I watched the TriStar Pictures 1992 production ‘Chaplin’
again, the other night. Early in the film, Sydney Chaplin (played by Paul Rhys), who was a
member of Fred Karno’s London Comedians, introduces his younger half-brother, Charlie
(played by Robert Downey Jr.), to ‘The Governor’, as Fred Karno (played by
John Thaw) was known. Karno says to the fledgling comedian, “You know what
comedy is? It’s knowing who you are and where you come from. And… it’s got to
be perfection.” Wise words.
Fred Karno was born Frederick John Westcott, in Exeter in 1866, but soon afterwards the family moved to Nottingham , where he grew up.
He began his stage career as an acrobat, and then joined a
touring circus where he was required to work with other acts, including the
clowns. From them he learned the skills of physical comedy and slapstick, which
were to become his trademark.
From these early beginnings he went on to become one of the
greatest impresarios of the music hall age, with troupes touring all over the
world.
He turned a row of houses in Camberwell into his ‘Fun
Factory’ from where an army of writers, scenery builders, props makers, etc.
operated. He branched out into theatre management and produced pantomimes and
reviews as well as his sketches, of which he had over eighty in his repertoire.
The great Stan Laurel was also a member of ‘Fred Karno’s
Army’, and he once said, “Fred Karno didn’t teach Charlie and me all we know
about comedy, he just taught us most of it. Above all he taught us to be supple
and precise.”
Comedy and precision! It sounds like a contradiction of
terms, does it not? Aye, there’s the rub!
Budding comedians, take note. If Fred Karno and Stan
Laurel say that comedy is about precision, then that is what it’s about. And if
you watch Stanley
at work you will see that every action and every reaction is very precise. In
my book, he’s the best that ever was, or ever will be.
Apparently, Karno also preached
that laughs came when the performer didn't know what was going to happen to him
but the audience did. Now there’s food for thought… and action.
“Every routine is reduced to
its basic components, all the better to 'sell' the gags, both visual and
spoken.” Review of Laurel
* The title of a song which was a Top Ten hit for Bernard Cribbins in 1962
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