After being involved in the entertainment industry for years as an actor, writer and casting director, there is one thing about acting comedy that I have noticed – it is far more difficult to dwell on the choices committed by characters compared to acting. Although the character variables can exist within the character’s personality, remaining committed to the character’s primary personality and vocal choice is by far one of the more difficult roles for most comic actors.
You can also see examples of professional actors dropping their character choices for the next split in movies. In “Scary Movie II”, which is by far my favorite of the “Scary Movie” franchise, the curator has a voice cast moment in one particular scene. While this may not seem like such an important thing to many people, it immediately took him out of his moral choices and led him into another realm, making him almost a totally different concept at the moment.
Be warned: even losing your character to a split second can pull an audience member completely off the stage and make your character seem incoherent.
This brings me to the most important point – realism. When we talk about comedy, the thing in your mind can’t seem realism at all; however, as an actor, it is your job to convey a sense of realism even when playing a manager who has one “minu” hand and a “turkish” pension loaded with not your typical character, then don’t be a comedy actor.
