Deadpan

Deadpan

Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blunt, ironic, laconic, or apparently unintentional.

Etymology

The usage of deadpan as a verb ("to speak, act, or utter in a deadpan manner; to maintain a dead pan") is recorded at least as far back as 1942.

Examples

![Rat Pack comedians Joey Bishop and Brad Jewell, noted for their deadpan style, with Jennie and Terrie Frankel (Doublemint Twins), Sig Sakowicz, Tony Diamond, Sara Sue, Tippi Hedren and Mel Bishop](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/USOVietnam1968Troop-JennieFrankel%2CTonyDiamond%2CSaraSue%2CSigSakowitz%2CJoeyBishop%2CTippiHedren%2CMelBishop%2CJennieFrankel.jpg/250px-USOVietnam1968Troop-JennieFrankel%2CTonyDiamond%2CSaraSue%2CSigSakowitz%2CJoeyBishop%2CTippiHedren%2CMelBishop%2CJennieFrankel.jpg)

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