October 30, 2004

• “Sitcom Skool – Part I”

  
  

  

  
  

  The photo in the previous entry is of Andrew Koenig who played Boner Stabone.  Richard Marion played his father on “Growing Pains” and was 50 years old when he passed away – some of you folks need to read more carefully and not just look at the pictures.  Andrew Koening aka “Boner” is alive and well.  In fact, he just played The Joker in the popular short film, “Batman: Dead End” http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2474406 ).  He is also the real son of Walter Koenig (“Chekov” of Star Trek), who incidentally also happens to be alive.  

  
  

  So, here’s a partial list of “rules” that my former teachers Richard Marion and Mary Lou Belli formulated on the sitcom art form. 

  
  

  1) Faster is funnier … or Louder and Faster is funnier.

  
  

  2) Say the line first, then move.  (Meaning lock down, say your dialogue and then you can walk around.  If you say it while you’re doing an action, it muddles up the joke).

  
  

  3) Comedy comes in 3′s.  (It’s often called a “run”.  Ex: Coffee, Tea, Me?  –  See?)

  
  

  4) Don’t move on the joke – don’t hurt it.  (Derived from rule #2.  Rule #2 is just for any dialogue or the set up of the joke and Rule #4 pertains to the most important part: The joke itself.)

  
  

  5) Make sure you understand the setup (Ex: “Coffee, Tea…” is the set up of the “Me” joke).

  
  

  6) Hold for laughs.  (If the audience is laughing, hold off on speaking until the laughter subsides.  Otherwise, if you continue, the audience will miss your next piece of dialogue while laughing AND/OR they will be tentative to laugh the next time because they’re unsure whether if you’ve finished the joke — fearing that they’ll miss more lines.  And it will actually start to piss them off.  Let them enjoy the joke, then continue).

  
  

  Okay, enough “Skool” for today!  The remaining 4 Rules to come next class.  Btw, how long did it take you to catch the visual/photo set-up throughout this entry? 

  • 4:18 pm
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