As a matter of fact, acting plays a HUGE role in comedy. A really good joke can be god awful if it's not delivered correctly so believe it or not, the ability to act is even more crucial in comedy and satire than it is in drama. Because at least in a drama bad acting can become ironically funny, but trying to be funny and failing to do so is just sad and painful and watch.
The acting in comedies (at least in a lot of comedies) are often exaggerated to enhance the joke. That exaggeration is what takes me out of the movies/shows more then anything else. If you compare Charlie Chaplin slipping on a banana peel versus someone just slipping in real life. The 2 will look completely different. The other one is like a theater performance, I don't like theater.
I rather have a comedy like "Meet The Parents" instead of "Elf" because the Meet the Parent one doesn't remove me from the film. However both are categorized as comedies. See what I mean?