by Tim Ferguson
If Dick enters unexpectedly, Bob will have no choice but to warp the lies he and Delores have already told the client. Dick is prone to believe everything Bob says (though the sight of Delores in Bob’s arms will take some quick thinking). Delores will also have to use her cunning to re-frame Dick’s affection for her.
The real trouble starts when Barbara comes home. The threat of her recriminations will dramatically increase the stakes for Bob. (Losing the client will be the least of his problems.) Bob will be forced to apply panicked, elaborate cover-ups and distortions to save himself from exposure. Delores will use double meanings and her own distortions to both maintain the lie and injure Barbara. The naïve Dick will take everything at face value, becoming hopelessly confused. And Barbara, suspicious and forthright, will use sarcasm and tough questioning to discover the truth.
The four characters will make this bad situation worse through the combination of their natures.
WHY ARE THEY IN THE SHOW?
A character may have everything they need to be funny and interesting but still have no function in the dynamics of a given show. For example, a meddlesome cleaner with a bad memory might have made a funny regular character in Fawlty Towers, but the other major characters (Sybil, Polly and Manuel) already fulfil the three functions needed to lead Basil Fawlty into regular conflict: Sybil polices him, Polly reluctantly helps him and Manuel confounds him. The meddlesome cleaner might be a useful cameo but she has no place in this dynamic.
To justify a character’s inclusion in a show, they must:
Be active. They must have a personal purpose or habit that drives them to action. Even the layabout Simon Moon in Frasier is a determined layabout who will go to no end of trouble to spend a lazy hour on the couch.
Test the qualities of the other major characters. Characters must be driven to actions and attitudes that cause conflict and pressure for those around them. In Frasier Simon Moon’s opportunism and laziness drives the purposeful Frasier to distraction. His idleness makes him a burden to his sister, Daphne. And his hogging of the TV remote causes Frasier’s sportscast-loving dad terrible angst.
Not duplicate the function of any other character. There’s little point in having two layabouts like Simon Moon in a series unless the duo’s dynamic is the source of fresh conflicts with the other characters and each other.
THE CHARACTER TEST-DRIVE
Once you’ve built your characters, the process of development continues. (Remember, at any stage, right up to the moment the director shouts ‘Action!’, all your characters live under the axe. Don’t hold onto a character attribute that, despite being interesting, doesn’t contribute to the dynamic interaction of the character ensemble. No matter how much time and effort you’ve put into their creation, be prepared to change them or remove them entirely.)
The next step is to take them for a spin. Try them out in the situations below and see how they react.
Each character should react in different ways. Don’t force their reaction. If they don’t seem to be naturally geared towards a particular response, go back to their graph and see what is missing from their make-up.
Aim for clear and original choices based upon the level of your character’s status, prejudices, fears, desires, self-confidence, self-awareness, social skills or guts.
Simply set up the situation and choose the ‘puppet string’ that offers the most interesting response. For example, if Bob knows that Barbara is making a bad business choice, the first string to pull is his ‘fear of conflict’. How will Bob reconcile his fear with the commonsense aim of doing good business?
But Bob is not a robot. By cycling through his strengths, weaknesses and other qualities more possibilities emerge. For example, he loves Barbara. Faced with Barbara’s bad business decision, perhaps he stands back and admires his indomitable wife’s risk-taking: ‘It’s risky, but if anyone can make it work, darling, you can!’ As Bob’s fear of conflict is a regular obstacle to speaking his mind, pulling his ‘love’ string (pardon the French) will surprise the audience but remain consistent with Bob’s character. And encouraging Barbara to make a bad business decision will inevitably backfire on Bob.
The test-drive may also reveal that a character is not living up to their comic potential if:
The character’s graph suggests no clear response to the given situation.
There are no responses that would surprise an audience familiar with the character.
None of the choices the character could make cause further trouble or raise the stakes.
First, try out your characters in a situation in which they appear to have the upper hand. The following examples involve Bob, Barbara, Dick and Delores.
‘X’ catches Bob trying on a dress he’s bought for Barbara (to see if it will fit her):
Barbara assumes the worst (in her eyes) and believes her husband is a cross-dresser.
Delores vows to keep Bob’s ‘secret’ (fat chance!) and is pleased that Bob appears to need more than Barbara to make him feel complete.
Dick, not wanting Bob to feel uncomfortable, puts a dress on as well.
A character’s reaction is likely to be different when confronted by a different person in the same situation:
‘X’ catches Dick trying on a dress he’s bought for Delores (to see if it will fit her):
Bob gently refuses to believe his friend’s story, telling Dick cross-dressing is completely normal.
Barbara orders Bob to stay away from his best friend, Dick.
Delores (who knows Dick copies Bob in all things) assumes Bob put the idea into his head. She doesn’t believe Dick’s honest excuse because he never thinks for himself.
Next, try your characters in a situation in which a character does not appear to have the upper hand:
Bob catches ‘X’ in a lie about his/her movements on the night when Barbara’s cookie-jar was burgled:
Barbara bullies her way out of it, deepening the lie.
Delores bursts into tears immediately and hugs him—closely.
Dick confesses, kicks himself and insists on being punished.
Switch the roles so a different personal dynamic is at work:
Delores catches ‘X’ in a lie about his/her movements on the night of Barbara’s cookie-jar burglary:
Barbara tries to turn the tables on Delores—where was she the night of the cookie-jar burglary?
Dick tries to come clean, but he’s so anxious that he ties himself in knots and inadvertently implicates Bob.
Bob desperately expands the lie, knowing Delores will use his theft of the cookies to undermine his relationship with Barbara.
Now try some open-ended scenarios for test-driving your characters. You can provide your own particulars according to the relationships and setting and likely events of your show. The main purpose of the exercise is to see how your characters react in situations that change or test their usual demeanour, status or outlook.
‘X’ defies ‘Y’.
‘X’ obeys ‘Y’ without question.
‘X’ accuses ‘Y’ of falsehood.
‘X’ tells ‘Y’ s/he needs a thousand dollars but won’t say why.
‘X’ asks ‘Y’ to tell ‘Z’ a white lie.
‘X’ discovers his/her sworn enemy, ‘Y’, in a compromising position.
‘X’ is caught in a compromising position by sworn enemy ‘Y’.
‘X’ shares a saucy secret about ‘Y’ with ‘Z’.
‘X’ shares a terrible secret about ‘Y’ with ‘Z’.
‘X’ thinks that ‘Y’ is planning to murder him/her.
When you’ve explored these scenarios, devise your own.
Putting Words in Their Mouths
Another useful test-drive for your characters is to write a short speech or rant for them. With persistence, their tone and idiom will emerge. This exercise can also identify deficiencies in their make-up.
In order to make the rant dynamic, make sure it’s about something that’s about to hap
pen rather than something in the past. The character can draw upon the past to explain the situation or argue their case, but they should be trying to persuade with their speech, not just relate a story or give information. Making the speech active brings out the inner qualities of the character.
The character needs more work if:
you have to force their intentions or attitudes
their intentions or attitudes are unclear
their intentions or attitudes are inconsistent with their natures
Don’t get carried away by these rants. Keep them to a maximum of 150 words and stick closely to the character you have devised. This exercise is about test-driving the characters you’ve built, not discovering new ones.
Here’s an example with Dick talking to Bob about Delores’ bossy ways:
DICK: You’re right again, Bob. Delores is always tricking me into doing things I don’t wanna do. I gotta show her who’s boss—or the equal boss. Or maybe the little-bit-less-than-equal boss. I have to use my words. I’ll just stand tall and talk to her like a grown man, using my words. But hang on, I’m not tall, and my voice is pretty high—what if I sound like a grown woman? And what if I pick the wrong words? I might hurt her feelings. It’ll be a disaster, a total disaster. New plan, Bob. I’m gunna do what she tells me and not say a word. That’ll show her.
Dick (above) manages to completely reverse his position without anyone’s help. The negation (‘like a grown man, using my words’) is consistent with Dick’s guileless nature. His final position (‘I’m gunna do what she tells me and not say a word’) is consistent with his dim-witted nature. It’s silly, sure, but credible given Dick’s limitations.
Archetypes
There are two kinds of people in the world; those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t.
—Robert Benchley
If you’re not sure where to start with a certain character or combination of characters, comic archetypes may provide a base from which to build. An archetype is a model of a person, the essence of a particular identity. In the same way the principles underpinning jokes have ancient roots, there are archetypal comic characters that have been around, in countless guises, for millennia. Many of these tried-and-true characters populate contemporary comedies of all kinds.
Comic archetypes such as the Clever Slave and Braggart Soldier are characters in some the earliest surviving comedies in Latin literature, written by the Roman playwright, Titus Maccius Plautus (circa 254–184 BC). The Clever Slave is a witty and mischievous rascal who often tricks his master and considers himself superior to those around him. Blackadder is arguably a contemporary incarnation of this archetype. This acerbic and self-serving underling manipulates and steals from his master/s. Tony in The Hollowmen provides an example of the Braggart Soldier: bold in speech but a chicken in war. A boastful coward, Tony loudly promises to change the world but runs away from the conflict change demands.
Both of these archetypes are the ancestors of characters in Commedia Dell’Arte (the ‘Comedy of Professional Artists’) which came to prominence from the 16th to the 18th centuries. (The Clever Slave is ancestor to Commedia’s clever servant, Harlequin, the Braggart Soldier to the blustering buffoon, Il Capitano.)
Commedia is still regularly performed in Italy today, usually as street theatre. The wide variety of characters in Commedia’s short plays are all archetypes, recognisable by their caricatured masks.
The characters of Commedia include Columbine, a witty and attractive woman who is capable of lying or manipulation to achieve her aims, but is prone to panic. Another Commedia archetype is Marinetta, a tough-talking, battle-hardened and morally-sound lady whom no man can match. Commedia also offers sets of archetypes such as Il Innamorati, a pair of young lovers so smitten with each other they’re incapable of rational thought. They are plagued by a range of obstructive male elders known as the Vecchi.
It’s arguable that some modern sitcom characters have their roots, either deliberately or inadvertently, in these archetypes. Columbine could be said to reflect Grace in Will & Grace or Elaine in Seinfeld. The tough-talking title character in Murphy Brown and hard-nosed Brooke Vandenburg in Frontline both resemble Marinetta. When Kramer and the librarian Marion are madly in love in the Seinfeld episode ‘The Library’ (Larry Charles), their behaviour resembles the love-blind and melodramatic Il Innamorati. As in a typical Commedia comic romance, their love is placed at risk by Lt. Bookman, an older powerful man who behaves like a Vecchi.
The plays of Commedia are improvised interpretations of well-known stories and characters. The audience’s familiarity with both stories and characters means the actors’ chief task is to reinvent the tried and true, to impose their own meanings on the archetypes through metaphor, local references and topicality. The defining issues are the skill and originality with which the short plays are presented. Like comedian Charlie Ross, who performs the original Star Wars trilogy solo live in One Man Star Wars, Commedia actors make the familiar new again.
Over time, other archetypes have developed. For example, the Nutty Neighbour is the model for benign characters who treat the protagonist’s home as if it were their own. Like a stalker who’s not so interested in them, they poke their noses into everyone’s business without becoming too emotionally invested in it. Kramer in Seinfeld or Eldin Bernecky in Murphy Brown fit this role.
To avoid archetypes becoming clichéd, writers attach all kinds of bells and whistles. The world in which the characters live will have its own pressures and culture, creating fresh perspectives. Secondly, an archetypal character’s role in life can be at variance with their nature. For example, the Idiot (also called the ‘Clown’ or ‘Baby’) archetype is a well-meaning and gullible innocent capable of misunderstandings, taking things literally and making inadvertent malapropisms (see Chapter Six, ‘Narrative Gags’). Idiots are terrible liars, can’t keep secrets and are honest to a fault—if there’s something that shouldn’t be said, the Idiot can be counted on to say it. Many sitcoms include characters with all the Idiot’s characteristics, but the archetype’s role in life, sex, age and status varies from show to show.
Rose Nyland in The Golden Girls is an example of the Idiot archetype. Rose is an older woman who is the ‘baby’ of her new family of retired women. Her friends regard her as a child though they treat her as a genuinely beloved equal. In contrast, the Idiot can be at the hub of knowledge and information: Corky Sherwood in Murphy Brown and Ted Baxter in The Mary Tyler Moore Show are newsreaders. Betty Wilson in Hey Dad..! is a secretary with classic Idiot characteristics who plays the role of daffy big sister to the children of the Kelly family. At the lowest end of the status scale is the servant’s servant Baldrick in Blackadder. He’s a classic Idiot who, unlike those above, is treated with scorn and disgust. Though audiences may not immediately recognise Rose, Corky, Ted, Betty and Baldrick as being related, the five characters share identical flaws and exhibit those flaws through the same gag types.
Archetypal characters can be given their own distinct desires, fears and ongoing problems. Betty Wilson wants to be taken seriously, fears screwing things up (she makes a mess of things because of her fear), and feels anguish for her boss, the widower Martin Kelly. Baldrick wants a turnip of his own, fears losing his job and suffers from a chronic lack of attractiveness and hygiene. While the Idiot’s outlook tends to be rosy, each manifestation of the archetype can have their own prejudices or personality flaws. Corky Sherwood is proud of her beauty but fawns over her idol, Murphy Brown. The other newsreader Idiot, Ted Baxter, scorns his competition and believes his own hype.
Archetypal characters need not be clichéd. As stated above, an archetype can be placed in any role in life, age group, sex or social status. Lt. Bookman is an archetypal hard-nosed cop who avoids being a cliché because of his innovative role as a library fine collector. His deadly serious, bad-cop attitude is at odds with the relatively trivial late-book crimes he investigates, an imbalanced perspec
tive that provides fresh humour.
Cameo or secondary roles can benefit from being based in archetypes. In the average sitcom, time is limited and viewers want to get a handle on a given character without having to work too hard. Archetypes are recognisable and accessible. For example, a character based on the Idiot (albeit with their own individual bells and whistles) can give viewers quick insight into the character. If you’re stuck on a particular character, try breaking them down to an archetype they resemble, distilling their essential qualities, then building them up again.
ETHNIC, REGIONAL AND GAY STEREOTYPES
For the purposes of this book, we will consider ‘stereotypes’ as being simplified characters whose personal characteristics accord with their ethnicity, social group or role in life. For example, a court jester manifesting the Idiot archetype could be construed as stereotypical (or clichéd) because the pairing of their role in life and personality is not new or unexpected.
The writer’s defence in using ethnic, regional or gay stereotypes is usually, ‘Hey man, it’s ironic’. And maybe it is. But, to be the wowser’s advocate, these stereotypes are also a straight-up, in-your-face piss-take on another culture or social group, and the viewer’s lack of prejudice cannot be assumed.
The ethnic stereotype has inspired some of the most popular characters in sitcom. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon in The Simpsons is a much-loved star, despite the racism in his stereotype.
The attraction of the ethnic stereotype is that it brings with it a range of unfair but well-recognised characteristics. We don’t need to be told that Apu is an elephant-worshipping, bullet-riddled workaholic. One look tells us all that, and we can get on with the story.
Part of the reason why audiences laugh at the ethnic stereotype is that they know they shouldn’t. This naughtiness inspires a twinge of fear of reprisal. Fear equals laughter. A few neat gags and you have a star.