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comedy

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comedy of errors

A situation or series of events characterized by a number of humorous or ridiculous mix-ups, mishaps, or blunders. Taken from one of Shakespeare's early comedies, The Comedy of Errors. Their business was a comedy of errors by the end, with orders constantly being confused, employees arriving at the wrong time, and the financial accounts being all over the place. The story is a delightful comedy of errors, in which every sort of mistake and confusion that can arise does—with everything working out just fine in the end, of course.

See also: comedy, error, of

Cut the comedy!

 and Cut the funny stuff!; Cut the shit!

Stop acting silly and telling jokes!; Be serious! (Use shit with caution, as it is considered vulgar.) John: All right, you guys! Cut the comedy and get to work! Bill: Can't we ever have any fun? John: No. Bill: Come on, Mary, let's throw Tom in the pool! Mary: Yeah, let's drag him over and give him a good dunking! Tom: Okay, you clowns, cut the funny stuff! I'll throw both of you in!

See also: cut

comedy of errors

A complex or humorous series of events, as in Mary and John went to the Smiths', while the Smiths went to the Parkers', and the Parkers wondered why no one answered the door at John and Mary's-a true comedy of errors . The term borrows the title of Shakespeare's play, The Comedy of Errors, about two sets of twin brothers, master and slave, who are separated in infancy, and the mix-ups occurring when they arrive in the same place many years later. [c. 1600]

See also: comedy, error, of

cut the comedy

Also, cut the crap. Stop talking or behaving foolishly, as in Cut the comedy! We have work to do, or It's time you cut the crap and got to work. The first of these slangy imperatives dates from the early 1900s, the ruder variant from the 1920s.

See also: comedy, cut

Cut the comedy!

exclam. Get serious!; Stop acting silly! That’s enough, you guys. Cut the comedy!

See also: cut

comedy of errors

A ludicrous event or sequence of events: The candidate's campaign turned out to be a political comedy of errors.

See also: comedy, error, of