Harpo Does Something Funny: Difference between revisions

Named for a frequent note in [[Marx Brothers]] scripts, this trope refers to space deliberately left in otherwise scripted media to allow for the wacky whims of an actor best known for his [[improv]]isations. The crew knows that a particular actor will be funnier if left to his own devices than anything the scriptwriter could possibly come up with. As such, this is possibly the highest compliment that can ever be paid to a comedian, when the writers know that no matter what he or she does, it will have everyone who sees/hears it in stitches.

 

 

Compare [[Throw It In]], [[Audience Participation]], [[Official Fan-Submitted Content]].

 

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== Film ==

* Harpo Marx, of course, with Groucho Marx coming in a close second. (The actual notes in the scripts are more likely to say, "Business.")

* [[Laurel and Hardy]] were masters of improvisation, often to the point that their scripts would contain a few pages of notes outlining the general story with the expectation that most of the gags would be improvised on the set. For instance, a script might say, "Stan puts on his shoes," only for the comedy duo to turn it into a hilarious three-minute routine. Because of this, their films were largely shot in-sequence in order to maintain continuity since they usually had no idea exactly what was going to transpire from one scene to the next. This ensured that if Ollie got an unscripted bucket of water on the head in one scene that he would show up sopping wet in the following scene.

** The four and a half page script for ''Our Wife'' included a line that simply read, "Go for some ad-libbed business about getting Babe [Oliver Hardy] and the girl into the car." This ended up being the longest scene in the entire film.

** It was pretty much an impossibility for Williams to ''not'' do something funny. Just ask anyone who has filmed a scene where he had to walk through a door. Getting the shot could take hours simply because he couldn't resist the urge to walk through with his clothes on backwards or to say something to [[Corpsing|make the whole cast burst into laughter]]. They actually took precaution in writing stage directions now if they know he'll be cast.

** In ''[[Mrs. Doubtfire]]'', the entire opening sequence consists of Robin showing off his rather impressive singing chops.

* [[Jim Carrey]], in an interview during the making of ''[[Me Myself and Irene]]'' said, "It's amazing how blank a script will be. It just says 'Jim does something funny.'"

* Stanley Kubrick almost never allowed this; one exception he made was for Peter Sellers in ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]''. Largely because you never tried to pin down Peter Sellers.

* Apparently a good deal of the dialog in ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' was like this; not just Tony Stark's. It's reported that most of the script was a brief summary of what the actors needed to say, and from there they were allowed to pretty much improvise the finer details, which is why the dialogue feels a lot more naturalistic. This is how everyone discovered [[Robert Downey, Jr.]] is a witty bastard, hence Iron Man's [[Characterization Marches On|new characterization]] as a [[Deadpan Snarker]].

** [[Jeff Bridges]] described the experience as a $200 million college film. He found it surreal. It worked.

** Altman himself said on the director's commentary that the tone of the screenplay contributed heavily to the tone of the movie, and praised the screenplay for the quality it brought to the movie.

** A few scenes later, he appears again on TV with a completely ad-libbed scene, which begins with him eating a watermelon and soon dissolves into a silly bit of him playing with the "toy man" from his box of Corn Flakes. While not all of this is shown (as it is intercut with a scene of Weird Al's character and his friend), the deleted scenes portion of the DVD shows the whole thing, and [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] (the star and co-writer of the movie) comments that "The great thing about Michael is you can turn on the camera and tell him to just go nuts for two minutes. Well here he is, doing just that."

* The famous "[[You Talkin' to Me?]]" scene in ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' was written in the script as "Travis talks in the mirror" and the rest was improvised by [[Robert De Niro]]. [[Martin Scorsese]] was stooped just below the camera silently encouraging De Niro to keep going. What De Niro was saying is a common exercise used by actors to practice different interpretations of a similar phrase.

** The same goes for [[Jessica Alba]] in ''[[Sin City]]''. Alba requested a choreographer, but Rodriguez told her to just make it up as she went. Strangely enough, a different song was later dubbed over the scene.

* Kevin Smith claimed, jokingly, that he sometimes does this when he's writing. He claims to put 'Jay and Silent Bob say something remotely witty' in the scripts.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* On ''[[The Odd Couple]]'' some scripts were like this, allowing Tony Randall and Jack Klugman to improvise. For example, a script might say "Oscar teaches Felix how to play football."

* This is how ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'' is made. The scripts are outlines; they direct the flow of the conversation in fairly specific detail, but the actual lines are left up to the actors, [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic|to make them sound more like real conversations]], and they're not supposed to think of things to say ahead of time. (Apparently Richard Lewis was doing this, and [[Larry David]] could tell, and now he's not even allowed to work from a script.)

* Original airings of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' are always live, but sometimes they'll use rehearsal takes for rebroadcasts. However, Lorne Michaels severly discourages improvisation in most cases because the timing on the show is so tight, to the extent of banning guests from the show for doing so.

* Jimmy Smits supposedly left ''[[NYPD Blue]]'' because David Milch insisted on the actors often improvising scenes without a script at all.

* [[Chevy Chase]], Joel McHale and Donald Glover are generally given free rein to improvise on ''[[Community]]''.

* Art Carney did a lot of [[The Honeymooners|Ed Norton]]-style improvisation in ''[[The Star Wars Holiday Special]]''. [[Lampshaded]] by [[Riff Trax]].

* The script for the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Big Bang" had no description for the Doctor's dancing at Amy's wedding beyond Amy's spoken comments that it's "terrible" and "embarrassing". All that hand waving and head bopping (terrible, embarrassing, and ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8SrX5jV5ik wonderful]'') is pure [[Matt Smith]].

* ''[[The Monkees]]'': The group was not only allowed, but encouraged to improvise, and gaps were often left in the script to facilitate this, especially where Micky Dolenz was concerned.

* The Muppet and kid segments in ''[[Sesame Street]]'' are usually handled this way. The Muppeters just have their character enter into a dialogue with a child about a certain topic, and the production team keeps what they can use.

* Each scene in ''[[The Thick of It]]'' was filmed twice, once as scripted followed by an improvised version. The finished programme used material from both takes.

* The [[German Media|German TV show]] ''Schillerstraße'' is basically a whole TV show made of this. Various German comedians are bound to a loose story, and the whole script is a [[Throw It In]] by the director too, because the actors got earplugs to listen to his directions (and even only the one/s who should do something will hear it, to much confusion of the rest of the cast).

* [[Britcom|British sitcom]] ''[[Outnumbered]]'' has taken this premise to its limits. Focusing on the lives of the Brockmans, the kids are only given a basic outline, almost all their dialogue is improvised, and the adults' role is to keep everything following the basic direction of the story. Whilst the adults are heavily scripted they do a significant amount of reacting to all of the amazing things the kids say. The result is the kids' dialogue is probably the most authentic on TV (ignoring anything that's non fiction) and far more imaginative than anything the writers could come up with.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* The only thing that kept [[Scott Steiner]] in the WWE near the end of his run was his mic ability. The guy combines a freakish steroid physique with a [[Hair-Trigger Temper]] and a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] persona to create some truly entertaining, though often nonsensical, promos.

* This is largely true of matches themselves. While the match endings are predetermined (who wins, how s/he wins, and about how long the match lasts), and (depending on how important the match is) there may be a few other predetermined important moments (known in the business as "spots"), most of the action is made up by the wrestlers themselves as they go along.

 

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