All actors practice physical comedy, but not all of them become masters at it. Some just pick up the skills as they go along, while others put in the time and effort to hone their abilities.
For those who want to master physical comedy, there are several steps you can take to make yourself better at it. First, learn how to improvise. Second, work on your basic acting skills. Third, focus on developing your own style of physical humor. Fourth, put in the time and effort necessary to be a dynamic physical comedian.
Fifth, have fun with it! That’s what being a dynamic physical comedian is all about-having fun with your audience and getting them involved in the process of making you look like a fool (or genius).
“I’m a physical comedian” can mean different things to different people. To some, it means clowning, or working in a circus, or doing gymnastics onstage, or performing in mime. To others, it means the physical qualities of a person that make them funny to watch. To others, it’s about falling down a lot. To still others, it’s about wearing silly costumes and making faces.
I think of physical comedy as being dynamic and surprising. I’ve been told I am “a physical comedian who is hard to categorize”, but what I really am is just a good actor with an interest in movement and an ability to use my whole body as an expression of my emotions and ideas.
I have an opinion on what makes for good physical comedy: anything that takes advantage of the fact that we have bodies at all. The fact that we are bodies gives us the opportunity for all kinds of fun! Physical comedy is the use of our bodies — either by ourselves or in collaboration with others — to create something unexpected and delightful out of the common situations and objects around us.
Hey! Welcome to my blog. I’m a comedy performer – usually physical comedy and clowning – and I’m here to share my tips and tricks with you on how to be awesome.
My name is Bill. I was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada where I began my comedic journey by learning how to perform at the Loose Moose Theatre Company under Keith Johnstone.
After training there, I continued onto the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, where I studied for 3 years. It was here that I really honed my skills as a physical performer and developed a passion for teaching. After school, I moved to Toronto and performed for about 5 years before moving on to Australia for a year where I started teaching professionally at QUT (Queensland University of Technology) in Brisbane.
I’ve been living in New York City since 2008 working primarily as an actor and clown. In 2009, after many requests by students at the various colleges around NYC where I was teaching, I started this blog as a way of helping people who were unable to take classes with me.
It’s the most frequently asked question I get: “How do I become a better physical comedian?”
I’ve been writing short blog posts about it for a while now, but I thought it would be helpful to put together an index of some of these posts. These are just tips and hints that have worked for me; every performer has their own style, but I hope these posts can help you find yours as well.
1. Don’t be afraid to fail
2. Watch other people perform
3. Find your style
4. Find what makes you laugh
5. Don’t wait for inspiration
6. Make your moves strong and clear
7. Listen to your audience
8. Slow down! (this is one of my favorite posts)
Physical comedy is not easy, but it is a very powerful tool in your comedic arsenal. If you can make people laugh with your physical movements, then you should.
The key to physical comedy is to be big. Don’t be afraid to take up space and exaggerate the movements of your body. If you do something small and subtle, no one will notice. You need to be obvious and make sure everyone sees what you are doing.
Imagine every movement is being magnified on a movie screen. How would you perform that movement? Make sure everything is as exaggerated as possible because it will always come off smaller on stage than when you are rehearsing in front of a mirror at home.
You want to move quickly and sharply; slow movements will make your audience bored, so it’s important that everything you do is fast and energetic. This includes your facial expressions too; think Jim Carrey or Charlie Chaplin or Lucille Ball or any other famous physical comedians you love. What do they have in common? They all have big facial expressions!
If you have a character that has become defined by their physicality (think Newman from Seinfeld), then try playing them in a scene with no dialogue but just physical actions. If they don’t come out funny,
The great actors are the ones who are able to make you believe that they’re doing something for the first time. They really have to be in the moment, and they really have to be there, and they really have to be affected by what’s happening. Some of them are able to do it without thinking about it. It’s a gift.
But most good actors think about it. And here’s one thing they think about: they know what they are supposed to feel at any given time, and thus how they are supposed to change their face.
They have a story in their head, or at least a structure for the story, and thus for every scene a sense of what should happen in that scene and how it should affect them emotionally.
So when you watch a movie where the actors seem to be reacting realistically, it is probably not just because they are naturally good at acting; it is also because before shooting each scene someone (perhaps the director) told them what their character was feeling at that moment.
And this is not just true of movies; it’s true of all acting. If you watch someone else improvising well on stage, that isn’t because he has somehow magically transformed himself into another person; it’s because he knows what his character
This one is simple, but you know how much I love simple.
We all have a lot to learn in this business, and it’s easy to forget some of the very basic things we should be doing all the time. For example:
Improviser “A” says “I’m going to the mall.”
Improviser “B” says, “I’m your companion.”
This happens every day of every week and you may have done it yourself. But are you doing it right? Is Improviser “B” actually being a companion? Not really. They’re just saying the word.
How can we tell if they’re actually being a companion? Well, a companion helps us with our shopping activities. They carry bags, they point out items they think we might like, they help us push carts or try on clothes. If Improviser “B” isn’t actually doing those things, then they haven’t actually been a companion yet. All they’ve done is say the word “companion”.
