Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term originated in ancient Greece: In Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses which engender dramatic irony, which provokes laughter.

काव्य को मुख्यत: दो वर्गो में विभक्त किया गया है - श्रव्य काव्य और दृश्य काव्य। श्रव्य काव्य के अंतर्गत साहित्य की वे सभी विधाएँ आती हैं जिनकी रसानुभूति श्रवण द्वारा होती है जब कि दृश्य काव्य का वास्तविक आनंद मुख्यतया नेत्रों के द्वारा प्राप्त किया जाता है अर्थात् अभिनय उसका व्यावर्तक धर्म है। भरतमुनि ने दृश्य काव्य के लिये "नाट्य" शब्द का व्यवहार किया है। आचार्यों ने "नाट्य" के दो रूप माने हैं - रूपक तथा उपरूपक। इन दोनों के पुन: अनेक उपभेद किए गए हैं। रूपक के दस भेद है; प्रहसन इन्हीं में से एक है - नाटक, प्रकरण, भाण, व्यायोग, समवकार, डिम, ईहामून, अंक, वीथी, प्रहसन।