slap·stick

[slap-stik]
noun
1.
broad comedy characterized by boisterous action, as the throwing of pies in actors' faces, mugging, and obvious farcical situations and jokes.
2.
a stick or lath used by harlequins, clowns, etc., as in pantomime, for striking other performers, especially a combination of laths that make a loud, clapping noise without hurting the person struck.
adjective
3.
using, or marked by the use of, broad farce and horseplay: a slapstick motion picture.

Origin:
1895–1900, Americanism; slap1 + stick1

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
slapstick (ˈslæpˌstɪk) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a.  comedy characterized by horseplay and physical action
 b.  (as modifier): slapstick humour
2.  a flexible pair of paddles bound together at one end, formerly used in pantomime to strike a blow to a person with a loud clapping sound but without injury

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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00:10
Slapstick is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

slapstick
"farcical physical comedy, horseplay," 1926, from slapstick (1896) a device consisting of two sticks fastened together so as to slap loudly when a clown or actor hits somebody with it, or to make a sound-effect offstage; from slap and stick.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
There are funny moments but almost none of the picture, except for outworn
  slapstick devices, is comedy at all.
The injuriousness of this fictional world might be explained, of course, by
  slapstick convention.
They enjoy unlikely situations, stories about triumphs of others, and slapstick
  comedy.
Rapp is writing a kind of spiritual slapstick comedy.
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