August 30, 2007

Physical Acting I just saw this Rowan Atkinson routine and was reminded of another great physical acting gig.

I don't remember who it's by but it's a classic. It's a black guy doing a dancing routine, moving from dance to dance with alarming ease. Very good and very funny. I seem to remember him wearing a red jumper... Anyone?

posted by xenmate 16 years ago
  • I was in a play recently where I had to do quite a bit of tripping and falling. I thought it would come naturally, since I do my fair share of that in real life, but it was surprisingly tricky to choreograph and do on cue. Since I am so clumsy, I made sure to warn my family what would be going on so they wouldn't be frantically calling 911 from the audience. And then, wouldn't you know, I fell off a platform during tech rehearsal and nobody batted an eye! (I was OK.)
  • I love Rowan Atkinson. Thanks for the laughs TUM.
  • Oh, so you're the one that loves him, Squid. Mystery solved.
  • Hadn't seen that one before! Ta, xenmate! Clumsiness in high heels!
  • How is it that I despise Rowan Atkinson's silent, physical comedy, but love his stand-up?
  • Because you have no soul?
  • I'm with you, Nickdanger. I love his spoken comedy, such as "Black Adder," but am very much meh about "Mr. Bean."
  • I enjoyed Mr. Bean for a while, but it was a joke carried a bit too far.
  • TUM, carried away, were you?
  • Remember nickdanger, different strokes for different folks.
  • There's an objective standard though, namely that daxflame is teh rox0rz and Mr. Bean is teh sux0rz.
  • I liked the "Mr. Bean's Holiday" movie very much. It wasn't a great movie, but Atkinson was in top form doing the physical humor. Can't help with the dancer thing though.
  • Can someone describe the YouTube vid in the original post? Is it the "I am a mime, my body is my tool" one? I love Atkinson's old routines like Toby the Devil, "Man in a Queue" etc, and Blackadder was a classic* ("The Black Adder" being my favourite). Bean is a bit 'Bank Holiday TV' for me, along with Wallace and Gromit. *Although it did suffer from "quotability" later on...
  • Put me in the 'let him talk, he's funnier that way' group. Actually, silent comedy that isn't old (pre-talkies) creeps me out in an undefinable way.