BBC Comedy Collections

Comedic Entrances
Only Fools and Horses -doorbell
-enters by smashing through a wall, smashing someone's head into food

-office scene: Elizabeth enters in a sexual way, 'swaying'

Rule of three / Comic triple

Rule of Three/Comic Triple:

Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
-"Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see....". >It is actually subverted four times; the first time, the three questions are all easy, so the knight easily crosses. The second knight unexpectedly receives a third, difficult question which results in his death, while the third knight unexpectedly gets an easy question again but fails to answer it correctly and dies. On the final set of questions, King Arthur subverts it again by asking a question back to the bridge keeper, resulting in the bridge keeper's death.
-Arthur, when deploying the Holy Hand Grenade shouts 'One...two...five!' Sir Galahad corrects him: 'Three, sire.' 'Three!'
-Additionally when reading a parody of the Bible: "...then thou shalt count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out."

Big Bang Theory:
-Sheldon knocks three times, then says 'Penny' or 'Penny and Leonard' and repeats the process three times. Unexpected: knock knock knock 'Penny!' knock knock knock 'Sheldon!'...

17th October

-more Whose Line Is It Anyway? guests/host activities, >>liked funny accent [European?], imaginary friend, Irish accent

-improv with finger-pointing was very funny > call friend to get her to decde who is better at pointing > Taylor being pregnant, giving birth... >ambulance arrives

-decided to focus on scene between Raye, Pia, Elizabeth > affair, Margot walks in on Fredrick and his sexcretary, wants him to take her underwear, Margot very ouraged

-asks for handcuffs, kinky clothes.... back from Fredrick

>>>Elizabeth's charcter is very kinky, whips Fredrick [who is very old, bad back], music: 'you know how this music makes me feel...'

-set in his office

-tries to apologise to Margot, reveals he has a wife

-tries to get two women to fight together 'fall on top of her..!'

-suggests a foursome, then rages at Elizabeth's charcter for suggesting it

-ends with two women leaving Fredrick??

 

·  I had an idea for incorporating secret transvestite into a scene >can be on a date and revelas it, date can be shocked, or not know what that is and say its ok when they don't actually understand?? >would like to try out idea...

·  if the idea doesn't work, I would still like to try a scene with a date [in a restaurant or something similar] > Pia =chav-like London accent, Hazel =Russian accent, Elizabeth =French [waiter] >just having a funny date -funny lines: gets served a live lobster etc. >this sort of thing could work if it was just completely deadpanned

15th/16th October

NEW IDEA:

-piece of theatre can be a montage of scenes with a them like 'secrets' [from before with our brainstorming of 9/11]

-we can work with our strong point of improvisations with two characters > start by being moulded into positions and then improvise a small, usually funny scene, anyone can say 'stop' and take the place of one of the people, more people can walk in to the scene whenever they want

-we can do several improvised scenes to get ideas, all based on secrets, and pick out the ones we like the best

Ideas from improvs:

·  infection /medical problem >>South African

·  stealing >>dog

·  affair >>older posh people, Fredrick and Marjory/Sarah and 'sexcretary'

·  trying to get rid of /hide something >>body in river, call in gangster friend

·  trafficking >> European bought-wife

·  pervert >> through keyhole, two men fighting for better position, 'she doesn't even like you'...

·  treatment [cosmetic?] >>whale sperm, gives one soft skin and another a rash, 2 Australians, one English

-want to try: secret life, secret job, addiction, obsession, secret transvestite

-would like to try Russian improv.

-did activity from Whose Line Is It Anyway? with host and guests [all guests had something they had to do or something they thought etc., and host has to guess them, e.g likes to sniff furniture, or hates everyone] >>good way to create characters

9th/10th October

-practicing scene in Betty's front room with tea and Jean's plan

-repeating some of other characters' lines in a thoughtful tone as if she knows what they're saying but really doesn't

-spills tea? awakward fumbling for cup, spills it on herself and acts as if she hadn't >> Betty says 'I don't trust her with tea'

-after watching Anchorman, it was suggested maybe my character should be facing the audience watching out of a window, watching people, looking very intense, commenting on people walking past, generally ignored
-say a few lines about people outside before Betty enters with tea, e.g. 'man with shoes...'

8th October

-stuck with character, want to make her a happier person, more funny

-I am discovering that the kind of random lines I want Georgie to have will need to be scripted, I am finding it difficult to improvise with her character

-developed opening scene –skipping across when Raye is doing Inspector’s ‘siblings, uncanny’ section and then stops, looks at inspector and tip-toes the rest of the way across at back of stage –standing behind the screen where Inspector puts up mug shots and says she is ‘thick as shit’>looks out??? –when ‘Jean’ creeps out to follow Inspector, Georgie follows her and they creep around stage, neither knowing they are being followed>Inspector runs off through audience, Jean goes back behind screen, I dive under the side counter -hide there until Jean, Betty and Kaley come out to look for Georgie>surprises them by jumping out and shouting ‘Put ‘em up!’ with a fake ‘gun’, thinks its a game, laughs, gets told off by Jean [try not to make this too serious as it shouldn’t ruin the funny atmosphere] –overheard by Inspector and we all freeze in front of our mug shots…

-starting second scene where we are gathered in Betty’s living room

·         Playing a video game, facing audience, shouting at TV, in my own world

·         Betty disturbs me, asks if I want tea, ask for milkshake, annoyed because I lost the game, no milkshake, Jean gets Betty to give me some milk>ask Jean to shake it?

·         Want to be involved in Bingo robbing plan > infiltrate because I’m dumb and no one would suspect me

·         Enthusiastic about disguise [coloured wigs]

-more people-watching>> Brick from the film Anchorman

·         Seems aware of own stupidity, but has a kind of ‘well, what can you do about it?’ attitude about it, which is funny and slightly endearing

·         Starts laughing at a joke later than other people, as if he’s waiting to make sure it’s something to laugh about it and following the crowd

·         Tries to insult someone back with a similar but worse insult >doesn’t really make sense

·         ‘the guy who can’t think’

·         ‘You’re not Ron’ >> ‘You’re not Jean’???

·         Giggling at rude words

·         Playing with a random object whilst idly listening to conversation

·         Repeats what others say awkwardly, because the words don’t really belong in his mouth

1st/2nd/3rd October

HOMEWORK:

-people watching or studying TV or film characters to develop own character [people who are similar or have similar traits to chosen character –Georgie]

Brittany from Glee

·         goes into her own little world and comes up with very imaginative stories and things

·         believes in things that others know aren’t true [Santa, leprechauns, thinks babies are carried to her by a stalk (from Dumbo)...]

·         does weird things [keeping bird in her locker, uses curling iron in bathtub to keep from getting burnt...]

·         confuses words [thought ballad was a male duck and that duet was a blanket]

·         says things as if they are true and believes them to be [dolphins are just gay sharks, thought Dr Pepper was a dentist...]

·         writes in crayon

·         seems stupid [no one taught her to read a calendar, stopped learning alphabet after m and n because they were too similar]

·         misunderstands common sayings [‘Take it away!’ ‘Take what away?’, ‘Use protection.’ ‘Does he mean like a burglar alarm?’]

-people watching >would walk with toes pointing in a bit, holding own hands in front of her, usually looking up at sky when walking>walks into things/trips a lot, when standing she bounces on toes

-in class exercise: walking around in character, leading by a certain body part [chin> head in the sky, very aloof, in another world], using a movement specific to character: wringing/twisting hands?

-introduce character in a minute or so: Georgie, 18 but people think she’s younger, like when she went to the cinema and they wouldn’t let her in... she likes having fun, wants to do the robbery because it’s with her friends and she thinks it will be lots of fun to do this with them

-working on opening scene –Mission Impossible>>James Bond theme songs in background

·         rolling out from under side-counter and using fingers as fake gun, fake shooting, pulls out a map [obviously lost], sits in audience waiting to be found by someone else,

·         ditch the map >roll out with ‘gun’, movie lines: ‘put ‘em up!’ and ‘you talkin’ to me?’ to audience, get called back by Elizabeth’s character [Jean]

- post-it notes exercise –quiet/excitable –ditsy/clueless –shy/friendly –bumbly/happy >>> knowing what other people saw my character as helped me to know whether what I was trying to do was working on not, so I could work harder on giving the right impression about my character >> mostly I did want to come across as clueless and happy, but all the words describing me seemed to make my characters sound like a sweet little kid everyone has a soft spot for which is nice but I wanted to improve my crazy side by doing stuff that's more unusual so I would come across as weird more than ditsy.

-not sure about rolling out >have a cloth hiding counter, stick head and ‘gun’ hand out and look around, wide eyed,  point ‘gun’ at audience, crawl out a little way, movie lines still?

-seems like two separate characters: 1) bubbly, happy, dumb, sweet, friendly girl, very open and says what’s on her mind, or 2) endearing and excitable, introverted, not very friendly because quite awkward and weird, watches films like the ones those lines come from and plays video games, more of a tomboy >>> not sure which to play..

-I think I prefer the bubbly/eccentric/in her own world/always thinking about other stuff so often comes out with random things/happy/friendly/walks into stuff frequently/very Brittany-like character...

25th September

-start to work on characters –focus on their physicality, the way they move/hold themselves

·         Crawling?

·         Crouching, suspicious movement, back against the wall

·         Gets lost>oversized map>sits down with audience, bored, falls asleep/bites nails/talks to person beside them???>>gets noticed by another character and dragged away

·         large cartoon-like steps

-news documentary –mug shots [pulling funny face, looking slightly confused/afraid, grinning ridiculously], CCTV footage [hoods]

                Character IDEAS:

·         twitch/character trait: rubbing eye/nose

·         says whatever she’s thinking

·         crouching/jumping around>very energetic/excited

·         enthusiastic as part of gang, relating to robbery, but doesn’t understand or help with much of the plan

·         crayon [writes name on everything?]

·         gets quite close to others randomly, like slinging arm over their shoulder, staring??

·         sings randomly?

·         wears bright or really obvious clothing for the robbery>really dumb

·         sucks thumb?

·         The really sweet and endearing character, partly because of her stupidity and inability to do anything helpful

·         walks into things/gets lost/trips over frequently

·         lives with mum or dad??

·         slightly asexual, innocent mind

·         cleaning job at Sainsbury’s >met leader of gang

24th September

-homework was to think about characters we might play –old woman/psychotic idiot??

-hot-seating to develop characters:

·         Elizabeth-serious leader

·         Pia-grandmother

·         Taylor-pregnant grandchild

·         Me-psychotic/idiotic one >>Georgie, 20, lives with dad, no job, needs to get a job to get own place, plays video games, wants to join army [doesn’t know much about that], stupid, bad school grades,

-nervous twitch/character trait –rubbing eye/nose/face/fingers?

-stupid in a funny way, says idiotic things<<Brittany from Glee

18th September

Robbery-

Created some characters:
-wanted really stereotypical, hilarious characters
-would be good with an old woman who smokes a lot, thinks she's younger than she really is
-a woman with a young child, or a pregnant girl would have comedic value; can't do as much physically as the others
-some kind of stupid or crazy character to have an extreme viewpoint
-slightly more serious leader, but has bad ideas so none ofthem are really clever or cut out for a successful robbery.
-someone who is not in the gang, an intruder, a policeman... , someone who infiltrates their plan

Characters:           -dopey one [grandchild?]

                                -psychotic one

                                -grandmother [old woman, keen/enthusiastic, bad back, drunk?]

                                -serious leader [original idea?]

                                -intruder -clever one [phone call to tip off the victims]

-planning a robbery together of money/object/getting something back that belongs to them?, practice taking hostages etc. with audience, leave with really bad plan[funny]>turn on audience,

Political Protest-

-group of people linked by their hate/anger towards an organisation/group [government, political party?], protesting their anger/their rights

-anger at unemployment? –meet at job centre,

Development from initial material:

-New York -9/11

-plane hijackers, bad unexpected situation, 'secrets'<>theme of piece of theatre,

Comedy because: -different way of expressing the unexpected side, different way to look at the situation, exploring the comedic side of really terrible criminals –bad at being bad,

-criminals, planning a crime, secret, unexpected by the victims, family unaware?,