I think physical comedy just has a broader audience, which worked well in silent movies and thereafter. The broadness is also why it’s considered cheap and used sparingly. It’s like shouting. As Friends went on and the writing got lazier every character was shouting all the time.

But a recent example of a well done pratfall I saw in a show mostly about dialog and editing was Modern Family (season 2) where Cameron turns to give his husband a kiss who pulls back (due to discomfort with public displays of affection, the theme of the episode) and Cameron overleans and falls head over heels over the back of the sofa quite roughly; he’s a big guy too. I laughed a lot partly in surprise because I basically never see a pratfall in comedy shows I like.