Gav's comedy workshop 14/01/15

14/01/15

Today one of Daniel's friends Gav came into college to complete a Comedy wok shop with us.
The work shop was all about creating a character.
He told us all about how a comedian can make the audience laugh without even opening their mouth, just by the way that they looks and present themselves.

We started off by having three chairs laid out next to each other. 
The first chair was a level 1 expression- small expression.
The second chair was a level 2 expression- expression gets bigger.
The third chair was a level 3 expression- ecstatic and over the top expression.
Somebody would start in a chair and create an emotion, with the other two chairs empty two people had to figure out what the emotion was which the first person is creating then sit in a chair and copy that emotion with a different level of expression depending on the chair they were sat in. I found this activity really good because it shown me how you can vary the impact on different emotions

We played a game of park bench where each person who sat on the bench had to be a completely different type of character. I thought that the whole class enjoyed this because we all got to use our imagination in creating a character, whether a friendly happy character or a creepy and strange character. I thought be could of carried on with this a lot longer so that other people got to have a turn in creating a different character.

Then played a game where one by one we had to stand up to a microphone and make the rest of the class laugh by the character which we created. We could either use props that we had been given, use our body language, or even use an accent in our speech. This made us use our imagination and also give us an idea on what type of things make the audience laugh. I enjoyed this because it helped to build my confident in stand up performance, however i did find it hard when when thinking of a character to create.

Gav mentions us in a facebook status saying "This morning I delivered a workshop on developing characters for comedy. A level three BTEC Performing Arts module where at the end you have to perform original comedy to an audience. Terrifying enough, there is also the assessment that comes with it...Lots of practical games and exercises some props and a little bit of cajoling. Laughs were had and celebrated but the goods were delivered.Then some time looking at some of my favourite characters in comedy, I always like to make a link to laurel and Hardy. There is nothing wrong with that."