How does Shakespeare begin "The Taming of the Shrew" as a comedy in his use of the Induction?

Shakespeare’s Induction acts as a ‘frame’, enabling him to distance himself from the moral and philosophical questions he raises in his own play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ – as Marjorie Garber states: “the frame performs the important task of distancing the later actions, and of insuring a lightness of tone”, to portray a comedic play as opposed to a morbid and serious tragedy. By characterising Sly’s character in the way he does – as a drunkard and fool – Shakespeare effortlessly employs comedy within the Induction, whereby the audience enjoys the physical comedy built from the chaotic stage as well as merely watching a man pretend to be drunk. The characterisation of Sly’s character is all-important for the comedic elements built in the Induction; without his character playing the drunkard and the fool, there’d be no ‘fall’ guy to be the butt of the joke (making Sly’s character believe he is a Lord). The timeless universality of having a character to laugh at as opposed to laughing with, ensures an immediate form of comedy is generated in the opening of the play – it’s much easier to laugh at a serious situation i.e. being kicked out of a pub, or passing out drunk, when you’re not a part of it. Shakespeare consciously constructs a very easily-manipulated character in Sly, whereby his character’s quick to believe that he’s simply been asleep for fifteen years – ‘upon my life, I am a lord indeed’ – and is quickly distracted and appeased with the thought that he has a wife – ‘and have I such a lady?’…’well, bring our lady hither to our sight’. Shakespeare encourages his audience to laugh at such a character who’s so easily manipulated and so gullible; yet it’s a fine line between us, as an audience, laughing at his character and feeling sorry for him. It’s significant that Shakespeare’s able to turn his Induction away from the fact that the Lord wields his power as a character in a higher social class simply to ‘play a game’ with a commoner – ‘sirs, I will practice on this drunken man’ – by dramatically hyperbolising the fluidity of social strata and humorously playing with this reversal of position, ensuring that his narrative is comedic. Equally, the chaos on the stage – the ‘train’ of huntsmen and servants, as well as the number of ‘servants’ with ‘apparel’, ‘basins’ and ‘other appurtenances’, depicts a stage of pandemonium in the Induction, which gives way to the use of lazzi. Through his use of Commedia dell’Arte’s lazzi technique, Shakespeare increases the amounts of physical comedy portrayed in the Induction whereby the chaos and the disarray of each of the characters actions distracts us from the darker undertones that the Induction could very easily take.  Instead, through the characterisation of Sly’s character as the drunken fool and the physical comedy on stage, the audience is unconsciously drawn into the comedy of the Induction without giving any thought to the more depressing aspects of the bullying and the manipulation of a vulnerable drunkard.