The power of laughter must not be underestimated. The top comedy shows are the lifeblood of many television networks. They are the sorts of shows that families tend to gather to watch together, just as they did in the heyday of radio. A hit comedy can make the cast a lot of money, as in Frasier and Friends. The cast of Friends broke new ground in fact by being the first to negotiate their contracts as a group, ensuring that every one of the six main actors earned the same.
Sometimes it’s difficult for leading actors in high profile comedy shows on TV to go on to forge a movie career when the series is cancelled. Jennifer Aniston has managed it but not everyone succeeds. Matt Le Blanc tried his hand at movies but moved back to the familiar situation comedy world in his Friends spin off, Joey.
One of the most controversial series was Ellen, starring comedienne Ellen De Generas. She came out in the course of the final season, the first major actress to do so through her character. The public reaction was generally warm but the advertisers got twitchy and the network pulled the plug. The show however, led the way to Will and Grace and now gay characters in comedy are commonplace.
Comedy is cited as the new rock and roll with the comedy clubs being very popular. It’s a brave person who can walk out in front of a live audience and try to make them laugh. It’s how a lot of performers get started. Comics such as Woody Allen honed their skills and tried out material, changing it according to where the audience reaction came. It’s invaluable training and nothing can beat that hands on experience.
Veterans such as Bob Hope and Jack Benny could have given master classes on comedy timing and how to work an audience. They did hundreds of comedy shows, learned how to handle hecklers and how to raise a laugh with the subtlest of gestures. Radio, cinema and television brought them to a wider audience and their apprenticeship in live comedy shows served them well.
In Britain, it was a radio show during the 1950s that inspired the next generation of comics. The Goon Show with Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Seacombe was avidly listened to by schoolboys up and down the land. Those boys included later members of the Monty Python’s Flying Circus, who had inherited the Goon’s surrealism and irreverent sense of silliness. Silliness is still alive and well and currently on show in London and New York in Spamalot, a musical version of the Python team’s Holy Grail movie.
