I <3 Comedy

I made a discovery last night. I love comedy. And I love playing angry in a scene, especially if this scene is a comedy.

I had never met my scene partner, but I did know some of the people who weren’t there last week. We also got a visit before class, and talked about the business and how long it takes to get credits, or what is considered a good year and so on. Very enlightening, depressing, and exciting, all at once.

I was on camera for the first two groups, then me and my scene partner got to run our lines a few times before we went up, at which point we went a total of 5 times. I had a few mishaps with my lines, but I was the only one who noticed most, and my scene partner completely saved me for the other one. I need to remember to fall forward, and not let my brain get flustered when I make a tiny mistake.

I have to admit that looking back, I never really internalized what was going on, so a lot of it was superficial. That’s not a good thing, obviously, but being in it may have compensated for that. Especially when I was struggling not to laugh. I have probably mentioned that it was when I was in L.A. that I first found out I wasn’t terrible at comedy, even it scares me because I think I’m no good at it. Since then, every time I have been given a comedic scene, I just have more and more fun. My biggest issue now is finding ways to not laugh at what my scene partner is doing in the scene, even if the camera people and Suzanna are already laughing.

I think the laughter might be why I love comedy so much now. If you are doing a really dramatic scene, you usually have to feel whether or not a scene went well, unless you are getting feedback. In a comedy, you can tell how you did by whether you got the laughs. You can try new things and see if it brings a reaction where before there was none. I was eating a piece of cucumber for the scene, and more than just giving me something to do, it gave me something to emphasize the comedy of some moments, and bring new life to others. Every take, I would try to tweak things, keeping what worked, but playing with the rest to see if I could make it funnier. Making it a challenge also made it so much fun.

Our last take, we did the subtext exercise before going into it, so I started off a little more annoyed with her, and less willing to play nice and pretend for her. It also let me play with her more; waiting for her reactions, and taking in what she was doing.

I absolutely love dramas, and although romantic comedies still have my heart, I definitely won’t say no to a comedy 🙂

“Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.”

-Khalil Gibran