How is it that at some point in their careers (usually in their 40s) actors who've made their names in either sitcoms or sketch shows go all serious and start doing straight drama instead?

Take Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie for example. In the 1980s and 1990s they were in all 4 series of Blackadder and had their own vastly-underrated sketch show "A Bit Of Fry And Laurie". Now Fry does straight acting in a cosy 1960s Sunday drama called "Kingdom" whilst Laurie has gone to America to do a hospital drama called "House" where he earns rave reviews for the fact he can do a convincing American accent (you'd think they could find an American actor to do that, couldn't you? :rolleyes:)
Then there's Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes; once the starts of Men Behaving Badly, they're now known for those bland formulaic dramas that ITV always seem to be showing.
Indeed, if you look at the former cast of any major sitcom from the 1980s or 1990s from the Young Ones to Drop The Dead Donkey, the actors have either vanished without trace or gone on to do serious drama; few have anything to do with comedy now.

I wonder why this is; perhaps comedy is perceived as a bit childish and not the sort of thing a mature actor should be doing once he's past his forties? If so, I can't see why; people don;t lose their sense of humour when they mature and there's plenty of comic actors sich as Norman Wisdom, Ronnie Barker and even the great Spike Milligan who were doing comedy well into their later years.

So why do actors who've made their name in comedy give up on it? :huh:

Maybe if comedies of the quality of Men Behaving Badly or Blackadder or Drop the Dead Donkey were being written, they'd act in them.

The comedy sketch show format seems to have died a death too.

I think that part of it is that dramatic acting is regarded as a more 'respectable' achool than comedic acting. Quite why I have no idea - Hugh Laurie is pretty good, actually, and based on build and character I could easily see Stephen Fry in 'Sidney Greenstreet' type roles.

I think that doing good comedy acting is a harder task than 'straight' roles, but many comedians have broken themselves on the task - look at Tony Hancock, or even Stephen Fry's apparent breakdown when he did the play 'Cell Mates' with Rik Mayall - another comedy actor who did manage to do the odd straight role.

The comedy sketch show format seems to have died a death too.

Totally agree.

Comedy on TV in general has just gone down hill.

I agree loads of comedy actors lose their edge as they age. There is also probably a massive lack of roles for middle aged comedians. Unless you want to end up in something as trite as "My Family". Then it's just natural to try dramatic roles....

I think there are various reasons why certain actors choose to turn their back on comedy. Perhaps they feel they need more of a challenge than with just being jesters. Perhaps they accept that their particular brand of comedy only has a certain shelf-life. Take Jim Carrey for instance; he made himself a household name playing rubber-faced lunatics in films like The Mask and Liar Liar. But he probably knew even then that he couldn't go on playing roles like that forever, and he has proved that he is also an excellent serious actor in films such as The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

I also heard a radio interview recently with Alistair MacGowan (sp?) and he has evidently turned his back completely on his impersonations (at which he was extremely talented) and is now concentrating solely on theatre productions in the west end. Who would have thought that?

How is it that at some point in their careers (usually in their 40s) actors who've made their names in either sitcoms or sketch shows go all serious and start doing straight drama instead?

I wonder why this is; perhaps comedy is perceived as a bit childish and not the sort of thing a mature actor should be doing once he's past his forties? If so, I can't see why; people don;t lose their sense of humour when they mature and there's plenty of comic actors sich as Norman Wisdom, Ronnie Barker and even the great Spike Milligan who were doing comedy well into their later years.

So why do actors who've made their name in comedy give up on it? :huh:

Good point, and question.

I wonder whether SF posters follow the same pattern :suspect:

We shall see in a few years when you/Nick2/Jabbers reach your 40's, will you continue with humourous posts, or start posting very serious posts :|

:hihi:

Personally i think the reason is because you can only push a certain sitcom caracter so far until they become repetative,and if you stay in a certain role then you become typcast.
When i see Martin Clunes on the telly i dont automatically think of men behaving badly
I think David Jason has done brilliant to take the Dell Boy out of him and make his roles realistic
Billy Connolly and Robbie Coltraine were both massive comedians but have gone on to do some seriously good straight stuff
The only 1 i can think of who has been totally typcast is the entire cast of Fawlty Towers (and they only made 2 series),shows how good it was.
Straight Roles offer more diverse roles than comedy which is why so many actors jump ship,and tbh cant blame them
At the end of the day they are actors not comediens

I'd forgotten about David Jason - good point! He was in other series as well, of course - but again comedies - 'Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs', 'Porridge' and 'Open All Hours' and maybe being in other series over the years just took the edge of Del Boy as well.

And Del Boy had some serious(ish) moments - it was more of a soap in many ways.

Robbie Coltraine - anyone remember him in Tutti Frutti?

I think they turn to acting when there is a lack of good scriptwriters, as 'comedy names' they can easily getting acting parts, whereas if they had started out as would be actors they would have found it much harder to become a household name

I think they turn to acting when there is a lack of good scriptwriters, as 'comedy names' they can easily getting acting parts, whereas if they had started out as would be actors they would have found it much harder to become a household name

There's not a lack of good scriptwriters, Cressida - there's a refusal by the BBC and others to take a risk in accepting scripts from anyone who's from outside the accepted luvvy 'clique' of writers - who unfortunately are just not funny :(

StarSparkle

I think as Joe has already said, 'serious' acting is seen(unfairly, in my opinion) as a more legitimate art form than comedy. So to gain wider acceptance by the industry at large, I believe there is a lot of pressure for comedians to make the switch to straight roles.

Would people like Tom Hanks or Robin Williams have achieved the wealth and fame that they have if they had stayed comedians?

Also, serious acting gets a bit more money than comic acting. Budgets and all that jazz.

If they are in sitcoms or sketch shows, then that's a combination of comedy and acting, rather than being a stand-up i.e. they feel they have (potential) dual talents? And perhaps straight-acting offers more, safer, and more rewarding outlets as they grow older?

It seems to me that so many TV comedy shows are based around lives of younger people, so they would be a bit out of place as they aged... I don't see any problem with it, as long as they are being replaced by fresh talent.

This thread seems to be very male-orientated, so what about someone like Judi Dench? Where would she fit in? She's still up for comedy, yet combines it with superb stage and film work.

I'm just thankful for the ones that didn't jump ship, like Spike. Miss him....