at Broadway plays and musicals.

“Something for everyone – a comedy tonight!” That catchy song snippet from A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum takes on a different dimension when you consider that comedy isn’t a one-joke-fits-all kind of thing. Anything but.

Comedy is a genre that spans a wide spectrum. As the song notes, it can be appealing, appalling, convulsive, repulsive, and there’s a pretty good chance that liars, lovers, and clowns are involved.

When you’re in the mood to laugh and lighten up – whether at a musical, a farcical play, or a solo show – Broadway has got you covered in the comedy department. And that’s no joke.

Learn about the different types of comedy shows on Broadway right now, and get comedy tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Slapstick comedy

Don’t come expecting subtlety, folks. This breed of freewheeling comedy, along with farce, is writ large and designed to be played likewise – even extra-large.

The Cottage

Sandy Rustin sets her who’s-boinking-who comedy about cheating couples in 1923 in an upscale English country home where everybody (literally) collides. Just like the script, which finds inspiration in the witty works of Noël Coward, the set is built for humor. Window seats turn into hiding places for lovers on the lam. Stuffed porcupines become impromptu weapons. There’s nothing like a silly sight gag. In The Cottage, which stars Laura Bell Bundy and Eric McCormack, they’re a house specialty.

Get The Cottage tickets now.

The Play That Goes Wrong

This slapstick show isn't on Broadway, but it enjoyed a two-year Broadway run from 2017-19 and is now at the Off-Broadway venue New World Stages, located steps from Broadway theatres. This show by the British Mischief Theatre Company follows a troupe of actors trying to stage a murder mystery. Key word is trying. As the title might suggest, wild and hilarious mishaps happen almost constantly.

Get The Play That Goes Wrong tickets now.

Situation comedy

It’s not just the stuff on TV. In this kind of comedy, the humor revolves primarily around the involvement of the main characters in a predicament or tricky set of circumstances.

The Shark Is Broken

This play is inspired by the legendarily problematic production of Jaws, which turned out to be a big-screen blockbuster. Co-authors Joseph Nixon and Ian Shaw, who plays his father, imagine below-deck — er, on-set — carping among the movie’s stars. That trio was Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider (Colin Donnell), and Richard Dreyfuss (Alex Brightman).

It’s said that misery loves company. From the safe distance of our theatre seats, the discomfort of pampered Hollywood hotshots can be amusing.

Get The Shark Is Broken tickets now.

Satire

Some comedies set out to lampoon the way things are – and to turn stereotypes inside out.

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Leslie Odom Jr., a Hamilton Tony winner, plays the title role in the revival of Ossie Davis’s 1961 button-pushing comedy that indicts U.S. politics and the legal system. Comedy is about timing. Back on Broadway for the first time in about 60 years, this show seems of the moment.

Get Purlie Victorious tickets now.

Musical comedy

Musicals tell stories through songs and dance, and they cover every conceivable theme: an unlucky-in-love queen of comedy in Funny Girl, a teen getting old before her time in Kimberly Akimbo, girl power stories in Six, & Juliet, and Once Upon a One More Time. Each, of course, comes with its share of humor. But below, discover musicals where the main motive is to crack you up.

Shucked

Praised for its “wall-to-wall silliness” in a four-star New York Theatre Guide review, the show imagines what happens when an isolated community of oddballs that survives entirely on corn has to reckon with the fact that their crops are dying. Add in romantic shenanigans, a script by Robert Horn stuffed with zingers and one-liners, and ear-ticklers by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally. They know how to cook up a song that’s light, sweet, and, yes, a little corny.

Get Shucked tickets now.

Some Like It Hot

Songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the Tony-winning team behind Hairspray, started with a classic movie screwball big-screen comedy about musicians on the run from the mob, so they had a lot in their favor from the jump. Bookwriters Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin “have packed the story with laughs,” per New York Theatre Guide’s four-star review, as we follow saxophonist Joe (Christian Borle) and bassist Jerry (Tony winner J. Harrison Ghee). The final chase scene is pure slapstick.

Get Some Like It Hot tickets now.

The Book of Mormon

This irreverent and often profane show by Avenue Q's Robert Lopez and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone follows the classic contours of an old-fashioned Broadway musical comedy. Then, it updates and expands the form with its own did-they-really-go-there daring. The Book of Mormon about two naive Mormon missionaries dispatched to spread their faith in a religion-averse Ugandan community. What could possibly go wrong?

Get The Book of Mormon tickets now.

Back to the Future

Sure, the DeLorean-turned-time machine’s special effects get oohs and ahhs in this sci-fi fueled musical comedy. That said, the tale of Marty McFly, a teen who goes back in time and almost prevents his future parents from falling in love, is a lot of fun, and it's packed with cheeky '50s and '80s references. Plus, the fact that the entire plot hinges on a life-changing kiss makes Back to the Future the most romantic comedy on Broadway.

Get Back to the Future tickets now.

Spamalot

The Arthurian legend gets lampooned every which way from Sunday – and chewed up by a killer rabbit – in this cheeky musical spoof by John Du Prez and Eric Idle. It’s drawn from the 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and it's back on Broadway for the first time since its 2005 premiere.

Get Spamalot tickets now.

Stand-up comedy

Comedians have a knack for churning life experiences – even dark, outrageous, and serious ones – into laughs. There are no stand-up comedy shows on Broadway right now, but lots of famous ones have appeared there, like Alex Edelman's Just For Us and Mike Birbiglia's The New One. Learn more about why stand-up comedy and theatre have more in common than you may think.

Top image credit: The cast of Shucked on Broadway. (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)