WORDS, WORDS, WORDS*

In his book, ‘Tommy Cooper All-In-One Joke Book’ (Preface, 2013) John Fisher claims that Sigmund Freud “…famously states that jokes needed to convey their message not just in a few words, but in too few words.” Mr. Fisher’s has the advantage of me there, because I haven’t read ‘Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten’, (‘The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious’), but Ken Dodd may have, because apparently he once said, something along the lines of… “The trouble with Freud is that he never had to play the old Glasgow Empire on a Saturday night after Rangers and Celtic had both lost.”

That’s true, Doddy, but then long before “Golden Siggie” appeared on the scene, Bill Shakespeare informs us through the character of Polonius in ‘Hamlet’, that “…brevity is the soul of wit…”

My regular reader should by now, be fully aware of my admiration for the Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist and journalist, Billy Wilder, director and co-author (with I.A.L. Diamond) of the screenplay for my favourite flick, ‘Some Like It Hot’, made in 1959. Forty-one years later, the American Film Institute listed it as the greatest American comedy film of all time. I suspect that there has been nothing since that came close to bettering it.

Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play two Chicago musicians, Joe and Jerry, who just happen to witness the St. Valentine's Day massacre. To get out of town and escape from the gangster responsible, they disguise themselves as women, and join an all-female band that’s bound for Florida. They certainly enjoy being around the girls, especially Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe), who sings and plays the ukulele. Joe in particular sets out to woo her while Jerry/Daphne is wooed by the millionaire, Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown).

I remember, quite a few overcoats ago, watching a BBC2 documentary about ‘The Viennese Pixie’, where he dissected the scene where Jerry, disguised as Daphne, has been nightclubbing with Osgood, so that Joe can ‘borrow’ Osgood’s yacht for an evening alone with Sugar. It starts…

INT. ROOM 413 - DAWN

Jerry, still in his evening gown, is stretched out on his bed, gaily singing LA CUMPARSITA and accompanying himself with a pair of maracas. Joe appears over the railing of the balcony, steps through the window into the room.

Wilder gave a riveting explanation of how he and his co-writer pared the dialogue down to the very minimum, but then the whole script is as tight as Dick’s hatband, and the resulting movie has been described as … “…a film of inspiration and meticulous craft."

I’m not in Mr Wilder’s league… but then, who is? However, in my own little way, I do try to craft my scripts and I am a serial ‘tweaker’. Yes, I like alliteration, and occasionally may overdo it, but I reckon that it can help establish a character, and give some rhythm to the dialogue. In the right place, verbosity can be funny

Of course, as I mentioned in my blog, ‘NO LAUGHING MATTER’, (12 March 2013), an actor needs to understand a joke before he or she can deliver it properly. Then there's the business of sticking to the script...

I once guested as the director of an amateur production of Noel Coward’s ‘Hay Fever’. The leading roles of Judith and David Bliss were being played by ageing Thespians with bulky scrapbooks. Well into rehearsals, when it was time for “scripts down”, I realised that they had both learnt only an approximation of the lines, and there was no way they were going to ‘unlearn them’. What with “The Master’s” dialogue being particularly precise and mannered, from then on, it was basically damage limitation.

In my varied acting career, both as an amateur and a professional, I have always tried to be word perfect. I reckon I owe it to the writer.

Have a look at the following (edited) tips about acting comedy which I came across by chance on www.backstage.com. By gummy, it’s always pleasing to find current opinions which match those one has held since Moby Dick was a tiddler! Please pay particular attention to note number 4!

The Top 10 Tips for Becoming a Successful Comedy Actor

1. Find your funny. In what way are you funny? What's funny about you? Being aware of what makes up your personal "funny" - finding the comedy in yourself and your everyday life - is the first step to becoming a successful comedy actor. 

2. Identify your comedy character. Knowing your comedic qualities will help you identify your comedy character.

3. Explore your comedy. To be a successful comedy actor, you have to study the art form…

4. Stick to the script. Comedy is all about rhythm, timing, and pace, and it's your job as a comedic actor to identify those things in each and every piece of scripted comedy you perform. Comedy, when done right, is like a good song. Just as a musician plays the melody as composed, a comedic actor must stick to the script. That means following the words exactly as written. Don't add or drop words or attach handles to the beginnings of sentences, like "Look," "I mean," "Well," and "So." And don't change the punctuation! Always remember that a period is not just the end of a sentence; it's the end of a thought. Blowing past it or changing it to a question mark will not only change the intention of the line but also the "music" in the dialogue.

5. Learn to break down comedy scripts. Comedy is made up of two things: desperation and the unpredictable. These themes are found in story lines, jokes, and characters. 

6. Perfect your funny. As you develop your character and learn your comedic technique, you'll also start to examine more-subtle but important tools for your comedy, especially in the script itself.

7. Stay committed. You and your character need to believe in everything you're doing and commit to it wholeheartedly.

8. Be still. One of the biggest things that can kill a comedic scene is unscripted movement…

9. Watch the comedy masters. There are so many legends old and new in this business, and watching them work is vital to building your comedy career.

10. Have fun.  When performing comedy, you have to enjoy what you're doing. You need to do your homework, find your character, perfect your technique, commit to the text, then… have fun.

Of course you could just ignore all this advice and do your own thing, as many ego-trippers do. That way you end up being unfunny.... or even anti-funny!

* Also a quote from 'Hamlet'.