Tips for Comedy Actors – How to Maintain Your Confidence

I personally feel that as a comedic performer, you must have a level of confidence that is unlike any other actor. As a comedic actor you will be placed in sometimes embarrassing and humiliating situations all with the goal of entertaining complete strangers. It can be so easy to become self-conscious; however, this overly sensitive personal view can be detrimental to your performance.

Take a moment to review some of the great comedy actors. Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Steve Carell and Jim Carey – all these amazing comedians have one thing in common, they have a higher-than-normal level of confidence within their performance. These actors have performed scenes that any “sane” person would find uncomfortable; however, they did it with such conviction and with no inhibitions their movements were natural, realistic and enjoyable to watch.

When you’re working on a comedy scene, take a moment to gather your thoughts. Recognize any self-conscious or self-condescending thoughts, acknowledge them and set them free. While this process may be different for every performer, I find that the best way to do this is to take five deep, cleansing breaths. Imagine that as you’re inhaling you’re gathering all the self-deprecating and self-conscious thoughts into a single space – as you release your breath, imagine these condensed thoughts leaving your body and only leaving true confidence behind.

I find that true confidence comes with truly believing and standing behind your choices as an actor. This brings thoughts of a scene from “Date Movie.” By far, this is one of the silliest slap-stick comedies; however, the actors within this film are so committed and have such confidence within their performances, it is enjoyable and hilarious. Within this scene in question, the actors are watching as an urn containing the ashes of the lead father’s mother is being pushed over by their cat (a really hilarious scene); however, the camera does a close-up of each actor and they’re making some of the craziest and faces and sounds. These actors were doing this without actually seeing anything; however, their level of commitment was so great, it was believable and hilarious.

Ultimately, if you desire to be a world-class comedic actor, you must maintain the highest level of confidence even though you know you probably look like a food. To recap:

· Acknowledge your self-conscious thoughts · Release these thoughts out of your mind · Say every line of dialogue and perform every movement with true purpose and dedication · Accept the fact that the sillier you feel, the better your performance will be. · Embrace the “silliness” of it all, and have fun!


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