Everything Great About Fantasy Comedy (And How to Write It)

I hope you’re ready for a delicious literary sandwich—all the wonder and possibility of fantasy smashed together with the joy and relatability of comedy. 

Because that’s what we’re discussing here today: fantasy comedy. It’s a genre for explorers and adventurers… but, like, explorers and adventurers who don’t feel like taking things too seriously.

This style of storytelling allows you to highlight the absurd within the real world by looking at it through a fantastical lens. It provides an excuse to dream up bizarre creatures and ridiculous obstacles. And, in a fascinating twist, fantasy comedy also helps you write narratives that are deeply relatable. 

Let’s discover everything this genre has to offer. We’ll look at tons of examples as we break down the key elements of fantasy comedy, its appeal to readers, and, of course, how to write this genre.

First, allow me to answer the big question:

What is Fantasy Comedy?

Fantasy comedy is a speculative fiction genre that blends fantastical and comedic elements. And you’re probably more familiar with this genre than you realize.

The Addams Family? Fantasy comedy.

Shrek? Fantasy comedy.

Futurama? Fantasy comedy. Or, to be more specific, science fantasy comedy.

This genre has been popular for centuries, delighting readers with absurd situations, hilarious characters, and—in many cases—compelling social commentary. Authors in this genre also love to parody traditional fantasy tropes and classic works of fantasy and science fiction.

The History and Evolution of Fantasy Comedy

It’s hard to say how old fantasy comedy is. You’ll find key elements of the genre in some classic fairy tales that use comedic conflicts to reflect on human folly. Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes is a famous example of this.

Of course, Lewis Carroll set the standard for imaginative absurdity with stories like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. 

And the original Freaky Friday was published back in 1882. It was called Vice Versa and written by Thomas Anstey Guthrie. (There’s actually a 1988 Vice Versa movie, too, for those who are too young to remember.)

As culture and media evolved, fantasy comedy kept up, becoming an ever-popular genre in film and television. You’ve got classic sitcoms like I Dream of Jeannie (a genie marries an astronaut), Bewitched (a witch becomes a suburban housewife), and as I mentioned before, The Addams Family (the whole family wears black and is weird and awesome). 

Movies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Ghostbusters, and Being John Malkovich have proven the evergreen appeal and wide range of possibilities within the genre.

All the while, fantasy comedy literature has kept up and continued to evolve, with modern authors like Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde, and T. Kingfisher continuously exploring the intersection of the fantastical and absurd. (More on their work in a bit.)

What Makes It Fantasy Comedy and Not Just Funny Fantasy?

This is an important question. A fantasy isn’t automatically a fantasy comedy just because it contains jokes.

Most fantasies contain moments of levity. There might be a Jester character who doesn’t take anything seriously and provides some comic relief. There are probably some funny lines of dialogue.

These things alone do not make a story a fantasy comedy. Fantasy comedy is defined by two things: the source of humor and the reader's emotional experience

The Source of Humor

In fantasy comedy, the humor is inherent in major story elements. 

The setting likely contains fantastical elements that are funny by nature, like Rodents of Unusual Size or the fact that a person can be “mostly dead” in The Princess Bride.

Funny characters don’t just say clever things; their personalities, lifestyles, or perspectives are entertaining, like Wednesday Addams’ aloof independence and passion for the macabre.

And the conflicts of fantasy comedy stories are always absurd. Thursday Next solves mysteries in the literary realm. Philip J. Fry has to navigate life in the 30th century after he blows a party horn a little too hard and tumbles backward into a cryogenic chamber.

In fantasy comedy, these bizarre elements are often treated as mundane within the world of the story. The universe and its inhabitants are absurd by nature, and certainly more absurd to us than they are to themselves.

If you’re writing a fantasy that simply features some funny dialogue, a quirky tertiary character, or the occasional silly creature, it’s probably not a fantasy comedy.

Amusement vs. Suspense

You can also look to the reader’s emotional experience for clues.

In a fantasy comedy, the writer’s primary objective is to amuse the reader, whether they’re going for big guffaws or those nose laughs people do when someone says something witty at a dinner party. The narrative will still have some degree of suspense, but even as tension builds, the reader is always aware that this is not a story to be taken seriously.

Other fantasies put suspense above amusement. They invite the reader to immerse themselves in the conflict and get attached to the outcome. In these narratives, humor is a source of relief from the tension… a tasty little snack between daring quests.

Examples of Fantasy Comedy

We’ll go over tons of examples over the course of this article, but here are a few big ones to give you an idea of wide range of worlds and comedic styles you’ll find in this genre:

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett - This is widely considered the definitive fantasy comedy series. It’s set on a flat planet held up by four elephants standing on the back of a turtle. (You know, not unlike our own world.)

The forty-one-book series parodies mythology, fairy tales, and classic science fiction/fantasy works. 

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - You’ve got a big cat with an unsettling grin that remains even when the cat disappears, a hatter who doesn’t know the answer to his own riddle, and a rude, hookah-smoking caterpillar. It’s delightfully bizarre from beginning to end.

The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde - Thursday Next is a detective who solves crimes within a literary universe. Jane Eyre gets kidnapped. Hamlet is mopey and verbose. There is threat of a genre war.

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher - This one is actually a fantasy rom-com. The romance is between a widow at odds with her greedy in-laws and an immortal warrior trapped inside a sword. 

The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman - A Coast Guard vet participates in a subterranean reality game show with his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, who develops the ability to communicate with humans. I’m really not sure what more you could need.

Why Write Fantasy Comedy?

So let’s say you, as a writer, are thinking about maybe possibly writing a fantasy comedy. 

What are the perks of exploring this genre versus another? What makes the experience unique for you and your audience?

You get to splash around in the wild end of your imagination

Fantasy is already an invitation to venture beyond the boundaries of our known reality. You can dream up anything you want—bizarre creatures, jaw-dropping magic, entire worlds and civilizations.

With fantasy comedy, you get to do all that and be extra weird about it. Go ahead and make your hero the adopted child of an elderly land squid. Tell your story through the perspective of a demon scout trying to earn a merit badge for soul collecting. Set your tale on a planet that sneezes. This genre is your own absurd little playground.

You get to engage in cathartic exaggeration

It’s no secret that we human beings can be painfully afraid of deviating from the attitudes and perspectives that surround us. The fear of rejection or looking like an idiot is real—real enough that we can be fairly easy to manipulate.

The Emperor’s New Clothes takes this very ordinary reality to an absurd level. The emperor is full-on nude, but won’t question his tailor’s invisible handiwork out of fear of looking unworthy.

Now, that’s pretty unlikely to happen in the real world. But it’s so satisfying to take that irritating truth to the extreme. It’s a way of saying, “Look at this. This is basically how stupid we’re all being.” Or “These are the people we put in charge: vain, conformist cowards.”

While not every comedy fantasy has a social commentary to make, you find this kind of cathartic exaggeration in many stories within the genre.

It’s a great way to explore new perspectives and subvert tropes

Comedy fantasy authors love subverting fantasy tropes.

In Shrek, our beloved ogre rescues the damsel in distress, but he does it for his own selfish reasons and refuses to play the role of the hero. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one big parody of Arthurian legend, with incompetent knights and trials that are as nonsensical as they are perilous.

The genre also reaches beyond fantasy tropes, using the absurdity of the story’s setup to explore new perspectives.

Death is a favorite character in the Discworld series, and that popularity probably comes from the fact that he is both hilarious and an outside observer of human behavior. His fascination with humans, his clumsy attempts to imitate them, and his sympathy toward them all invite readers to see their own lives and nature through a different lens.

Comedy helps us connect to characters in an wildly unfamiliar situations 

Most comedy works because it’s in some way relatable, and that relatability creates a sense of connection between authors, readers, and fictional beings. 

You and I don’t know what it’s like to be a twelve-year-old boy who wakes up as a 30-year-old man, but we probably can relate to both fantasizing about adulthood and discovering that it’s not what we expected.

We’re also not giants hired to kill a princess, but we probably know what it’s like to collaborate with someone who fancies themselves a very important genius.

Comedy helps us see ourselves within these strange and extraordinary circumstances. It becomes an emotional portal into the story, connecting us with the characters and challenges they face.

What Do Readers Look For in a Fantasy Comedy?

Now that we’ve covered all the reasons why writing fantasy comedy is fun for you, let’s talk about your readers. What do they want from this type of storytelling?

Well-Rounded Comedic Characters 

It’s not enough to write a witty character or a character who’s wacky for wackiness’s sake. Your readers love characters who are inherently funny and funny in a way that’s logical for their background, perspective, and motivations.

Look at Ken from Barbie. He lives in a world that revolves around Barbie, and he’s so accustomed to that culture that he never questions it. Instead, he builds an entire identity around his relationship to Barbie and his job of “beach.”

With this background, all his comedic traits make sense—his attention-seeking tendencies, his single-minded Barbie obsession, his complete lack of an inner life.

It also makes sense that he’s completely floored to discover a patriarchal society when he journeys to the real world, and that as he embarks on a quest to find a sense of purpose and identity, he’d still be locked in the habit of defining himself in relation to her.

By creating an internal conflict and logical arc for your comedic characters, you actually make them funnier because you make it easier for your characters to see something relatable or familiar in them. On that note…

Relatability

Again, comedy is largely about relatability, and that’s what makes it so fun in the context of a highly imaginative fantasy universe.

Maybe your epic hero suffers from imposter syndrome. Maybe your witch detective made the mistake of parking under an enchanted tree and now there are sprite droppings all over the hood of her car. Maybe the inhabitants of your world can’t agree on whether humanity was created in a petri dish by Gogo the Enlightened or molded out of sand by Herbert the Vengeful. 

From internal conflicts to minor joys and irritations, those moments of familiarity make your crazy setting funnier and even more real.

Absurd Situations

As we discussed, this is an important element that distinguishes fantasy comedy from a fantasy that just has some funny bits in it. Readers of this genre expect ridiculous situations.

It might be that the central conflict is absurd, like Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat having to survive a reality game show featuring exploding goblins and drug-dealing llamas.

It’s also okay for the central conflict to look perfectly normal on the surface. (Normal for a fantasy, anyway.) The Princess Bride is essentially about a brave farm boy rescuing a damsel from forced marriage. Classic fantasy stuff.

It’s the details that make it absurd. Wrestling with giant rodents. Delightfully incompetent adversaries. Billy Crystal in wispy eyebrows.

A Good Pace

Like most comedy, fantasy comedy moves at a steady pace. Readers still want a balance of action and reflection, but there’s not a ton of dallying with super detailed descriptions or long scenes of character introspection. 

If you write this type of novel, you’re aiming for a steady pace. Probably a lot of dialogue and action-heavy prose. You can get away with a little more reflection if your narrator has an exceptionally funny and entertaining voice. 

The bottom line is to keep your audience engaged and laughing.

What Kind of Humor Works for Fantasy Settings?

As a fantasy comedy writer, you can use whatever style of humor you like, from dark to playful, surrealist to observational. The important thing is that you can define your style so you’re able to remain consistent and pitch your story accurately when it’s time to sell your book.

That said, there are a few styles of humor that come up a lot in this genre. They include:

Parody

This includes any narrative that mimics an existing work or genre in an exaggerated way.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a parody of Arthurian legends. The Thursday Next series parodies both fairy tales and detective novels. Futurama parodies several works of sci-fi and science fantasy, including Star Trek, Back to the Future, and The Twilight Zone.

Satire

A work of satire uses humor to highlight and mock stupidity or bad behavior, whether it’s commenting on society as a whole or a specific person or event.

As we know, The Emperor’s New Clothes satirizes human vanity and conformity. Orcanomics uses fantasy tropes to skewer capitalism and corporate culture. 

Dark Comedy

When there’s a heavier focus on clever dialogue and gallows humor, you’ve probably got dark comedy. This style of humor often overlaps with satire and can be found in the grimdark fantasy genre. You could make a good argument that some grimdark novels count as fantasy comedy, particularly those written specifically to satirize fantasy tropes.

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer would be an example of dark comedy.

Screwball Comedy

This style of comedy is more lighthearted and leans a lot on eccentric characters navigating ridiculous situations. The stakes are technically high, but the playful nature of the storytelling seriously undercuts the tension. 

The Addams Family falls under this category. 

Writing Tips for Fantasy Comedy

Fantasy comedies are fun reads. Done well, they’re easy to dive into, hard to put down, and fully engaging from the first page to the last.

And we all know how it goes with writing: if it’s a delight to read, it was tough to write.

That said, you can make the process a little easier on yourself by keeping the following tips in mind:

Don’t Neglect the Story

Comedy may be the defining feature of the genre, but remember to make it inherent to the narrative, not a replacement for it.

You still need strong character development, character arcs, internal and external conflict, and cohesive worldbuilding. Otherwise, your readers will get lost or bored.

And resist the temptation to include irrelevant scenes just because they’re hilarious. It’s painful to cut a good joke, but it’s far more painful to lose readers because they feel like you’re more interested in entertaining yourself than telling them a story.

Build Your World for Comedy

This will make it easier to follow the tip above. As you create your fantasy setting, ask yourself where the comedy will come from.

Does your fictional government satirize a real one? Are the creatures of this world particularly bizarre? How might the culture or geography create absurd challenges for your main character?

Put Some Effort Into Voice and Tone

You want to pay attention to voice and tone no matter what you’re writing, but this element is major in comedy.

Voice is your narrator’s personality, whether the narrator is a character in your novel or some nameless being relaying this tale about someone else. You convey voice through things like diction and rhythm. An engaging voice makes for an engaging read.

Tone refers to your narrator’s attitude toward the story. It essentially communicates a perspective, and, like relatability, perspective is a key element of comedy. Studying stand-up is a great way to understand this concept on a deeper level. Every comic has their own unique point of view and tone, from mocking and sarcastic to earnest and baffled.

All three could tackle the same topic and give you an entirely different perspective with different reasons to laugh. That’s what you want in your narration: a clear point of view that helps your reader understand what’s so funny about the story you’re telling.

Get Good at Dialogue

When it comes to dialogue in a fantasy comedy, funny lines aren’t enough. Just like in any other novel, you want the dialogue to reflect the speaker’s personality, goals, and perspective.

If you’ve done the work to find the humor within your characters, you’ll know how to craft hilarious dialogue that aligns with their voice. And it’ll be more original, nuanced humor than if you just tried to write some really great zingers.

That brings me to the final tip:

Don’t Go With the First Joke

This was one of the first things I learned when I started comedy screenwriting ages ago, and it’s served me very well.

It’s not a hard and fast rule, of course. Sometimes the first joke that springs to mind really is brilliant. But most of the time, the joke you think of first is the most obvious one.

A character sarcastically says, “Well, that went well.” A granny has a foul mouth. The protagonist attempts a dramatic exit but trips on the way out.

These things come to mind first because you’ve seen them a billion times before, and so has your reader. Which means your reader is already expecting them.

Comedy only works when it takes the audience by surprise. So take the time to workshop your jokes to make sure you’ve got something original.

Ready to Dive In?

The sooner you start writing, the sooner you’ll master this ridiculously delightful genre.

Little pro tip: The right writing tool can make the process way easier.

For me, that tool has always been Dabble (even before I started writing for Dabble). The Plot Grid is the best system I’ve seen for organizing storylines, character arcs, and all the other details you have to track in your novel.

And for fantasy authors, the Story Notes feature allows you to create a vast-but-organized worldbuilding bible that’s just clicks away from your manuscript. 

Explore these features and many, many more with a free 14-day trial. Click this link to get started—no credit card required.