Baseball Toaster: The Juice Blog : Really Funny Clip on Myspace

On a more serious note: why are most stand-up comics such good dramatic actors? Or am I seeing things? Yeah, I know, the question isn't all that specific so for those who want to nitpick, I'm not talking about Pauly Shore. I'm not necessarily talking about Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey or (dare I say it?) Whoopi Goldberg (though feel free to use them to back up my point). I'm talking about people like Lewis Black who turned in an excellent cameo on "Homicide" in scenes with another pretty damn good comic-turned-actor Richard Belzer.

So, provided you accept the premise (if not, this is a very short conversation)... Please Explain: why do stand-up comics make such good dramatic actors? Is it because the best stand-up comics deal with dark material that is easily transferrable to a dramatic character? That's my theory.

2007-07-21 09:04:08

2. Scott Long

I think your reasoning is good. I would add that stand-up comics study people to find the humor of the human condition, so they know what feels real and what seems fake. While acting lessons I'm sure are important, the ability to know what lacks reality in your performance is important.

This is why I think most of the recent great sitcoms featured standup comics in major roles. Give a Larry David or a Gary Shandling some autonomy in producing a show, as Chris Albrecht did at HBO and you get brilliant shows like Curb or Larry Sanders. Of course, I'm biased.

Thanks for the order. I will send it out Monday.

2007-07-21 17:22:23

3. Suffering Bruin

And thank you for providing the best answer I've heard to my query--stand-up comics study people to find the humor of the human condition, so they know what feels real and what seems fake. That's it in a nutshell, I think. I knew Carrey as a comic but he's a first-rate dramatist and I wouldn't have predicted that. But then I saw an old Clint Eastwood movie recently and Carrey did a cameo before he was Jim Carrey! and he was terrific in a very non-comedic role.

Shakespeare would've been a helluva stand-up.