TV Comedy: How to do it! at ACMI
Posted on 5 December 2011 | No responses
“Life’s easy, comedy is hard.”
(George Bernard Shaw)
**Wednesday, 7th December at 5.30pm (doors open 5:15pm)**
**Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI)**
An insightful panel session looking at the why, wherefores and eternal dreams of perfecting Australian Television comedy.
Television comedy is one of the most difficult program forms to perfect, this panel will discuss through anecdote, analysis and “War Stories”, the often perilous path through concept, script writing, production and marketing of successful Television comedy.
With a stellar cross-generational panel of TV comedy Luminaries; Adam Zwar (Lowdown, Wilfred), Tim Ferguson (DAAS Kapital, Shock Jock, The Cheeky Monkey), Lee Zachariah (The Bazura Project, Hell Is for Hyphenates) and chaired by Marc Gracie (The Adventures of Lano and Woodley, Full Frontal, WTF).
TV Comedy. How to do it! Will take you through the looking glass of Australian Television comedy production.
This Television comedy panel session will take place at ACMI on Wednesday, 7th December at 5.30pm (doors open 5:15pm).
Tickets for TV COMEDY are available for purchase at the ACMI box office located in Federation Square.
Prices are as follows:
* Full $10
* Concession $7
* ACMI Members $5
* **Open Channel Members Free**
For further information regarding this event call Open Channel (03 8610 9300) or ACMI on (03) 8663 2583.
The Burns and Allen Show: Teenage Girl Spends the Weekend
Posted on 5 December 2011 | No responses
This is definitely of its era. So please excuse some of the unfortunate attitudes. However, Gracie Allen’s discussion with George Burns near the end about her missing brother Jim is a special comedy delight.
Types of Comedy: Part Three – Situational Comedy
Posted on 30 November 2011 | 2 responses
By situational comedy I am not referring to sitcoms. Though obviously, sitcoms will use the tropes of situational comedy. I am speaking of comedy that flows from a situation rather than one-liners or pratfalls. A good anecdote or shaggy dog story will use situational humour. What I love about this comedy is the jokes eventually write themselves.
Three elements make up the situation: characters, environment, and events. One, two, or all of these will need to be comedic in order to make the humour work. It’s possible that none of these elements separately could be comedic, but by bringing together the peculiarly disparate, comedy still ensues. However, I suspect that only works because characters start over-reacting, thereby making them comedic.
Characters
When you are performing on stage you will always be playing a character of some sort, even if that character is a humorous version of yourself. Rarely in situational comedy do you have a normal character, they will always be an exaggeration, even if it’s subtle. A character that is maintaining a sense of propriety in an out of control situation is demonstrating super-human abilities in remaining calm. Background characters who are serving as props to the main characters can be normal. Once a character gets entangled in a comic situation, they lose normality.
In Francis the Talking Mule you might be tempted to think that Peter Stirling (Donald O’Connor’s character) is the straight. After all, the talking mule is what makes the situation comic. You would be wrong. Francis delivers the straight lines and Peter over-reacts. Even Peter’s eventual acceptance of this absurdity is fantastic. Stand-up routines with puppets will often take this route.
Of course simply putting together apparently normal characters with widely varying agendas will create a similar humour without having to be quite so fanciful. Kindergarten Cop derives its humour from tough guy Arnold Schwarzenegger interacting with children. Cops are part of our normal experience. Children are part of our normal experience. A police officer trying to get the cooperation of a room full of five year-olds creates exaggerated misunderstandings and strange solutions.
Environment
Environment can be used to create “fish out of water” situational comedy. The Mr Bean series frequently uses this trope, but most especially in the movie Mr Bean’s Holiday. The title character wins a vacation to France. Early on in the film “fish out of water” is made literal by Mr Bean encountering an expensive French seafood platter and not knowing what to do with it. He is given instruction on how to eat the oysters. Sadly, he finds them nauseating and so pretends to consume them. The results are a lap full of oysters in need of disposal. Each step in this scene has its humorous consequences which leads to the next series of humorous consequences.
The film Galaxy Quest involves a story about actors who play space travellers suddenly having to confront actual space travel. They know how to deal with their fictional world on a television set, but have to draw on unusual personal resources to deal with the real thing. Role reversal stories also carry an element of environmental humour: a pauper having to cope with the complexities of royal living, a parent suddenly having to confront technological challenges teenagers take for granted.
A comedic situation brought about by a shift in environment involves exploratory and “sensawunda” humour. A character is in an unfamiliar place, they check out the objects, foods, vegetation, and people. From their ignorance they are placed in a childlike status and will make childlike mistakes, though perhaps to a monumental scale.
Events
Unexpected and outrageous events are the soul of situational comedy. They are what pump up the funny. The film Baby’s Day Out is set in the city and is a story about a child being kidnapped from rich parents for ransom. This could easily be a drama or thriller, except events lead us elsewhere. The baby sees a bird which it follows out onto the ledge of a tall building. When the baby crawls onto a two by four, it safely crawls across to another building and escapes. The movie is then a series of one unlikely event that rescues the baby after another.
A standard fantasy storytelling form is the quest. The Lord of the Rings features the quest to destroy the “one ring”. Other quests include to kill a dragon, rescue a princess, or retrieve a magical item. Each of these quests usually requires a certain set of steps in order to achieve their end. This structure easily provides opportunities for comic vignettes from each step/event. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure features Bill and Ted questing for historical figures who can help them complete a history project at school. The process of gathering each figure leads to laughable misunderstandings and mishaps.
Raconteurs such as Bill Cosby, Garrison Keillor, and Ed Byrne love playing with this aspect of situational comedy. One of the most amazing live comedy experiences I’ve had was hearing Ed Byrne tell a story about his girlfriend while intertwining it with the story of Cosi Fan Tutte. One event after another paralleled each other, until Ed brought the story to a spectacular operatic culmination.
Conclusions
Entire shows have been successfully made focusing only on physical, verbal, or situational comedy. A certain special pleasure comes when a skilled storyteller manages to combine all three. Such classics as The Princess Bride or The Pirates of Penzance come to mind. It’s well worth the effort to try each yourself, just to see what new places it may take you as a writer/performer.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Types of Comedy: Part One – Physical Comedy
Types of Comedy: Part Two – Verbal Comedy
Quotes: Jane Caro
Posted on 23 November 2011 | No responses
Gruen Planet, ABC1 TV, 16 November 2011:
One of the things we miss all the time is that what disarms people is humour…It’s a sense of humour that can fix this (intolerance), that brings a sense of humanity.
—Jane Caro, communications consultant, media commentator, author
Festival Time!
Posted on 16 November 2011 | 2 responses
Festivals are an important part of establishing yourself as a professional comedian. Festivals give you public exposure, audience development, experience, networking, and importantly, reviews. Unless you are already established in the public eye, reviewers tend to not give you a second look until such time as you pop up at a festival. And you NEED those reviews to convince people you are worthy of their attention.
The difficulty with festivals is that they can be so large that you get lost in the crowd, or so expensive that you can only afford to produce your own show once in awhile. I had a cup of tea with Tim Ferguson of The Doug Anthony All Stars the other day, and he said that emerging comedians would do better by starting out at smaller festivals and bypassing Edinburgh and Melbourne Comedy Festivals, until such time as they have a guaranteed audience. In a different conversation Claire Hooper said the same thing about beginning her career. She felt it worked best to start small, be nice to your pocketbook, then work your way up.
Starting small may sound like the slow path to fame, but you would be underestimating the power of small. More than one smash-hit of Melbourne Fringe has ended up a headliner the next year at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Once you have established yourself, festivals can become an important part of touring. These are events where you may be able to draw a larger and better paying audience than a simple comedy club. This of course depends upon the festival. However, comedy festivals are becoming a popular source of live entertainment and appearing all over the world. It’s possible to plan a circuit through major and minor festivals such that you have the semblance of regular work.
Below is a short list of major and minor festivals worth noting. You can easily find more and in your particular field of comedy: sketches, improvisation, theatrical, musical, physical, as well as standup. (some of the dates are best guess)
Australia / New Zealand
Adelaide Fringe Festival
24 February—18 March
Brisbane Comedy Festival
01–27 March
Coffs Harbour International Buskers & Comedy Festival
22 September—01 October
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
28 March—22 April
Melbourne Fringe Festival
19 September—07 October
New Zealand International Comedy Festival
21 November—18 December
Perth International Comedy Festival
02–20 May
Sydney Comedy Festival
24 April—12 May
UK
Brighton Comedy Festival
05–19 October
The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival
31 May—04 June
Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival
03–19 February
Edinburgh Comedy Festival
03–27 August
The London Comedy Writers Festival
03–04 March
Canada / US
Chicago Improv Festival
April 23—April 29
Just for Laughs
20–26 November
LAughter Comedy Fest
08–18 November
New York Comedy Festival
07–11 November
New York International Fringe Festival
10&mnash;26 August
SF Sketchfest
19 January—04 February
Women in Comedy Festival
21–25 March
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Jokes: Muppet Show—Jack Burns
Posted on 11 November 2011 | No responses
Fozzie: Would you lend me a fiver till pay day? I gotta pay my writer, the legendary ‘Gags’ Beasley.
Kermit: The legendary ‘Gags’ comes pretty cheap, doesn’t he?
Fozzie: Well, we worked out a great deal.
Kermit: You pay him by the line?
Fozzie: No, I pay him by the laugh.
Kermit: Oh, then he owes you money.
—Jack Burns, comedian, head writer of The Muppet Show
Grappling with Illusions
Posted on 10 November 2011 | No responses
“Black is black. White is white. Grey is a little less dark than black.”
When my brother spoke those words, I was taken aback. My first thought was, “What about green?” I’m not certain where he picked up the aphorism. Sadly, that sort of thinking is all too common in our culture and can serve to make black seem attractive. After all, it’s easier to attain than some people’s definition of white.
However, a world of kindergarten absolutes pares reality down to an apparently manageable size. We can easily point to the good guys. We can easily point to the bad guys. We know where we belong and what is expected of us. Piece of cake, right?
This poor piece of cake is only to be had if you can enforce these ideas onto the populace at large. And even then life will be messy. Holes will readily appear in the outlook. We are complex thinking, feeling, living beings and no one will find they can uphold an unrealistic and broken ideal. Life will always be a long string of exceptions. The exceptions and the holes are where we build much of our comedy.
Groups who demonise sexuality and preach abstinence are working against natural biological urges. They cannot stop people from procreating. They cannot even keep people from copulating outside their narrow realm of acceptable exceptions. All they can really do is create a system of endless guilt. Then they provide a parallel system of temporary relief through confession and/or penance, setting up a co-dependent relationship with their members.
I do not believe these groups necessarily had a Snidely Whiplash twirling his moustache and consciously devising this system. Physicality brings death. Sexuality is the origins of physicality. Denying physicality can seem logical to some, particulaly when you are in touch with the fragility of life.
Comedians, like everyone, have a hard time staring at death (not that we don’t upon occasion). But we are more than happy to find every single hole in the repressed sexuality debate. And so we should. We also have a few bigger fish to fry as well.
The people who do twirl their metaphorical moustaches are companies whose marketing and sales people are willing to use less than ethical means to ensure they turn a profit.
For instance: demonise normal to heavy body weights. Glorify a largely unattainable body shape in the media. Promote the values of indulgence and impulse buying through advertising. Sabotage people’s ability to make a considered choice about buying unhealthy foods by always placing those foods in their way. Make them feel guilty about their “lack of will-power” and sell them bogus weightloss programs. The results are people being manipulated into an unhealthy and unhappy lifestyle in order to line other people’s pockets.
Yes, we have to take responsibility for ourselves. But monied interests will do everything within their power to make that step a difficult one. Parents are not taught how to instill a strong character into their children. Many institutions teach obedience as the highest value, since thoughtfulness could lead to conscientious objection.
Doesn’t this just make you want to go to town finding sharp witty jokes that expose the system for what it is? Isn’t that better than a cheap fat joke?
I would say our highest cultural value right now is status. That status can be achieved through political power, monetary power, emotional or intellectual influence, brute force, or celebrity. Mind you, most institutions play with all forms of power.
Yes, we have a certain amount of biological and evolutionary urge to play the status game. The most fit members of a species have better access to other fit members and can thereby propagate their genes. Nature uses many methods to demonstrate fitness, from ability to build a sound nest to sporting the largest and most attractive tail.
However, we are so clever that our ability to demonstrate status goes beyond anything this planet can adequately support. Our media plays on fear and ego, both as a kind of rush and a motivational tactic. Status is seen as a place of safety: “If I have enough power and/or influence, I will be unassailable. No one will dare hurt me physically or emotionally.” This is an irrational dream, but it still sits inside us all.
So to gain status we have people playing with our black and white structures and exploiting our most basic drives, so that we are responding out of balance with reality. We need food, it’s an easy button to press over and over again. We are programmed for sex, it can be used to push our need for status and stimulation: buy the expensive red car, it’s like having sex, it will make you more important than your neighbour, and more attractive to potential partners. A need for the safety of belonging is twisted into co-dependency, so people turn themselves into products to sell to the right social groups. On and on.
All of this needs to be exposed. Ways must be found to make status less of an urgent drive. Alternatives need to be offered. John Clarke and Brian Dawe on ABC’s 7:30 Report do a fabulous job at portraying our cultural and political absurdities. The hugely popular The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report also do a great job. We are still a little shaky about offering alternatives. At least in comedy a more realistic range of human beings is represented: all body shapes, ages, genders, ethnicities, etc. The message is that it’s okay to accept yourself as you are.
I believe that our higher urges are also natural. They are what made our civilisation and many of our finest achievements possible. A certain amount of responsiblity, forward-thinking, and altruism are needed to build a school. And we have done this over and over again. Our ideas of good have made us see only black. We need just enough faith in ourselves to push past cynicism and discover that realistic step after step, we can make positive changes.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Comedy Posters
Posted on 4 November 2011 | 2 responses
As a comedian one of your most important tools for selling yourself is your image. People need to be able to look at you and think a) funny and b) my style of funny. For this article I’m going to be focusing primarily on the image you project through your posters. Posters and their distribution are going to be one of the biggest financial investments you make to get your show off the ground, and you will want them done right.
Brainstorming
Your first step will be to think about what you want to project about yourself, and what your show is about. These are details you will need in mind before you start talking to photographers in order to better collaborate with them.
First and foremost you must remember that you are a comedian and that you need to project funny. You are not a rock god. You are not a sex idol. Though, you may bring elements of these to your show. Getting too caught up in the dark, mysterious, bad girl/boy image, you will lose the funny. Remember that Tim Minchin started out by MOCKING that image. He now embodies it to a certain extent, but he still tries to find ways to send it up.
Think about the sort of role you take on stage. Do you play the innocent? The mocking school child? The blustering idiot? The flirt? The put upon parent? What sort of clothes suit that role? What sort of props? Then think further about clothes and props in relation to the material you will be presenting in your show. What will best communicate your subject matter and your theme?
If you want to come off as a professional, make sure your clothes and props have a certain amount of polish. Even if they came from an op-shop (secondhand store), they will need to look crisp and in good condition or at least completely appropriate. Cheap and cheerful sounds like it will do the trick. It will look like your show is only half-baked and not ready for public presentation.
Good Photographer
Find a professional photographer with a studio, proper lighting and camera equipment, and experience. Make sure they have done work creating images for a wide variety of media: from CDs to community newspapers. Also make sure they are good at listening and at directing you to be your best. Anything less than this and you are wasting time and money.
Your friend up the street with the expensive camera cannot do it. A really good photo you took on your smartphone isn’t going to do it.
These may look good to you now, because you haven’t had much experience examining the subtleties that make a picture appear professional. However, once you compare it with something done by for instance James Penlidis who specialises in photographing comedians, you will sense the greater degree of clarity, precision, aesthetic balance, and projection.
Crossmedia experience is also essential. You will need your poster looking equally good on a blog as in a print newsletter. For instance if your photographer uses a lot of black, too much black has a tendency to bleed on cheap newsprint, thereby muddying the image. Also, if your figure is too small, you could disappear altogether when thumbnails are used in online media. A portrait or glamour photographer will not know these things.
Makeup…Even for Guys
I have to admit, I’m a little shaky on this one myself. I’m allergic to many of the chemicals that go into makeup and so have generally avoided the stuff. However with performance experience, I have become aware of its importance. I just have to buy more expensive, better quality goop.
The photographic process takes away some of your facial detail. As a comedian your two most important performance tools are your voice and your face. So, you will need to colour up your wares, so people can see what’s on offer. In particular you will need to define your eyes and lips, give yourself an even skin texture and a healthy glow. Anything beyond that has to do with the sort of character you are wanting to communicate.
I find it has been worth my while getting an experienced makeup artist who knows how to work for the camera. Ask to see their portfolio. If they have only done weddings, that’s better than nothing, but you want to see someone who has created advertising or art images.
A Conversation Worthy Photo
Comedy photos need to radiate more personal energy than any other performance image. Bands can get away without even showing their faces, just cover art. James Penlidis emphasizes that with comedy you should, “think in terms of movie posters with deliberate and specific staging.”
Your photographer and/or art director must have the people skills to effectively direct you into still scenarios that will jump off the page. Dynamic is best, but dynamic can simply be how expressive you can make your face.
Also key is how readily people recognise the scenario as funny. In Reginald D. Hunter’s poster his mouth is covered with gaffer tape. However, his eyes are wide and his eyebrows arched in surprise, which is further elaborated upon by his scratching his head with one hand. In vivid yellow and black letters are the words “WARNING, this show is not for the easily offended.” This explains the tape. Reginald’s expression is clear enough to be funny in its own right. The poster has also been well designed to enhance that humour.
The Problem With Selling Too Much Sex
Sex does sell. People do like going to shows where they can enjoy the presence of someone they find sexually attractive. Young performers may take that and try to use it as their wedge to gain attention. Their posters may be provocative and lurid.
But a couple of caveats should be considered.
* Sex will get people through the door the first time you use it, but if you have nothing more to offer, especially in something that is purporting to be comedy, you will alienate your audience. Show some integrity in the relationship between your images and what you are actually offering.
* Sex will get people through the door, but are they the sort of people you want? The first venue I performed in largely served drunken hens and bucks nights. The smart humour, the imaginative humour, the subtle humour all died. What got laughs was simply shouting the word “tits!” I found this discouraging. People coming for a perv are also more likely to heckle.
If you are out to sell sex, then the finest article about effective images is at the OKCupid Blog.
It’s worth everyone having a read, since it provides insight into the psychology of photo attraction.
Karin Muiznieks—she’s doin’ it right
Recommendations, Reviews, and Awards
In the graphic design of your poster you will want to make sure your image remains clear, even with the addition of text. You will also want to make room to include a few recommendations, reviews, and awards.
Know who can drive people to your show and have them say something about you that you can print. If you have a connection to a big name comedian, get a quote from them (ask nicely, of course). Lawrence Looney-Tunes says, “Katherine makes me smile.” I’ve had a couple friends call me for words they could print. I treat it as a form of business reference. Fortunately, I have felt comfortable putting my name to their shows.
ANY reasonable reviews are worth touting. Going to live performance is a social act. People want to know they will be with other people who are having a good time. Reading a description of your show may pique their interest, seeing your poster may get them excited, but the clincher is going to be whether other people say it’s any good. Interestingly, the Word of Mouth on the Web site is taken with as much authority as an article in a big newspaper. Certain blogs have been fair game sources for quotes for some time.
Consistent Imagery
Once you have settled on an image for your show, then you need to consistently push that image with the media. Use the same image, with perhaps a few slight variations, for the festival guide, advertising, flyers, posters, Facebook, etc. Even for publicity appearances, ensure you are wearing the same clothing. This is about being memorable, memorable, memorable. If people see and remember you frequently enough, it’s like being famous and can get you famous. People look through the festival guide and think, “I’m sure I know this person and the show looks like fun. I think I shall buy a ticket.”
One final word. Start collecting the posters of your favourite comedians. Tack them up around your room. You can use them as inspiration for your own performance. You will also get used to the quality you need to sell your own show and recognise it when you start shopping around for photographers, art directors, graphic designers and artists.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
One-liners: Groucho Marx
Posted on 28 October 2011 | 1 response
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I’ll never know.
—Groucho Marx, comedian, actor
Originality and Points of Recognition
Posted on 27 October 2011 | No responses
I love being an original thinker. I love coming up with unique ideas that are funny, have artistic merit, or are technically or socially beneficial. During the dotcom era I had a couple of my ideas stolen. I learned early on that people, who have to steal ideas, aren’t going very far. I could always come up with more ideas. The idea thiefs only had stolen ideas, and usually didn’t know how to implement them to ensure their success.
In the arts many people want to distinguish themselves as mavericks and heroes of originality. It’s an extension of “the chosen one” mythology. Often when they hear of someone doing something similar to their own creative thoughts, they become angry or upset. They don’t understand that skill and artisty in execution are more than three quarters of any creative product. Several people could be working on precisely the same idea. The one who best communicates that idea to their audience wins. However, if they all do a superb job, usually people are thrilled at being able to extend their enjoyment. The Twilight book series didn’t suffer as a vampire story because of Buffy The Vampire Slayer‘s pre-existence, quite the reverse.
When you are just starting out in comedy you have to make some compromises on the behalf of your audience. I am not talking about compromises to artistic integrity, just being flexible enough to include your audience in a show’s creation. Absolute originality is not going to serve you. You need points of recognition to hook your audience.
You
If you are already an A-list comedian, then you are the point of recognition for your audience. Your show can be outrageously original and because people trust you to be entertaining, they will purchase tickets. Of course then you have to deliver. Reputations have been lost when in the name of originality performers forget their audience.
Associating with the Great
Associating with the great is an easy call for gaining attention. Almost too easy. I used to judge for a literary award and if a book was based on Shakespeare, it made no difference what the quality of storytelling was like, it went into the finalist list. I have to admit, this made me mad. The judges were not relying on their own considered opinion, but upon a cultural determination of greatness, which was then transferred to the authors whether or not they had earned it.
However, if a comedian puts in the work and gives us a fresh perspective on well-loved stories and personalities, I’m as keen as the next person to give their show a looksy. I have seen shows humorously covering The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Thunderbirds. I have seen hilarious impersonations of Abba, the Goons, and The Queen of England.
This material works best for both the beginner comedian and the seasoned veteran. The beginner gets a leg up using the well-worn. A seasoned veteran brings love and insight to their portrayals of creative heroes.
Subject Matter
Subject matter is a regularly used point of recognition. Make a show about football and you will have many footy fans turn up, whether or not they know anything about you. A show about dogs will certainly draw in the dog-lovers, it also will provide a commonality of experience that makes it very easy to tell certain sorts of jokes. You simply have to say the words, “stepping in poo”, with a pained look and people will burst into laughter…they’ve all done it.
Some subjects sit on the edge. Tripod could successfully perform a show about Dungeons & Dragons, because people already know them. Others using similar material will attract a small dedicated audience, but the geek appeal may only go so far.
Completely original subjects done by unknown artists probably shouldn’t open at a big comedy festival. The Melbourne Comedy Festival last year had over 300 shows. People will scan through the festival guide and bypass the unfamiliar: too much competition to even bother spending the time and money. The people who go to fringe festivals are willing to do more experimenting. If you start there and develop good word of mouth, by the end of the festival you could be enjoying a full-house. This freshly minted reputation can then be carried with you to the comedy festival. Claudia O’Doherty did this with her show Monster of the Deep: 3D and Telia Neville in While I’m Away.
Word of mouth is your most potent point of recognition. Though you can achieve it virally, you will only sustain that point if you nurture and build your reputation through regular contact with people. This can be achieved using YouTube, FaceBook, street performance, open mic nights, fringe festivals, etc.
Certainly, marketing and publicity can go a fair way in making you a recognisable commodity. Even then, it will give your posters extra mnemonic energy if your face is then associated with the well-liked and familiar. In the meantime learn to be at peace sharing in your culture’s passions, while mixing it up with your creative genius. Your time of utter originality will come.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine