Tonight was schooling in farce, via Peter Sellers.
I have always loved that guy and always will. Anyone who can keep a straight face while doing a quarter of the shit he does, should earn ten or twelve awards. He deserves an entire movement of comedy, named after him. Formerly known as “straight man farce extremism.” As he is the only human besides Buster Keaton to achieve it, in the whole of history, it would be a small club. But a memorable one.
…For horribleness of accent and self-pain-induced physical trauma, he would even win over Keaton. Which is really saying something.
…For what I needed to study for: it was perfect. Even grabbed a specific moment from “Pink Panther Strikes Again,” that will easily sandwich into the show, and then “voila!,” another cinematic Easter Egg is achieved.
Mostly, tonight was German study, for Schmidt, on the total importance of holding a straight face, no matter what.
No. Matter. What.
We WILL be breaking in this show. Even being usual hard-asses in that field. It’s almost impossible, with the nightly improv of new things built from happy accidents that occur. Things that there is no way to be prepared for, which WILL inevitably happen (as they already do), and for which we are nightly challenged. (As if the other stuff isn’t enough to keep a straight face through.)
My Schmidt just plain can’t. Not at all. Not ever. Or it’ll ruin her whole deal.
…But if Peter Sellers can do it, by god, so can I (and three other people who AREN’T Peter Sellers.) Because: it’s been done.
So that’s the goal.
Meanwhile, I have like two weeks left to enjoy the inadvertent spews of guffaw when they happen from nowhere. So, I’m gonna. Then it’ll be, “dial in for hardass time.”
~D
