Comedy Q & A: Tips for Sketch Writing?

Monty Python “Any particular tips for approaching sketch writing? In particular, any advice for coming up with strong endings? Endings for sketches are tough– that’s why Python used to simply skip to another sketch or make a joke about the fact that...

Comedy Q & A: Acting in a badly written comedy?

Disaster Movie (2008) Q: What can an actor do to help a comedy script/scene/moment that is just badly written or structured? What do you do when the writing is bad, but the director wants a laugh? A:     One approach is not to worry about what...
How To Be Funny During A Pandemic

How To Be Funny During A Pandemic

Mark Twain said that comedy is “tragedy plus time,” but where’s the comedy in the middle of the tragedy? And we’re all familiar with the concept of whistling past the graveyard. But how can you create comedy when you’re stuck in the middle of the graveyard, and there...
AFI’s 100 Laughs: #97 – Bull Durham

AFI’s 100 Laughs: #97 – Bull Durham

Probably my second favorite Kevin Costner baseball movie. I’m not sure that Bull Durham is a funny movie; I really don’t remember laughing all that much. But who cares—I love it, and I too, like Crash Davis and Kevin Costner, believe in Bull Durham and the Church of...