comedy vs melodrama

comedy

noun
  • The genre of such works. 

  • A narrative poem with an agreeable ending (e.g., The Divine Comedy). 

  • Entertainment composed of jokes, satire, or humorous performance. 

  • A light, amusing play with a happy ending. 

  • The art of composing comedy. 

  • A choric song of celebration or revel, especially in Ancient Greece. 

  • A dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone. 

  • A humorous event. 

melodrama

noun
  • A drama abounding in romantic sentiment and agonizing situations, with a musical accompaniment only in parts which are especially thrilling or pathetic. In opera, a passage in which the orchestra plays a somewhat descriptive accompaniment, while the actor speaks 

  • Any situation or action which is blown out of proportion. 

How often have the words comedy and melodrama occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )