Fig. 1 - Troy from Community
The Dumb Character is the most important inclusion into any comedy show. Because most comedies are not heavily plot focused, the Dumb Character breaks up the dialog with lack of understanding.
Examples
- Joey from Friends
- Caboose from Red vs. Blue
- Alex from Happy Endings
- Charlie from It's Always Sunny
- Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock
- Dhalia from Suburgatory
Many shows feature multiple dumb characters. Such as Phil Dunphy, Luke Dunphy, and Haley Dunphy from Modern family.
Ideally all of your characters will be a little "dumb" to put them in humorous situations. NBC's Community characterizes each person as dumb in a certain way that relates to their obsessions.
- Troy is innocent and doesn't understand a lot of things
- Pierce is old and doesn't understand new things (in a way, Pierce and Troy are mirrors of each other)
- Britta is an exaggerated activist who is ignorant about the world
- Jeff is overly concerned with his looks
- Abed looks at everything through the lens of TV
- Annie is an overachiever who cannot comprehend failing
- Shirly is religious and a mother who often tries to guilt people
Each of these obsessions become character types that expose their character weaknesses. These weaknesses show themselves in the form of saying or doing dumb things. This is the best example of the dumb character in use, because each character is constantly making a fool of themselves. This trading of pointed looks highlights character traits, which allows the viewer to become emotionally invested while laughing at the situation and dialog.
The Dumb Character does not necessarily need to be dumb! This sounds counterintuitive, but consider Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. The show constantly depicts him as the most intellectual of the group. Each of the other characters take turns being the straight man, and the overall Straight Man to the group is Penny! Penny is the least intellectual (which is actually a little insulting, Tumblr user butmyopinionisright puts it better than I can).
Sheldon is "dumb" because he's socially awkward. This makes him the most clueless, allowing him to be incredulous in normal situations.
This is Caboose's Greatest Moments from the webseries Red vs. Blue. Caboose is a great example of the dumb character.
Fig. 8 - Red vs. Blue - Caboose's Greatest Moments Part 1