4 Comic Timings: Fixed Point (.) - The fixed point functions as a full stop, a brief stop in movement where the actors look at each other after a comedic moment, for example if two people were sitting in a room that is meant to be completely silent and one of their phones goes off and it's a really cringe worthy ringtone and they both stop what they're doing and look at each other like 'whaaaaat'. Drop (...) - The comic drop functions as an ellipsis, this is when the character in the sketch will come completely out of character for a few seconds stare into the audience and then suddenly go back into character and continue with what they were doing. For example, if one character was talking to another character and they started rambling on and on about a boring topic and the character listening, after a few seconds gazes out to the audience as if to ask the audience for help. Comic Stop (!) - The Comic Stop functions as an exclamation mark and it is a all over body flinch reaction to a specific moment in the scene/sketch. For example if a character was in a shopping centre, carrying lots of bags whilst lots of people are all crazily rushing round shopping and the characters phone ring, they first of all flinch when they acknowledge their phone ringing, then again as a reaction when they see who is ringing them and again when they find out why they are ringing them. This gives a comedic effect as the audience are not expecting it and it's very exaggerated. Suspension (,) - The function of Suspension is a comma and this is well, to create suspension. An example of suspension is one character telling another character a really interesting story and just as they're about to tell the huge exciting outcome/ending they are distracted by something and take ages to continue the story. Clown: After we had done several exercises learning about the four comic timings we then learnt about the Clown, this is a character who is very clumsy, stupid version of you so is always getting in sticky situations but the Clown will always want to help others and will feel terrible if his stupidness effects others, an example of this is the poo on shoe sketch. In this sketch the Clown will meet the 'Straight Man' somewhere and the clown will be overly happy and generally making a 'clown' of themselves and the Straight Man is trying his hardest to ignore this and stay sensible, however the clown doesn't realize he has feces on his shoe until he accidently wipes it on the Straight Man and then when realises tries his hardest to help but instead makes everything worse. We were put into twos to replicate this sketch. We decided that the Straight man should be at the cinema and the Clown walks in late being noisy and when he sits down he keeps saying things to the straight man and talking over the movie and getting so excited about his 'favourite film' that he accidently knocks the SM's popcorn out of his hands, the clown is very sorry and picks the floor popcorn up and gives it back to the SM. Then the Clown accidently wipes the poo onto the SM's trousers and the Clown tries his hardest to get rid of it but ends up smudging it and getting it everywhere. Straightman: Like i talked about in the previous paragraph this character is serious and doesn't find any of the Clowns antics funny and tries to ignore him and get on with his day to day life.
Information about Philippe Gaulier:
Philippe Gaulier was born in Paris, 4 March 1943 and is a French master clown, pedagogue, and professor of theatre. He is the founder of École Philippe Gaulier, a prestigious French clown school in Étampes, outside Paris. He studied under Jacques Lecoq in the mid-1960s and was an instructor at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in the late 1970s. As well as performing as a clown, he is also a playwright and director. He has published The Tormentor (Le Gégèneur), a book discussing his thoughts on the theatre and containing exercises designed to develop an actor's skill.
May 1st
I have decided on doing a comedy song for the variety performance and i have decided on the song Taylor the Latte Boy by Kristin Chenoweth because i think the song is funny to listen to especially on the way 'Taylors' responses are made, for example, 'How are you?' and 'Hey' are said in the typical 'cool' guy 'not bothered about girls' sort of voice and going from over the top girly, giddy with love voice and facial expressions i think makes it even better.
May 6th
I have been learning the lyrics to the song and understanding the humour and looking at the ways i can perform the song, for example, i could tell the story as if it's from a child's obsessive love towards their 'first love', i got this idea from the thinking of the singer thinking that 'Taylor' loves her after giving her a triple latte instead of double, or i could go the complete opposite and sing it in a stalker-y kind of way, i got this idea from the way she constantly documents the time '8:11' and the repetition of 'I love him'.
May 8th
I have decided to do the song as if it's like a young girls first love sort of thing. So because i've decided on this i am going to go for a 'dear diary' sort of theme, because in the song she calls the song her 'musical poem' so i thought that she could be writing it in her diary and getting all excited about this new found affection. This means i am going to get hold of a pink? really girly diary, a pen, and for costume i was either thinking pink pyjamas or just casual girly outfit.
May 13th
At first i was thinking of just using the instrumental version of the song i found on YouTube as my backing track but i have decided to ask Ben to play piano for me instead, and he has agreed to.
May 14th
I have been working on my vocals for the song because in a couple of the verses the notes are very high and at the moment i can only just hit them so hopefully i can improve on this and actually make them sound better. I have also been working on my timing of the song by going over it with the instrumental version on YouTube.
May 15th
I am using the comic technique 'Drop' in my song on the lines 'how are you?' and 'hey' which are in the voice of 'Taylor', because before these lines i am looking really enthusiastic and smiley and then when i speak these lines i go straight face, look out to the audience then pause and go back to the smiley, giddy in love character.
May 20th
Today we had a tech run through and each act told the people on sound and lighting what they wanted. For me because i don't really occupy a lot of the space i only want a single sort of spotlight downstage centre and a pinky wash as my song is very lovey dovey and girly twirly. :) I have also decided to go back to my original idea of using the backing track as i feel a lot more comfortable with it and it means i can practice more often.
May 21st
Today I practiced my song in the college practice rooms, I am still finding it very difficult to hit some of the very high notes in the song, I followed a couple of warm up exercises on YouTube and have found it a bit easier and I feel that every time I've practiced my voice is getting more comfortable with it.
Props:
pink diary with pictures of 'Taylor' in it
pen
My main idea is to do a comedy song, here are some i found of YouTube that i have enjoyed
I looked into Tim Minchin who is famous for doing an act where he plays piano whilst singing in a comedic style, i looked at him specifically because i like his humour and especially in his song 'Prejudice' where he starts singing seriously about, what the audience thinks is a difficult serious subject (racism) but then it turns out that he is actually talking about hair colour (gingers).
I also looked at more Musical type comedy songs.
Stars and the Moon
Taylor the Latte Boy
I specifically like this song because it is a musical theatre type song.
1. Variety Shows A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts (hence the name), especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère (master of ceremonies) or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling and ventriloquism. The variety format made its way from Victorian era stage to radio to television. Variety shows were a staple of anglophone television from its early days (late 1940's) into the 1970s, and lasted into the 1980s. (And even further, when considering Saturday Night Live, for example, which is still currently active. (1975- )) In several parts of the world, variety TV remains popular and widespread. -Wikipedia definitionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_show Music
Hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment popular between 1850 and 1960. It involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy,speciality acts and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. British music hall was similar to American vaudeville, featuring rousing songs and comic acts, while in the United Kingdom the term "vaudeville"' referred to more working-class types of entertainment that would have been termed "burlesque" in America.
Originating in saloon bars within public houses during the 1830s, music hall entertainment became increasingly popular with audiences, so much so, that during the 1850s, the public houses were demolished and music hall theatres developed in their place. These theatres were designed chiefly so people could consume food and alcohol and smoke tobacco in the auditorium while the entertainment took place. This differed somewhat from the conventional type of theatre, which until then seated the audience in stalls with a separate bar-room. Early music halls included the Canterbury Music Hall in Lambeth and The Middlesex, in Drury Lane, otherwise known as the Old Mo.
Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque. Called "the heart of American show business," vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades.
Thomas Andrew Lehrer (born April 9, 1928) is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician. He is best known for the pithy, humorous songs he recorded in the 1950s and 1960s.
His work often parodies popular song forms, though he usually creates original melodies when doing so. A notable exception is "The Elements", where he sets the names of the chemical elements to the tune of the "Major-General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan'sPirates of Penzance. Lehrer's early work typically dealt with non-topical subject matter and was noted for its black humor in songs such as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park". In the 1960s, he produced a number of songs dealing with social and political issues of the day, particularly when he wrote for the U.S. version of the television show That Was the Week That Was.
Poisoning pigeons in the park
Famous Variety Venues
London Palladium -The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in Londonand the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety shows. The theatre has also hosted the Royal Variety Performance more than any other theatre, most recently in 2013.
(Taken from the website)
-HISTORY
The London Palladium opened on Boxing Day 1910 with the first ‘grand variety bill’ featuring acts as diverse as Nellie Wallace and classical actor Martin Harvey.
Venues
There have been a total of 17 theatres that have staged the 81 Royal Variety Performances, and the 1912 Royal Command Performance. Out of the total of 82 shows, 75 have been in London theatres and seven in other cities and towns.
2. Two types of variety acts that i could see myself perform
Comedy song
- The same as regular singing but the lyrics are written to make the audience laugh, some artists make it humourous for example by the way they dress, their persona, the voice they use, facial expressions or the movements they make.
(more commonly known as Novelty Songs - apparently)
-Anovelty songis a comical or nonsensicalsong, performed principally for itscomical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs.Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s.
Novelty songs are often a parody or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as a dance. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation, and may not even be musical. "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" has little music and is set to a rhythm tapped out on a snare drum and tambourine. One novelty song, a remix of "Axel F" by Crazy Frog, started as a mobile phone ringtone.
Comedy sketch
- A scene/scenario that an actor/ group of actors comes up with that is written in order to make the audience laugh, these are very popular for variety shows/ talent shows as they are normally quite short and are very successful in making people laugh if done correctly. Asketch comedycomprises a series of shortcomedyscenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as radio and television. Often sketches are first improvised by the actors and written down based on the outcome of theseimprovsessions; however, such improvisation is not necessarily involved in sketch comedy.
Sketch comedians routinely differentiate their product from a "skit", maintaining that a skit is a (single) dramatized joke (or "bit") while a sketch is a comedic exploration of a concept, character or situation. (I have looked into comedy sketches in a separate post)
I chose these two particular acts because personally i find them the funniest and for me a good variety act should make the audience laugh.
I looked into various comedy sketches from some of my favourite comedians, for example, Rowan Atkinson.
I feel that this sketch was particularly funny because he is referencing to something that as an English person i can relate to it and because i couldn't see the '9 drunk English people' he was talking about when he describes what they were doing i think it almost made it funnier because i had to imagine it.
I chose this as one of my two acts because I am very interested in stand-up comedy, for example, 'Live at the Apollo' & 'Mock the Week' and comedy talk shows, for example, 'Russell Howard's Good news'. I have always been interested in how they can, so quickly think off the top of their heads such funny material, for example in 'Mock the Week' one of the rounds is they get a certain subject and one by one they have to say something funny about that subject and they take a second to think of something then straight away start off a story. I personally think it's amazing.
I'm interested in doing a comedy song because I enjoy listening to parody's of songs, especially joke versions of serious songs, for example, 'trapped in the drive-thru' by Al Yankovic is a parody of 'trapped in the closet' by R.Kelly.
Doing a comedy song is my top choice because a few of my favourite artists do comedy songs for example Tim Minchin, Loretta Maine and Al Yankovic.
Loretta Maine and Tim Minchin's acts are very different to Al Yankovic because Maine and Minchin write all their own songs and also add their own musical ability, for Minchin it's piano and Maine it's guitar whereas Al Yankovic mainly does parodies of well known songs and does his own comedy music videos and puts them on youtube, for example he has made a parody version of Michael Jackson's 'Bad' called 'Fat' where him and backing dancers wear fat suits and describe the troubles of being Fat in a type of gang war theme.
