Deadpan

Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or body language, usually speaking in a casual, monotone or very serious, matter-of-fact voice and expressing an unflappably calm, archly insincere or artificially grave demeanor. The term "deadpan" first emerged as an adjective or adverb in the 1920s, as a compound word combining "dead" and "pan" (a slang term for the face). It was first recorded as a nou... more

Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or body language, usually speaking in a casual, monotone or very serious, matter-of-fact voice and expressing an unflappably calm, archly insincere or artificially grave demeanor. The term "deadpan" first emerged as an adjective or adverb in the 1920s, as a compound word combining "dead" and "pan" (a slang term for the face). It was first recorded as a noun in Vanity Fair in 1927; a dead pan was thus 'a face or facial expression displaying no emotion, animation, or humor'. The verb deadpan 'to speak, act, or utter in a deadpan manner; to maintain a dead pan' rose in the early 40s, it stems from journalism rather than theatre. Today its use is especially common in humor from the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is also very much appreciated in France, South Africa and Finland. Many popular American sitcoms also use deadpan expressions, most notably... less