But Ed felt sure that his own particular version of the commedia would be finita all too soon.

NEWYORKER: After the Movie

Others made him far older, dating from the Athenian drama and the Japanese noh plays, via the commedia dell'arte and Charlie Chaplin.

ECONOMIST: Bip

That work came out of the 16th-century Italian tradition of commedia dell'arte, in which traveling actors took on stock roles and interacted with the audience rather than sticking to a script.

WSJ: One Spring, Two Farces

In the case of "One Man, Two Guvnors, " playwright Richard Bean drew from the Italian tradition of commedia dell'arte, Shakespeare and farce, right on through to Benny Hill and Monty Python.

WSJ: One Spring, Two Farces

His constant need to eat engenders some of the comic set pieces known in commedia dell'arte as "lazzi, " as when his appetite leads him to gobble a letter and its envelope.

WSJ: One Spring, Two Farces