British Comedy Guide

Bad Acting

Dont know if there was ever a thread for this.
Many threads are about good sitcoms and good writers.
Of the succesful ones, can you spot or sense bad acting in them?
Sometimes the text is good but spoiled by bad acting.
In reverse, some excellent comedians are trapped in a lousy text.

Wether the writing is good or bad, the actor has always some responsability, cause he must have read the text beforehand and decline the job if he sees its not a top quality comedy. Other times could be a financial choice, he/she knows the script is rubbish but the money is good.

Examples of good comedians in bad scripts is Rowan in Mr Bean Hollywood movies.
Examples of bad acting in sitcoms were (in my opinion) from Nigel Planer (The Young Ones) to Noel Fielding in "The IT Crowd". Slow-talking voice to build a funny character is a low trick in theatre. And about IT Crowd: what was the point of that Richmond character anyway? Completely pointless. I mention these because they were succesful sitcoms. Obviously all sitcoms that didnt make it had either bad writing, acting or both.
lk

Yeah I agree about Noel Fielding. Really wasn't that great was he??

To be honest though, I wasn't overly impressed with the Irish bloke or the woman either (their names escape me).

Richard Ayoade is brilliant in it though I think. I swear he deliberately acts bad, but somehow it's really good!? Weird.

I thought Nigel Planer played his part well in The Young Ones. It was Mike who was rubbish.

The Coming of Age pilot (not the first episode, the one from the actual 'Comedy Pilots' series). The acting was atrocious. I don't think the script was that bad underneath, but Dani Harmer was the only one who came out of it with any credit for performance.

Dan

Paul Merton isn't exactly the smoothest of actors.

Dani Harmer was in the pilot? :O

Yes she was. I'll put it on later.

Quote: Chappers @ January 21 2010, 8:22 PM GMT

I thought Nigel Planer played his part well in The Young Ones. It was Mike who was rubbish.

I liked Nigel Planer and Chris Ryan in The Young Ones. It was Alexi Sayle who was rubbish - and just plain annoying most of the time. Apart from: "Is this a cheese shop?"

Share this page