Does Comedy Work in Fantasy? - Toss a Coin to Your Witcher

Geek History Lesson

Jason Inman

Film History, Visual Arts, Tv & Film, Arts

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We dive into the magical world of comedy in fantasy storytelling! From The Lord of the Rings to The Witcher, we examine how humor can elevate—or sometimes undercut—the epic stakes of swords, sorcery, and mythical worlds.To celebrate the release of The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, we ask the big questions: Does comedy belong in fantasy? Can it add depth to the story, or does it risk punching down at the genre’s gravitas? And how do you strike the balance between epic quests and laugh-out-loud moments? Plus, Jason takes on a fun challenge by writing a comedic fantasy scene live on the air!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In a world of metamodernism, our new favorite word, every successful series is a mix of genres.
0:18.6	Everything is like in Hamlet, tragic comedy, comic tragedy, dark comedy, modern classic.
0:23.5	Nothing is pure and heartfelt anymore.
0:27.6	Nothing is pure and heartfelt anymore.
0:29.6	What a world do we live in?
0:30.8	I was looking for a word other than pure and I couldn't come up with one and nothing's pure anymore.
0:34.2	Take two.
0:34.6	Thank you for listening.
0:35.8	Fantasy in particular, high fantasy is a genre
0:39.0	that takes itself
0:39.8	deadly serious.
0:41.8	Otherwise you would die.
0:42.3	I love that deadly serious,
0:43.1	you're taking this intro.
0:44.1	Because look,
0:44.7	if you don't take
0:45.5	high fantasy deadly serious,
0:47.2	we would all die laughing
0:48.3	at generations of a family
0:49.6	inbreeding so that they can
0:50.8	keep talking to dragons
0:51.8	inside their brain. It's very silly if you think about it.
	...

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