Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard.

Hi guys, sorry I missed last week, it has been crazy with everything going on but here we are with your latest blog post. So this week I want to talk about comedy. Now it is impossible to teach someone to be funny via blog post but I would like to give you some ideas of terms in comedy and how comedic bits are structured for maximum effect.

Wait a minute, bits? What, pray tell, is a bit?

Well a "Bit" is a piece of stage business designed to get a laugh from the audience. It could be a series of lines, physical comedy, it doesn't matter as long as the end goal is laughter. During rehearsal we set up bits in believable, clear ways so that during the actual production we can be playing for the truth of the moment, confident that the laugh is already there.

So how do you make bits believable?

Well here is what makes comedy so hard, for something to be funny the audience can't see the actors trying to be funny, they have to see the characters acting truthfully and this just leads to a funny situation. It is established that a character is a klutz, when he falls down in the middle of a intense moment its funny because it makes sense.

Okay that makes sense, but what do you mean by clear?

The audience is only going to laugh if they know what is going on, if a bit is confusing from the audience they will miss either the set-up or the punch line, either way it ruins the bit.

Set-Up? Punchline?

The Set-Up preps the audience, it lets them know a bit is coming and primes them to laugh at the punch line which is the actual funny moment. A Set-Up/Punch line doesn't necessarily have to be a line, in the above example of someone falling during a somber moment the set up is the somber moment and the fall is the punchline.

The through line of a bit: Set-Up -> Punchline -> (Take?) -> Hold -> (Take?) -> Release

So let's take our falling down example again. The somber moment is going on, one actor is setting up the bit by being truthfully distraught by some emotional circumstance. The punch line hits as our clumsy actor falls. The cast on stage reacts and immediately holds to allow the audience to laugh without dispersing the moment and then once the laughter starts to die out the actors release the moment and return to playing the scene.

But what about that Take thing?

A take is a specific reaction to a punchline where an actor or actors turn to the actor who delivered the punchline. There are many types of takes. One popular choice is "double take," in which the actor looks, turns away, releases what he has seen and then immediately looks back and holds. The other popular type of take is the "burn," where on actor looks at the actor who delivered the punchline like he is crazy or less than bright. This can be done at regular speed or be slowed down and exaggerated in a very specific take called the "slow burn." It is in parenthesis in the through line because not every bit will include a take but if included the take will either come before the hold to intensify the audience reaction to the punch line, or especially in the case of a "slow burn" come after the hold to create a second punchline.

Well there you go. The purpose of this week was to make it so when discussing comedy with a director you are comfortable with the terminology. Just remember to always play the truth and not the laugh and you will do great!

Character Development or Thank Goodness it's not the Business of Show Business Part 5

Hi all. Mike here as usual and typing out another week's acting tip. So during Godspell rehearsal yesterday we were talking to our students about creating a character. So I thought it would be interesting to put up some great jumping off points for when you start character development. Let me just start by saying that these are not all the options for character development and many great concepts are just too difficult to explain in text form, but this should give you some ideas the next time you go to tackle a role.

1. Look to the Script.

Okay, about 85% percent of you are going, "Duh Mike, of course you should read the script to learn about your character." You are correct, but I put this up here anyway because some times you have to dig a bit deeper than what is on the surface. For example, not that long ago I went almost an entire rehearsal process without realizing that my character's parents had divorced and his dad had remarried. How on Earth did I miss something as big as that. The information was in a single line that is never mentioned again and didn't specifically state that his dad remarried and I was busy playing the line for a laugh. Now come show time I still played that particular line for a laugh, but the knowledge I gained from it informed many of my other choices. Now I am sure some of you are asking, "But Mike, what if my character doesn't have lines, or the script doesn't give me anything to work with?" Well that leads me to the second option:

2. Create your own backstory.

All right, so you are Spear Holder #7, what makes Spear Holder #7 different than Spear Holder #6? Odds are the script doesn't tell you. Well here is the good news, that means you get to make it up! Does Spear Holder #7 have a wife and kids at home, maybe he simply wants to get through work without getting injured (objective, remember those?) so he can see them again. Or maybe he grew up in the military and is a true believer in what he is protecting and always the first into a fight. Even if you never actually get into a fight during the show these choices will still inform your character. A great game you can play with other members of your cast is Character Questions. Everyone sits in a circle and asks each other questions, and everyone has to answer as their character. this can force you to make choices. But remember that until show time you are not locked into your choices, rehearsal is there to try different things, don't just settle for the first thing you come up with.

3. Archetypes

Suppose you really can't come up with anything. One trick you can use to give your self a starting point is choosing an Archetype for your character. Archetypes are like Stock Characters in the theatre. The tough guy, the bully, the good girl, the bad girl, the bad boy, the hero, the dreamer, etc. The stuff you see in almost every movie, tv show, play, and read about in almost every book. Choose one of these archetypes for your character and see how the play feels doing that. Now understand archetypes are very general and therefor do not lead to the best performances when used on their own. You want to use an archetype as a way to start thinking about the character and then get more specific from there and if you leave the archetype behind entirely that is fine, it is just getting your creative juices flowing.

So there you go, just a couple ideas to help with character development. Until next time!