Comic Behaviour
There’s a nice sketch in the underrated show
“ManStrokeWoman” of a few years ago. Daisy Haggard accosts slobby boyfriend
Nick Frost to tell him she’s leaving. It’s all been going wrong. Rather than
acting with shock or pain, he tries to reassure her, mumbling “No, it’s been
fine.” When she starts to get a bit het up, his mood changes to lust: “I know
that look. Time for a bit of hanky panky!” The madder she gets, the more he
treats it as a game.
It’s funny because an expected reaction is being
subverted. In every situation, there’s an accepted way of behaving. Or, if not
accepted, one that we can expect, whether in a formal situation like a job
interview or an emotional trauma like being dumped by your partner. If you
think that comedy comes from the unexpected, as I do about half the time, then
by making someone behave in a way which breaks either the formal protocol, the
polite way of going about the business in hand, or an emotional rule, you give
yourself a load of comic possibilities.
Pick a situation, any situation, and ask “How are
they expected to behave?” Make the response subtly different from the accepted
one, wildly askew, or even an exaggerated version of it. When you go to the
dentist, you’re supposed to be slightly nervous. There may be pain. Someone is
going to delve about in a very intimate part of your body, your mouth. But
instead of fear, what if this actually turns you on? Everything about sitting
in that chair, the plastic bib, the drill, the injection, gives you an
ineffable thrill…. You bet the dentist won’t be used to this. It’s creepy. There
are various ways he or she could react, but whatever way you take it, you’re
giving yourself comedy possibilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment