page_title: Lazzi
section_title: Examples
hierarchical_section_title: Lazzi / Examples
caption_attribution_description: Two Commedia dell'arte street entertainers using a clyster as part of their performance. Etching after J. Callot. Iconographic Collections Keywords: Cap Cardoni; Maramao; Jacques Callot
context_page_description: Lazzi are stock comedic routines that are associated with Commedia dell'arte. Performers, especially those playing the masked Arlecchino, had many examples of this in their repertoire, and would use improvisatory skills to weave them into the plot of dozens of different commedia scenarios. These largely physical sequences could be improvised or preplanned within the performance and were often used to enliven the audience when a scene was dragging, to cover a dropped line or cue, or to delight an expectant audience with the troupe's specialized lazzi.
  Lazzi could be completed by a single player, a few individuals, or the entire troupe. While its placement in the plot was usually fixed during rehearsals, it was acceptable for an actor to unexpectedly utter a predetermined line of dialogue that instructed fellow performers to enact lazzi at any time during the performance. Sometimes lazzi could take place in dances or songs accompanied by onstage stringed musical instruments.
context_section_description: The following list contains a few examples of 17th and 18th century lazzi that were found in the notes and manuscripts of actors and dramatists. The term "lazzo" refers to lazzi in the singular:
  Lazzo of the Fly: (17th century Italy) Servant stock character tells master that there is "not a fly" in his home. Master enters to find it is full of people. Servant insists that there are still "no flies."
  Lazzo of Water: (17th century Italy): The mistress has fainted. Female servant asks the male servant, usually an Arlecchino or Pulcinella, to fetch water. After splashing many kinds of water on her face, the male servant splashes his own urine on the fainted mistress, and she is revived.
  Lazzo of Begging: (17th century Italy) A servant character/low status stock character pretends to be a beggar by hiding his limbs from passers-by.
  Lazzo of the School of Humanity: (17th century Italy) Harlequin, Arlecchino, or other servant stock character insists that female relative runs a "school of humanity." The female relative is a prostitute.
  Lazzo of the Barber: (17th century Paris) Clown/servant stock character shaves male character of higher status and replaces fresh drinking water with the contaminated shave remnants.
  Lazzo of Eating Oneself: (18th century Paris) Clown/servant stock character, who is traditionally always hungry, eats himself.
  Lazzo of the Straw: (17th century Paris) A high status character pours wine into a glass while his servant empties the cup through a straw.
caption: Two Commedia dell'arte performers using a clyster
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