Birth of TV Comedy, Monday First Period

[chosehumanity]

"And this week, we're starting with the actual comedy," Mitchell said, without really seguing much. "Not to disparage anyone's jokes, but I think some of you are dearly in need of some education."

He clapped his hands.

"Let's start at the beginning," he said. "Like most genres in television, the TV comedy was birthed from the radio tradition. In fact, in the old days, some sitcoms on TV ran concurrent with similar shows on the radio, such as Hancock's Half Hour. Sadly, a lot of these series have been lost, such as Pinwright's Progress, which was never recorded in a fashion it could be recovered in."

Mitchell had seen it. Not that he'd brag about it.

"So sadly, we have to look to the sixties for the real material. If you stay in Britain, at least. The 'sitcom', the situational comedy, was always the most prevalent kind of TV comedy. The other two options were stand-up and sketch comedy; the former involved a single person, sometimes two, talking to the audience. The second involved unrelated short bits of comedy, stuffed into a single show. Like meta for Monty Python, but we'll be getting to that next week. Sitcoms, on the other hand, had a consistent storyline set in a situational background. Like a family, or a business."

He pushed himself up out of his chair. "So much for the boring background," he said, "We're here to watch TV, right? Early fifties, and the sixties. We'll show some examples of British and American sitcoms and see about the differences."

Beat.

"And then I want you all to tell me which part of your life would work the best as a sitcom. Just for the fun of it."

[[ wait for the ocd up! ]]

Comments

Sign In

[chosehumanity]

Situationally!

Re: Sign In

[therewaslife]

Nobody Owens

Listen to the Lecture

[chosehumanity]

Take notes, if you feel like you have to. Enjoy the chairs.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[therewaslife]

Bod still hadn't really gotten all his thoughts in order so he still appeared distracted and oddly distant at times but there were notes being taken and he was paying attention especially since he didn't really know comedy.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[mania-endless.livejournal.com]

Chairs!

And believe it or not, she was absolutely aware of what was going on in the class. Never mind the fact she had also seen all those shows herself as well.

Sitcom #1

[chosehumanity]

"The Fighting Tigers was the story of a few army washouts who still met up as army volunteers. They flash back to the 1940s, where this motly crew had to stand guard in the eventuality of having to hold the line against the incoming Germans."

Not that Mitchell had a Thing about the World Wars, or anything. Anyway, there's a clip. "What kind of humor do you think it is? Do you find it funny at all?"

Re: Sitcom #1

[therewaslife]

"It...I can see where there might be humor found in a serious situation such as a war," said Bod after some thought. "It might be a nice way to lighten things up and give people an escape, so to speak. With the setting as it is, it might not rely so much on physical comedy but on things that are less direct and more funny if you think about them."

Re: Sitcom #1

[hrodberxtas.livejournal.com]

"I think this is a mix of comedy types, some black humor about the war and how dire it could get, some slapstick and some jokes typical for the era. I think it has merit as comedy, but it's a bit dated. Had one lived during the war, this show would probably resonate well. Yeah, I think it has it's moments" said Robin.

Re: Sitcom #1

[mania-endless.livejournal.com]

"I think they really needed to watch the real war; that one was funny. And they had tanks. And hats." But the Germans were slightly funny though. "Maybe they were too sad about being bombed and killed and resigned to suffer that they started to think it was worth, um, a ? Maybe they can't forrrrrrget."

Sitcom #2

[chosehumanity]

"I Heart Heather was a real game changer for television comedy," Mitchell announced. "It set the standard for comedy on American TV for decades to come. It was actually based on a radio show - obviously - and was really just a ploy by the actress to get her husband back to the States." He gave that one a thoughtful look. "It was also the first show to ever show a pregnant woman. How's that for progress?"

"Same question as the first. What kind of humor is it? Do you find it funny?" He showed the clip.

Re: Sitcom #2

[therewaslife]

Bod had, at least, heard of this sitcom. He hadn't seen any of it but something was better than nothing.

"It's funny," Bod decided even if his mun couldn't access YT OH THE HUMANITY, "in a sort of...obvious way, if that makes sense. They seem to make sure that the whole audience will get the comedy and not just a select few."

Re: Sitcom #2

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe had grown up watching re-runs of this show and had loved it.

"I think that Heather and the situations she can get herself into are pretty amusing. A lot of the time, she starts out with the best of intentions and it just manages to go completely awry for her."

Re: Sitcom #2

[hrodberxtas.livejournal.com]

Robin could only shake his head. "Comedy for folks who like soap operas. I find the main character to be annoying and her voice grates on my nerves. Still, some of the situations she gets into are funny. And the line "Heather, you have some 'splainin' to do.." is iconic." He grinned, "It did give me a few ideas though."

Re: Sitcom #2

[mania-endless.livejournal.com]

Del was laughing a lot. "They...they...they're, they are So. GREY." What? That was also funny. Once she calmed down, Delirium actually took a moment to give a more or less logical answer.

"Lucy is silly. I don't know if that is funny. Funny people can be silly, but silly people usually are rude, not funny."

Two Questions

[chosehumanity]

"What are the differences and the similarities between these two shows?" he asked. "And where would you set a sitcom about your own life? No ducking the question, I'm watching you lot."

Re: Two Questions

[therewaslife]

"There's the difference in setting, obviously," Bod answered after a moment. "One's taking place during a very real event and the other could be taking place in what could have been any day during that time period. The humor is derived differently from different situations and using some different ways to make the audience laugh."

The second part had Bod pausing, lips pursed while he thought. He knew the obvious answer. Everyone probably knew the obvious answer. "I don't know if I could say a specific location. Maybe a variety of different places while I'm traveling? A new town each episode to provide new situations for humor?"

Re: Two Questions

[vanillajello]

"The big similarity is that neither of them are funny. One's just American and loud, while the other's British." Beat. "And really kinda loud too."

Oh yeah. Someone was in a great mood.

"Also, a sitcom about my life?" She snorted derisively. "Probably set in an insane asylum masquerading as a school. Or a home."

Re: Two Questions

[hrodberxtas.livejournal.com]

"Well, the second show relies more on slapstick and zany situations that even silly people would have a hard time finding themselves in. Where as the first one relies more on the times, things folks might have found funny only during the war.". He shrugged, "A story based on my life would probably be like the Three Stooges, and take place near Athens. With me as the viewer.."

Re: Two Questions

[iknowstuff.livejournal.com]

"Well in the case of I Heart Heather, you're dealing with a good deal of slapstick that comes naturally out of a situation," Layla replied. "And then the lunacy of the show keeps building on it and so forth until it reaches the climax. As for my own sitcom... It would have to be about a girl working for a detective agency where all the employees have super powers."

Except for Rictor but he didn't really count.

Talk to the TAs

[chosehumanity]

When they ping in.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[bitten_notshy]

Jack felt tired today, for no real reason. (Well, other than that a first period class was always early.) He rested his chin on his folded arms as he watched the comedy clips, ready to try to assist students if they needed it.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[vanillajello]

Kate felt tired for several real reasons. One was simply that she'd slept really poorly. The others were also reasons why she'd slept so poorly.

Her face was impassive as she slouched in her seat, but her hand was fiddling with her necklace.

Talk to Mitchell

[chosehumanity]

Who's already here, and somewhat thoughtful.

Re: Talk to Mitchell

[vanillajello]

Kate didn't think inviting Mitchell's attention to herself was a very good idea right now, but she had excuses to make for her absent roomie, so...

"Bobby had to go home for some stuff."

OOC

[chosehumanity]

I want to go home so I can have an old school sitcom rewatch session. Shh.

Re: OOC

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

. . . so randomly, I discovered that watching Being Human on the plane occasionally makes the person sitting next to you make the o.O face a lot.

*innocent whistle*

Oops?