Jester in the context of Feast of Fools

A stock character is a dramatic or literary character representing a generic type in a conventional, simplified manner and recurring in many fictional works. The following list labels some of these stereotypes and provides examples. Some character archetypes, the more universal foundations of fictional characters, are also listed.

Some characters that were first introduced as fully fleshed-out characters become subsequently used as stock characters in other works — for example, the Ebenezer Scrooge character from A Christmas Carol, based upon whom the "miser" stereotype, whose name now has become a shorthand for this. Some stock characters incorporate more than one stock character; for example, a bard may also be a wisecracking jester.

A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who sang songs and played musical instruments.

Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (Italian: [ˈdaːrjo ˈfɔ]; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. In his time he was "arguably the most widely performed contemporary playwright in world theatre". Much of his dramatic work depends on improvisation and comprises the recovery of "illegitimate" forms of theatre, such as those performed by giullari (medieval strolling players) and, more famously, the ancient Italian style of commedia dell'arte.

His plays have been translated into 30 languages and performed across the world, including in Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, India, Iran, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Yugoslavia. His work of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s is peppered with criticisms of assassinations, corruption, organised crime, racism, Roman Catholic theology, and war. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, he took to lampooning Forza Italia and its leader Silvio Berlusconi, while his targets of the 2010s included the banks amid the European sovereign-debt crisis. Also in the 2010s, he became the main ideologue of the Five Star Movement, the anti-establishment party led by Beppe Grillo, often referred to by its members as "the Master".

Stańczyk (Full title: Stańczyk during a ball at the court of Queen Bona in the face of the loss of Smolensk, Polish: Stańczyk w czasie balu na dworze królowej Bony wobec straconego Smoleńska) is a painting by Jan Matejko finished in 1862. This painting was acquired by the National Museum in Warsaw in 1924. During World War II it was looted by the Nazis, but later seized by the Soviet Union and returned to Poland around 1956.

It is one of Matejko's most famous works and the one that launched him to fame. It has been described by the Warsaw National Museum as one of the most recognizable paintings in its collection, and is a flagship painting for the "Collection of Polish paintings prior to 1914". Its primary component is the contrast between the solemn Stańczyk (a historical Polish court jester and the painting's namesake) and the lively ball in the background. The painting presents Stańczyk with a sense of isolation and hopelessness, which reflects the political situation of Poland during the 19th century.

Fire breathing is the act of making a plume or stream of fire by creating a precise mist of fuel from the mouth over an open flame. Regardless of the precautions taken, it is always a dangerous activity, but the proper technique and the correct fuel reduces the risk of injury or death.

The ship of fools (Modern German: Das Narrenschiff; Latin: Stultifera Navis) is an allegory, first appearing in Book VI of Plato's Republic, about a ship with a dysfunctional crew. The allegory is intended to represent the problems of governance prevailing in a political system not based on expert knowledge.

Images of the ship became popular, especially in German-speaking lands, especially after the publication of Sebastian Brant's satirical book Ship of Fools (1494), which served as the inspiration for Hieronymus Bosch's painting, Ship of Fools. Normally, the images show a ship crowded with men mostly wearing traditional jester or fool's costume with cloth ears ending in bells, many quarreling, drinking, and fighting. In the book a ship—an entire fleet at first—sets off from Basel, bound for the Paradise of Fools. In it, Brant conceives Saint Grobian, whom he imagines to be the patron saint of vulgar and coarse people. In literary and artistic compositions of the 15th and 16th centuries, the cultural motif of the ship of fools also served to parody the "ark of salvation", as the Catholic Church was styled.

William Kempe (c. 1560 – c. 1603), commonly referred to as Will Kemp, was an English actor and dancer who specialised in comic roles. He was best known as one of the original stage actors in early dramas by William Shakespeare, and roles associated with his name may have included the comic creation Falstaff. His contemporaries considered him to be a successor to the great clown of the previous generation, Richard Tarlton.

Kempe's success and influence was such that in December 1598 he was one of a core of five actor-shareholders in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, alongside Shakespeare and Richard Burbage. He left the company shortly afterwards, and despite his fame as a performer and his intention to continue his career, he appears to have died unregarded and in poverty circa 1603.

The cap and bells is a type of fool's cap with bells worn by a court fool or jester. The bells were also added to the dangling sleeves and announced the appearance of the jester.

Motley is the traditional costume of the court jester, the motley fool, or the arlecchino character in commedia dell'arte. The harlequin wears a patchwork of red, green and blue diamonds that is still a fashion motif.

Johan and Peewit (French: Johan et Pirlouit, pronounced [ʒoan e piʁlwi]) is a Belgian comics series created by Peyo and named after the two main characters. Since its initial appearance in 1947, it has been published in 13 albums that appeared before the death of Peyo in 1992. Thereafter, a team of comic book creators from Studio Peyo continued to publish the stories.

The series is set in Medieval Europe, and mainly concerns the adventures of Johan, a young squire and his jester sidekick Peewit, and includes elements of sword-and-sorcery. It is also notable for branching out into The Smurfs franchise, following their first introduction in the 1958 story The Smurfs and the Magic Flute.

A jack-in-the-box is a children's toy that outwardly consists of a music box with a crank. When the crank is turned, a music box mechanism in the toy plays a melody. After the crank has been turned a sufficient number of times (such as at the end of the melody), the lid pops open and a figure, usually a clown or jester, pops out of the box. Some jacks-in-the-box open at random times when cranked, making the startle even more effective. Many of those that use "Pop Goes the Weasel" open at the point in the melody when the word "pop" would be sung.

In 2005, the jack-in-the-box was inducted into the U.S. National Toy Hall of Fame, where are displayed all types of versions of the toy, starting from the beginning versions, and ending with the most recently manufactured versions.

Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Based on the Puck of English mythology and the púca of Celtic mythology, Puck is a mischievous fairy, sprite, or jester. He is the first of the main fairy characters to appear, and he significantly influences events in the play. He delights in pranks such as replacing Nick Bottom's head with that of an ass.

Zerco or Zercon (410/420 in Mauretania - second half of the 5th century in Constantinople?) was a Moorish dwarf and the jester of the magistri militum Aspar and Aetius and of the Hunnic kings Bleda and Attila.