Learning to Act in Sitcoms:
By Helene Goldnadel of International Creative Artists
I have two words for you: "Set up and punch line". That's it, I'm not even kidding, that's what a writer for Sitcoms has to know and what an actor for Sitcoms has to perform. It's just like what comedians do.
Why then do we give lessons in both comedic acting and improvisation at International Creative Artists? Because being funny is more than just a talent, it's a skill! You can learn comedic timing. You cannot learn to be funny, but many sitcom stars are not funny in real life! Outstanding writing allows them to be funny, as well as the actors ability to act.
Soap stars can be funny without even knowing it. Comedic actors always know what they're doing in the fun department. Magdalena Zielinska knows where she is when she comes up with jokes. Her act is very tight.
Stand up comics repeat the same jokes night after night. Why? Because this tactic works! So do public speakers!
Surprise is another thing you should know about. The further away from the set up that a punch line is, the more different it is, unexpected, while compared to the set up line, and the more effective the "punch line" is.
You shouldn't say: " A Porsche is a car for guys like me...With a mid-life crisis!" You could say: "I didn't get a Porsche because of my mid-life crisis! You can't have the crisis if you don't have a life!"
Or better still. "Some people have no clue about how bad my mid-life crisis is. Like take those people from Niger: Lucky bastards! Try to test-drive a Porsche on a full stomach!"
If you shock the audience often enough, they will laugh. If the audience is made up of your best friends or your family, you may be disappointed when you try a your performance in front of a real audience. That's why it is more frightening to try your act in one of those tiny rooms where you have to bring a friend or two, and then they each have to have two beers plus pay the cover charge, because if the only two people laughing in the room are those two friends, then you know. But if you never leave your living room, you'll never know.
It is my advice that you would write and perform stand up comedy often, if your dream is to be on a sitcom Wait, what was that? YOU WANT TO HAVE YOUR OWN SITCOM? How about a lotto ticket instead?
My point is that a lot of actors that successfully get work on sitcoms or get their own sitcom eventually are stand up comics in their own right.
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