On playing dumb

Ken Levine, Emmy Award winning comedy writer, alum of M*A*S*H, Cheers, Wings, Frasier, Almost Perfect, and Becker, so he should know from funny, on getting laughs playing dumb:

Everyone thinks it’s easy playing dumb. It’s not. To make a character dumb but real is exceedingly hard. The irony is you have to be incredibly smart to play dumb. You need expert timing, you need to really commit to the character, and you have to make us believe that the stupid things you say are not stupid to you. For my money, the two comediennes who played dumb to perfection were Judy Holliday and Gracie Allen. Both had IQ’s off the charts.

I think this part is key: “you have to make us believe that the stupid things you say are not stupid to you.”

Ken’s writing in praise of Shawnee Smith, suggesting she ranks up there with Holliday and Allen.  Thing is, if you know who Shawnee Smith is these days you probably know her from her ability to survive from one Saw movie to the next.

Ken knows her best from working with her on Becker.

Read all of Ken’s post.

I never watched Becker, for some reason, even though Ted Danson’s one of my acting heroes.  Which is why I’m so frustrated that we don’t have HBO.  I hear Danson’s brilliant on Bored to Death.

Anybody out there with a DVR been recording it and feel like burning a DVD for me?  Snail mail address is at the top of the left hand sidebar.

Also, while I’m begging, Dexter, Season 4 so far?

Comments

[Dutch]

I'm ashamed I didn't know her name. She was the only reason I watched as much of the first season as I did.

I'm a sucker for a cute woman with a muppet voice.

Dark hair, definitely. The blonde thing is just wrong on her.

Wow. Suddenly I'm recasting "Bound" in my head with Shawnee, Jennifer Tilly, and me as the flannel shirt between them.

[Dutch]

Or better yet, Shawnee, Jennifer, and Megan Mullaley.

Now THERE is the holy trifecta of muppet-voiced women.

I'd gladly play role of Pizza Boy for THAT sorority .

[CJColucci]

Reminds me of a Frasier episode where the brothers Crane were excited because a great actor they had idolized in their youth (played by a great actor, Sir Derek jacobi) was coming to town to perform. Turns out he's a scenery-chomping ham of the worst sort. I always wanted to ask Sir Derek how a great actor plays a bad actor, and how that differs from just being a bad actor.

[actor212]

CJ,

I can't speak for Jacobi, nor am I a great actor, but I am pretty good, and have played a bad actor (one-act play "At Home"...look it up, it's a funny play)

The way I've played that character (acting technique hint coming here) is to do a sense memory of having a really bad cold or the flu.

You know, how the only thing that matters in the world is feeling better about yourself, no matter the burden on the rest of the planet? Indeed, the rest of the world is a major burden that you have to put up with and that they owe you for putting up with them.

From there, it becomes pretty easy.

[PJ]

Actors are always smarter than the character. Actors know what happens next. Watching a good actor get around that is always interesting to me. The easy way out is to just make the character really smart and aware. Which is not really how people are. But making it real is half the job, I think. After that it has to be entertaining. Really not easy. Tilly in "Bullets Over Broadway" is one of the high watermarks,IMHO.

[June Starr]

Oh, I feel my tribute to Ted Knight coming on. My husband and I have always worshipped at the shrine of Ted Baxter, one of the truly iconic characters ever to hit the small screen. We've watched MTM over and over, and while other actors on the show occasionally break character, Ted Knight NEVER does. Toward the end of the series, when they were doing more with Ted Baxter--giving him the opportunity for a little depth and growth, he played him to perfection. I don't think Knight ever got the credit he deserved as an actor--or even as an actor in this particular role. He was simply brilliant at playing dumb.

Let me look into the dvr capabilities around here. We have an older model and I've always been under the impression we couldn't burn dvds but we just got another from the local cable outfit and it might be a possibility. HBO would have to run a BtD marathon for it to work, but let's see, shall we. Stay tuned, as they say. Danson is terrific.

[Tom K Mason]

Danson is brilliantly funny in Bored To Death. Watch the episodes as quickly as you can. He comes across as free and loose, as if he doesn't care what others think of him or if he ever gets another job. He makes a fairly unlikable character sympathetic. It's the stuff of Emmys.