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Funny Faces
November 13, 2006
Good news -- science has figured out what facial features are ideal for comedians:
They said soft and feminine features, typified by Ricky Gervais, were more likely to make people laugh. ...
Researcher Dr. Anthony Little, a psychologist, whose work was commissioned by Jongleurs comedy clubs, showed faces with a range of different features to volunteers, and asked them to rate how funny they thought the person was.
He said: "The features most likely to mark male comedians out for success are predominantly soft and feminine. The face is a strong indication of character, and today's study appears to explain why comedians of a certain appearance would have been drawn to their career.
"The characteristics of a feminine face imply that the person may be agreeable and co-operative, which can be causal in our first impressions of comedians as being friendly and funny."
I love Ricky Gervais' reaction:
"All these years I assumed my global success as a comedian was down to my acute observations, expert directorial rendering and consummate skills as a performer. Turns out it's because I've got a fat girly face."
But another comedian has a take that makes a lot of sense:
Comedian Hal Cruttenden said the research was probably on to something. ... "Comics say things that are taboo-breaking, that are on the edge, and quite often the best comedy comes from really uncomfortable stuff.
"So if it is delivered from a big-eyed, round-faced, slightly feminine guy it probably is easier for an audience to take."
The funniest thing about that story from the BBC's website is that I saw it on the same morning as this one, about two unlikely American comedians:
They're separated by more than 20 years, they come from opposing political parties, and one evicted the other from the White House. But Bill Clinton and George Bush act like a team, a pair of touring comedians with a well-honed act.
The two former presidents even have their entrance down pat, striding in with arms aloft, music pounding, lights flashing, the crowd standing and going wild. ...
One problem with retirement, Bush said, is that memories do not fail on certain topics. "After 14 years no one forgets if you throw up on the Japanese premier," he said. ...
Clinton played second banana after Bush's round of jokes.
"You've just witnessed George Bush's revenge for the 1992 campaign," Clinton said of the year he defeated Bush for the presidency. "I'm condemned for the rest of my life to be his straight man." ...
What's more, the 60-year-old Clinton told the crowd, Bush, at 82, is in better shape. "Make no mistake about it," said Clinton, who has undergone quadruple bypass surgery. "George Bush will speak at my funeral."
So which one has the "fat, girly face"?
Posted by LouSchuler at November 13, 2006 07:57 AM
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