I continue to study comedian's from the recent past. I haven't studied this feature, but the past two centuries present comedy as more story telling in the 19th century, with the one liner standup being a child of the 20th century, Vaudeville and Burlesque. Comedy duo's emerged with Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Harvey, George and Gracie, Lucy and Ricky to name a few. Here, the straight man/woman lobs the set up, or comes up with an inane answer. The interactive duo provides a security from the silence of the bomb, solo, on stage.
In the early years of television, stage props, individual props, like Harpo's horn, Groucho's cigar and false mustache, silly walks, hats, red noses, costumes and character's all led the formula evolution of comedy on TV. Originality has always been relative in comedy. "There's nothing new under the sun" is as true to comedy as it is to life. So, why do I labor so much on this one weekly theme? Its simple, comedy is hard. Know your audience of course, but equally important is to know your own sticks. Jack Benny's sticks were his palm against his cheek pose, and his miserly ways. George Burns leaned heavily upon the character narrative, talking to the audience about what was happening, and predicting the probably outcome of Gracie's plots and plans, similar to Lucy, but her stick was pure slap stick from Vaudeville. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis leaned on the inane craziness of Jerry's voice, face, silly glasses and spastic movements. All in all, little originality, and uninspired plots and ploys.
There are no rotten tomato's being tossed in my face, nor cream pies, a sure-to-get-a-laugh event in any production. There is silence, which is anything but golden. I guess the moral of the story, is be fearless. Don't mind if you are taken as a fool or a clown, in fact clowns are one of the most powerful animals on the planet. The can make you laugh, many fear clowns, and they can create life with their balloon animals. Funny faces, a red nose, huge flat shoes and baggy pants, you are a clown. Grab a cigar, get a grouch nose, mustache and glasses and you are Groucho. Bleach and rat your hair, learn to distort your expression, and you can play Doc in back to the future. The list goes on, Both Woody Allen and Alan Alda used Groucho's style as a springboard for their own comedic career's.
For now, I will continue live Friday blogs, but will also try to refine my productions and preparation so that I can feel good in the face of the ether silence.
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