If a stand-up comedian appears in a movie, the comic is suddenly considered an overnight success, but the truth is it took years to get to that point. But one question that keeps bubbling in our head is: can acting be a benefit for a comedian?
Comedians often spend decades developing and perfecting comedy personality, a few acting classes can surely help you just as much as spending years and years perfecting your performance in front of the live audience every week. After all, one of the main advantages of comedians over other performing artists is that stage time and performing stand up results in instant feedback.
Naturally speaking, you may be confident and convinced that you are the biggest comedian in the industry, and you may be willing to go out on stage every day to prove it to everyone. Or perhaps just like most of us, you may have to face one or two minor attacks with confidence. Either way taking an acting class or seminar can be very beneficial.
But maybe you don’t have enough courage to get up on stage and win hundreds of hearts? Or did you forget a line and failed yourself in front of the crowd? Either way there are some ways you can improve your comedy career and build your confidence through acting classes. Proper acting lessons can help develop endless self-assurance and can be beneficial in many other ways.
Build Self-confidence
It’s not always easy to stand between in front of a crowd and perform, especially if you are shy or introverted, and seeking to get into the comedy business. Taking acting classes once can help overcome the phase of stage phobia, and feel confident in your skin. The more you learn how to carry yourself on stage and play to a crowd, the more you will gain self-confidence and be able to give your best. While acquiring confidence, you will see every performance as something you can conquer. This can be beneficial for every comedian and can be applied to different areas of their life, on and off stage.
Engage With The Audience
An acting class can surely help you with your performance, and help you learn how to better interact with your audience. It will help you listen proactively and learn how to pick specific techniques to engage the people around you. Acting lessons teach you to focus on the way people are reacting towards you during your performance. While performing a stand up comedy, reactions from others are meaningless unless you pay your utmost attention to how the audience reacts to every word you deliver.
This technique includes listening to feedback (laughter or silence), tone (are the laughs long or short), and body language of others (is the crowd relaxed or does the front row have their arms crossed). When you focus on others while performing, there is no room for self-doubt or distraction, which can make you second guess your set. Paying attention will let you feel more comfortable on stage and be able to address the room at the moment.
Develop Your Comedy Persona
Perhaps narrating how Uncle James fell into the river while taking off his shirt, makes your family and friends roar with laughter, but is this amusing to the room filled with people? An essential part of being a comedian is creating a unique humorous personality, that can grab the viewer’s attention during your time on stage, sometimes even when your jokes don’t always land. This doesn’t mean you have to build a character like Larry The Cable Guy or go full Andy Kaufman, but when you think of the top comedians, they all have personas that stand out.
If someone mentions your favorite comedian, the thought of them in your head will often put a smile on your face by just recalling some of their bits. Using your acting skills to create a comical trait, and knowing how to deliver your best jokes can bring you additional success. Great delivery just like great jokes will make you stand out from the crowd. After all, bad comedians can make great things dull, while a good comedian can make mediocre work seem interesting. It depends on your persona, as that’s the primary way you showcase yourself.
Manage Facial Expressions
Whether you are having a bad day or just got into an ugly fight, you cannot unload your luggage while on stage. There is no room to show your emotions: such as anger, despair, hatred, love, shame, and sadness, during the performance if they are not related to the material you’re performing. Your tone and expressions have to match what you are talking about, or you will confuse the audience and not make them laugh. This is no easy task for beginners, but taking up acting lessons can make you good at controlling your emotions on stage.
Being able to make your facial expressions match your material allows you to “sell” your jokes in a way that just saying them won’t. There is a reason why Kevin hart can get a laugh with only his face or why Anthony Jeselnik sells his dark humor with a sly grin that makes you know what he is saying is not out of hate but just for a laugh. Facial expressions are powerful and, if misused, will kill jokes worse than a bad setup.
Improve Public Speaking Skills
In many cases, comedians cannot say what’s on their mind, grab people’s attention, thus making public speaking a problematic task that ends with an unpredictable result. Since most comedy is written and performed over and over to perfect the setup and punchlines. It is necessary to get on stage and refine the material. If a comedian can improve confidence quickly on stage (unless nervous is your persona), then the faster they can win over crowds with their presence. Acting is like any other skill you wish to improve over time; it just takes practice and repetition. For some comedians, public speaking does not come naturally. They get super nervous while performing, that they stumbled or completely forgot the line they have been practicing for several nights.
We agree that not all comedian’s careers progress at full speed, but many of them have jumped higher overnight by taking their acting lessons launching their careers higher than just doing stand up. Acting lessons can provide a comedian with the skills necessary to meet this challenge.
Learning to be a persuasive speaker is a skill required for a successful comedian. Many people are worried that they will be asked to speak in front of a crowd, but the importance of this skill is not limited to one profession; this is essential for almost every career you are seeking to pursue. You may be spontaneous, but taking up those acting lessons will undoubtedly help you in the long run.