Commedia is well known to theater practitioners and historians as an Italian comic form that thrived in the mid 16th to 18th centuries. While English Shakespeares, Websters and Aphra Behns were churning out poetry-heavy tragedies and bawdy domestic romps, Italian Commedia troupes entertained in places from royal weddings to the street; itinerant troupes wandered Europe, leaving their mark on text-junkies like Moliere. Commedia's stock characters linger in our comedies today as the pompous doctor (TV's Frasier fits the mold), Pantalone, the foolish old father who won't let the romantic couple marry, and the self-important military captain. Commedia's best-known product was Arlecchino (or Harlequin), that spindly clown with a ruffled collar and checkered pajamas.

Like Arlecchino, Jackie Chan is something of a template character. In English-translated films, Jackie frequently retains his own name. Like any great performer with unique "star quality", Chan is defined by his body -- a short, compact frame and oft-broken bulbous nose. Jackie is always Jackie, but by turns he is Jackie the supercop, chef, conductor, street thug, lawyer and tomb raider. These occupational titles fit the basic plot of each movie, and Chan manages to provide character variations for each: The thug has an earring and daring swagger, his chef twirls noodles, the conductor is a bit shy.

Because Commedia characters have come down to us under recurring names it is easy to confuse stock with identical. In fact, body types fuel the persistence of stock characters -- a buxom woman will be the wily servant or clever wench, but rarely the leading lady. Actors bemoan such typecasting, but it happens for a reason; the body has a particular presence that lends credibility to the role. Nathan Lane and Jason Alexander compete for clown roles against each other, but never against Slyvester Stallone. Even the most elegant script, with flourishes of Chekovian dialogue, will rely on the archetypes of hero, villain and clown.

The variety Chan achieves within his star image serves as a reminder that Commedia clowns can be imagined too reductively. Either Jackie's film persona don't have the consistency we expect from Commedia, or there was more variation in Commedia than we credit it with. Stock characters may work as a shortcut to creating dramatic conflict, but they don't replace clever characterizations that endear a character to an audience. With the mortal disappearance of that original actor who played a Pantalone or Arlecchino, the infinite variations with which they may have been able to move within their character are erased.

This use of stock characters and slight plots provided an infrastructure on which performers could improvise most of Commedia performance. The emphasis on physical humor and easily recognizable characters meant troupes could cross language barriers in Europe. Players appealed to the audience with a storehouse of comic gags, called lazzi. If the circumcision gag didn't work, the troupe was ready to try the enema lazzi. At least, this is the theory. "Although several thousand performers enacted Commedia scenarios during its heyday, except for a single manuscript.... no detailed lists of lazzi are extant. Most of what is known of lazzi is from descriptions, performers' autobiographical statements, and notations of lazzi sequences ...in Commedia plot outlines or scenarios that were posted on the wings of the stage or appeared in the Commedia texts that were intended for publication." [*(Gordon, 6)*].