Comic timing

Sponsorship the way you would do it

Comic Timing is an important element of humour. Simply put, a joke is not as funny if it is rushed or if the telling is unduly laboured, the same is also true of more physical comedy such as slapstick and parody.

Many comedians are known for their sense of comic timing, however it is a sense associated particularly with George Carlin, Victor Borge and Rowan Atkinson in their stand-up routines.

Table of contents

1 George Carlin
2 Rowan Atkinson
3 Victor Borge
4 Physical Comic Timing
5 Farce

George Carlin

Carlin's most famous routine is his "Seven Words You Can't Say On Television", in which much of the humour is derived from his rapid-fire delivery of the seven words "shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits". The remainder of the routine is a mock-scholarly analysis of why these words are not as bad as the world would have us believe - complete with observations like "Cocksucker and motherfucker...well...I can dig why those words might be on the list". Here, comic timing is used again as Carlin moves from the rapid list to a more reasoned - but none the less funny - dissection of the words. The fact that he dwells on certain words emphasises their humour. Additionally, he gives the audience enough time to react to his digressions ("Tits shouldn't be on the list, it sounds like a snack. Yes, yes, I know, it is a snack, right...(laughter)...but I'm not talking about your sexist snack. I'm talking new Nabisco Tits!") before returning to his main theme for even more laughs.

Rowan Atkinson

Atkinson is another example of timing in this regard. One of his routines involves him reading a class roll of students at what we can assume is an exclusive English school. In one version of this routine, each name is something borderline "rude", such as "Our Russian exchange student...Suckmeoff". Here, Atkinson builds the joke carefully by waiting for the audience to anticipate the full ramifications of a Russian exchange student's possibly offensive name, then announces it and - just as a teacher would - waits for his "students" to stop their laughter before repeating the process. In this sort of routine, it is very important to pause for effect as simply racing through the list would spoil the effect of many of the jokes. The alternative version of this routine has the class roll containing inoffensive names, such as Smith or Brown, which are pronounced in a manner designed to make them seem offensive ("Brown" turns into something like "Brrrrrrowwwwwnnnnn"). The comic timing here is such that Atkinson needs to wait for the complete effect of the over-pronounced name to sink in as well as waiting for the audience to realise that the name is not ''of itself'\' offensive. Again, to simply race through the class list would spoil the effect.

Victor Borge

Commonly recognised as the master of comic timing, the late Danish-American comedian Victor Borge provides even more examples of this art. Much of his routine involved references to particular pieces of classical music, opera and composers. Thus, he frequently needed to pause to accommodate his audience's memories of what a piece like The Third Man Theme was supposed to sound like, as opposed to what it sounded like when he played it. Having learned English as a second language, Borge was known for frequently playing around with its conventions. A prime example is his question to his audience, "Is there anyone who would like to hear the famous Pollonaise in A Flat by Chopin?" After hearing the inevitable calls of "Yes, yes", Borge would respond, "Very well, is there anyone here who can play it?" Another famous line is his explanation for the third foot pedal on a grand piano - "The pedal in the middle is there to separate the other two pedals...[laughter]...which could be a problem for those of you who have three feet." Borge, therefore, builds his audience up to the joke, but only delivers the actual punchline when he is fully aware that they are silent and prepared to hear it. That said, his famous "Inflationary Language" routine demonstrates the other side of this statement. In this routine, Borge adds one to every "number in the language", making "wonderful" into "two-derful" and so on. The routine then consists of Borge reading a story under this system. The comic timing is seen by the way that he reads alternately slowly and rapidly, in keeping with the action of the story.

Physical Comic Timing

Comic timing can also be seen in the more physical forms of comedy as well. Every slapstick comedian from Charlie Chaplin onwards has relied on the physical joke being made at just the right time. The bucket of water never falls until the audience has built up for it to just the right level.

Farce

The farce is another prime example of comic timing. Here, the humour is derived both from rapid speech and rapid movement - people running into and out of rooms at breakneck speed and managing to cause havoc in the process.