Launchpad McQuack from Disney
Many books, movies, and shows utilize the comic relief. I know a lot of people despise this character type. Even I have trouble with it when it’s abused. Take Michelangelo from TMNT in the 2007 animated movie. I loved the movie, love the Turtles, and Michelangelo is a great character . . . if used right. He was used to inject humor at the worst possible moments. It might be a product of today’s trend toward comedy that is unexpected and badly timed. I don’t really know.
Personally, I like comic relief characters that are still useful and aren’t doing something stuuuuupid every scene. Take Launchpad McQuack from Ducktales and Darkwing Duck. He is a comical character that always crashes the plane and gets into trouble. Yet, he can save the day and has many heroic attributes like bravery and loyalty to his friends. He is a sidekick with a humorous air, but still effective. Now take a comic relief character that hits every red button, pulls every ‘Do Not Pull’ lever, and makes you wonder if they’re secretly working for the bad guys. They bring nothing useful to the story for me other than being the source of a plan going wrong. I cheer when comic reliefs like this are killed, hurt, or abandoned.
So, what do you look for in a comic relief character?
Legends of Windemere 
I can see now why you don’t like Deadpool hahaha!
LikeLike
I loved original Deadpool. The current one is a walking Family Guy episode and not a good one. He takes the random nonsense and drive a joke into the ground approach. It really isn’t funny to me.
LikeLike
Ouch! Right in the kisser! Its actually a fav of mine at the moment!
LikeLike
Sorry about that. I used to like the show. Then every 4th joke was an insult at Meg, the chicken kept showing up, and the characters became simply irredeemable to me. To each their own though. I guess enough people like what the manatees made to keep it going.
LikeLike
Oh no I meant Deadpool, not Family Guy! I actually understand what you mean! I can’t stand it at all!
LikeLike
Have you ever read the original Deadpool comic series from the 90’s?
LikeLike
I have indeed! I used to collect a comic that gets printed here in Ireland and UK called Wolverine & Deadpool. They reprint the US titles and are out once a month. They introduced Deadpool with his original series and then went on to reprint the Ed McGuinness drawn series. Im up to date on all if not most of Deadpool’s adventures
LikeLike
I was the original wit. The entire series started with him narrating himself and the enemy heard him. It took me a few issues to know what C.F. (guy in the bar he kept shooting and beating up) stood for. Cannon Fodder.
LikeLike
I like clever comic relief – not that they themselves have to be super smart, but ones the creator uses well. And I like it when something happens that’s funny, and you know it’s only there because something bad is about to happen. Like the gatekeeper in (if my memory serves correctly) Hamlet. Used to lighten the tension before everything goes horribly wrong. And I love laughing in the midst of something really dark. If the character is surrounded by evil, if it looks like all hope is lost and someone cracks a joke, almost in a kind of “if you can’t laugh, what can you do?” way, I like it. But yeah, not the kind of character that just constantly messes something up for everyone. That’s just…unrealistic.
LikeLike
The tension breaker is a great one. I see that as realistic because a lot of people make jokes when they’re nervous.
LikeLike
Yeah. I know I do. If something bad happens, I make a joke. Try to make light of it. I do try not to do it if it’s someone else’s bad news though…
There have been a few times where I’ve been reading something, gripped, tension really high, and just laughed at something that’s happened/someone has said. It works really well.
LikeLike
I’ve done the awkward laugh at a funeral when I was a kid. Occasionally, I try to make a joke during tense situations. Sadly, I come from a family of bad puns.
LikeLike
As you said, I appreciate a comic relief character when applied correctly – good timing, not a complete buffoon, has some character development.
As an example – I watched Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz this weekend. Granted, they’re both comedic movies, but Hot Fuzz is more so, and I appreciated the sidekick (name escapes me at the moment) in Hot Fuzz a lot more because 1) he wasn’t nearly as foul-mouthed and idiotic as his character in Shaun of the Dead and 2) the comedic timing between him and Simon Pegg was better.
LikeLike
Nick Frost’s characters? I actually liked him in both since one was a lazy friend and the other was a near fanboy. They probably did that because the third film of the trilogy comes out in a week or two.
Shaun of the Dead does bring up an interesting scenario. Who is the comic relief in a comedy? Is it the whacky one, the stupid one, or the straight man?
LikeLike
Yes, that’s it – thank you. I did like both (loved them both, really) I just laughed more for Hot Fuzz. We watched the preview for At World’s End and I love that he (looks like) the straight-laced one.
I think that’s the beauty of comedies – they have ample opportunity for a variety of “comic relief” bits. if your preference is the straight man/dry one-liner then you get that, or if it’s the whacky one, etc. But again, only if it’s done well. In bad comedies, then it’s all just a whole lot of drivel!
LikeLike
Those two make a great team. I’d like to see Nick Frost do more. At World’s End will be great because it has Martin Freeman too.
LikeLike
I’m kind of giddy about the whole prospect of the movie. It’s already out in England, and Tom’s heard quite a bit about it from his friends there – all good things, too.
LikeLike
I’m hoping to see it next month. I get only 1 movie trip a month, so I have to make them count.
LikeLike
Me too – sometimes I manage two, if my Mom is buying 😉 but usually it’s the $5 Marcus Wed/Thurs show – which generally works out great, because I’m not a fan of 3D movies.
LikeLike
Don’t have any cheap theaters around here. Used to live near a dollar theater in Florida, but it closed before I moved back years ago. That was a shame.
LikeLike
That is a shame – sometimes movies are the only fun way to escape and connect with the kid at the same time – we talk about the story, whether there was an arc, whether it made sense, the values of the characters, all of it.
LikeLike
I think comic relief characters can work if there’s more depth to them than to provide comic relief. If they have their own goals they’re working toward, then we appreciate them for providing some comedy occasionally. I might even argue Ron in the Harry Potter series was mild comic relief.
LikeLike
I agree about Ron. I did see him as a great sidekick/comic relief character, but the depth of him means you don’t really notice. Depth can really mask that role, so the character doesn’t suffer.
LikeLike
I like comic relief sort of intertwined throughout a novel or a tv series – so that any character can provide it through their flaws and idiosyncracies, but none in such a way they become a fool or the butt of all jokes – so something like the brilliant Joss Whedon seems to do so effortlessly in his work. I also love the dark comic asides of the character Dexter in the Dexter books which are hilarious (when they aren’t being dark and gory! 🙂 🙂 .
LikeLike
Joss Whedon does use a comic relief character though. I do agree that every character can have comedic moments, but I have noticed he uses the comic relief system. Xander from Buffy and Wash from Firefly are good examples.
Still angry about what he did in the Serenity movie.
LikeLike
You mean the deaths of favourite characters?
LikeLike
Just the way he does it. It’s always the stable relationship.
LikeLike
Yep, that’s true. 🙂
LikeLike
I was always a fan of Wile E. Coyote, yes he screwed up all of the time, but the guy had heart and he certainly persevered. He spent his life as a target for anvils, but I couldn’t help but love him. I guess what I really look for is a comedic character who also has some admirable human qualities about them, not just an endless stream of stupidity.
LikeLike
Agree on all points. Wile E. Coyote is a testament to determination.
LikeLike
I like a comic relief character who is witty and is a master at sarcasm. A heart of gold underneath the sarcastic wit makes the character even more endearing 🙂
LikeLike
Sarcasm is great and harder to do than we think.
LikeLike
Very true!
LikeLike