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Why are so few comedy characters actually funny?


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Old 14-03-2011, 01:34
blue_cobalt
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Why are so few comedy characters actually funny?

For example in Corrie, Kirk, Julie, Fiz, Graeme, Aunty Pam, Sean and Mary are supposed to be funny all the time but just come across as a bit dim.

Dev, Eddie and Norris, however, actually are funny.
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Old 14-03-2011, 01:41
Pete Callan
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Eddie Windass? Yeah...he has me in stitches

I find Julie and Mary brilliant at comedy. As are Rosie and Jason and the Croppers and the supreme Barbara Knox is so powerful an actress there's nothing she can't do. Betty Driver is also sublime Corrie are head and shoulders above the others when it comes to comedy.
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Old 14-03-2011, 02:04
blue_cobalt
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Eddie Windass is even funnier than Blanche, so she is.
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Old 14-03-2011, 02:56
lovinluka
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I don't think ANY 'comedy' soap characters are funny, although the worst offenders in unfunniness are Mary (why is she even still there!?), Kirk, Sean and Rosie in Corrie and Heather in EE.

It's because soaps aren't comedies, so their ~quirkyness~ or downright stupidity jars when the next scene is something big and dramatic with more realistic characters. They can't have the best of both worlds, and that's why comedy characters don't work.

If they write in comedy to characters who aren't JUST comedy characters, like the Masoods, (and of course it helps if the actors can act and have comic timing), then it has potential to actually raise a laugh.
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Old 14-03-2011, 07:24
Tom-Bennett.
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Only John Stape makes me laugh in soaps
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Old 14-03-2011, 09:00
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Fiz and Pam are suppose to be "comedy" characters?

Apart from the odd scene with Pam selling knock offs or whatever, I don't view her as a comedy character.

As for Fiz...

I do agree, though, that sometimes "comedy" characters aren't funny.

Duncan (HO), Heather & Arthur (EE), Kirk & Sean (CS)... Get rid :sleep:

I do think Mary, Norris, Julie & Blanche (CS) and Kim (EE) work(ed) as comedy characters, though.
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Old 14-03-2011, 09:36
bill luvs t.v
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I find Rosie, Mary and Norris quite funny but not Sean, Kirk and definetly Heather
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Old 14-03-2011, 11:43
cj86
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I think it is the type of comedy used. Characters like Heather in EE are very caricatured, almost slapstick, which I think falls flat. In my opinion, characters like Blanche and Mary in Corrie work brilliantly because the comedy, or humour is character-based and dialogue-led, not relying on stupid pratfalls for comic effect. This is why I think Kirk for instance does not work, because he, and Heather are just too unbelievable. It's all about humour, rather than comedy. In my opinion, of course!
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Old 14-03-2011, 11:50
cm1992
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Blanche was the funniest soap character ever. Mary was bareable in the beginning but just not funny and cringeworty since last year. That scene where she swung her handbag at Greame was awful as was her NYE contribution. Heather was funny in the beggining also, for her dance moves.

I now find characters like Tracy Barlow and Rosie Webster funny. Come to think of it, Eastenders is funnier than Corrie. I enjoy Kat and Alfie, Dot and Mo.
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Old 14-03-2011, 11:53
tenchgirl
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i think it depends on whos writing for them as to if it comes across on screen.
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Old 14-03-2011, 13:15
TheBaronSpell
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Did anybody else watch Barbara Windsor: A Comedy Roast a few months back? Some of the current EE cast played themselfs and did a rather funny sketch. Jake Wood was quite funny to be honest.
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Old 14-03-2011, 14:49
Face Of Jack
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i think it depends on whos writing for them as to if it comes across on screen.
I agree with this. And characters like Blanche and Mary get the laughs, because they are playing it straight and 'in character'.
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Old 14-03-2011, 14:52
matt99
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I suppose, as with anything else, comedy is very subjective. For example, I find Eddie Windass and Graeme hilarious but I know others don't like them. Similarly I can't stand Mary but a few people that have already posted on here find her funny
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Old 14-03-2011, 14:53
BadRomance
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Summer Bay's Colleen is hilarious.
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Old 14-03-2011, 15:06
TheBaronSpell
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I miss the neighbourly fued between Norris and Les in Corrie when Les would call him Dorris lol
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Old 14-03-2011, 18:08
thejoyof_pat
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Kim Fox and The Masood usually make me laugh.
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Old 14-03-2011, 18:15
sorcha_healy27
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I think EE do better at funny one liners than corrie- like Glenda had some great lines and so does Shirley and Zainab but Corrie has the edge when it comes to comedic characters and of Blanche who cannot be bettered IMO
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