I was approached by a frequent collaborator of mine - Ted Milligan - to direct his final year theatre piece for the University of Bristol. As a character comedian he knew he wanted to create a solo stand-up piece with theatrical elements while also testing and developing new material he was working on that used audio sound as a comedic enhancer. With that information we developed the research question;
Does the use of multi-media in stand-up comedy enhance a character comedian?
The biggest challenge we constantly faced was having to cut out jokes and characters that weren't relevant to the question within our time constraint. However, we pulled through and developed 7 different characters all played by Ted Milligan throughout the performance - excluding himself as a host.
The format of the show took inspiration from 'Ted Talks' (Hence the title) and featured 3 different characters giving special presentations into their talents. The first speaker was:
Archibald Richards:
Archibald Richards is a classical actors who in recent years has fallen on hard times after bad reviews of his latest venture into film. However, he's back! And here to showcase his latest film! With no one able (or willing!) to fund his projects he decided to make his own film! Showing him taking on the wild! he hopes you enjoy 'Archibald Richards: Survivor Man!'.
Hans Christian Anderson:
Hans is one of the most influential and genius inventors to come out of German in recent years. Luckily he's taken a few minutes out of his busy schedule to showcase some photos of his latest inventions. However, it can be hard for someone who is so invested in the work to stay focused on real life...
Joey Marston:
Joey is an upcoming musician from American and his band are here to perform one of their latest political tunes demanding for change in American for their youth! However, it was difficult for everyone to get the time off school so Joey is going to Skype the rest of his band in to perform. What could go wrong?
Archibald Richards explored how video screenings can assist a character comedian, while Hans Christian Anderson used photography and played with people's expectations to enhance comedy and finally Joey explored how live video interaction can assist a character comedian with all the onscreen characters being played by the actor on stage.
Please enjoy the full show below.
The acclaimed movie 'Archibald Richards: Survivor Man!'
