I definitely think of myself as more of an actor than a comic -- my training was in drama, I only fell into comedy accidentally. And I think people are surprised when they meet me, because they expect me to be entertaining and funny, like a standup. I'm just not that way. But I do love comedy; I appreciate comedy and I know how to make it work a lot of the time.
I don't look to other people for inspiration so much now that I'm older, but when I was younger, I would watch Woody Allen's films. I can still watch a Marx Brothers movie and get inspired by that kind of craziness, or watch a Peter Sellers film for good honest, comedic acting -- he was just brilliant.
Inspiration comes from a combination of your own life, the people and situations you get into, and the world of information. But you know the thing about inspiration is that it's only a part of it: The rest is slogging through and working. It's especially hard with comedy where you have to deal with ideas that are initially funny, but then you have to work on it, and then the more you work on it, the less funny it is. That's always the trick, and not getting so bored with it that you just chuck it away and pursue something else.
Right now, I'm working on a show that's more theatrical improvisation than on-the-spot improv, like Who's Line is It Anyway? It's based on twenties Paris, and right now I'm just doing a little research on Hemingway and that little group -- we have to since we want it to have some basis in reality.
A lot of times when you're not acting, you're waiting for the call to say, "Come and audition. We want you in this unnatural situation where we're going to judge you for a few minutes' time and see whether we like you or not. And we're probably going to reject you, because that's what happens 99 per cent of the time." But you have to develop a thick skin. It's like being in the Mafia: You can't take it personally, it's just business.
For me, it's very important for whatever I'm doing to try to make it different -- I try to have my own slant on it, something that's not predictable. A lot of my favourite roles came from my time at SCTV, where I would have had an opportunity to play a bunch of different characters. Count Floyd sometimes, was kind of fun when I would get on a roll with him. Once on SCTV, I did an impression of Robert Mitchum from The Night of the Hunter, and I have played this character, the killer preacher, a couple of different times and I've had good success with that. I feel I'm able to take that guy to different comedic places. It's a rich character; he's evil, but he's crazy and outrageous.
You can take any dramatic situation and make it comic -- that's the fun part of it. When I'm playing parts or auditioning, I'll look at the role dramatically first, and see where the drama is and then exaggerate that. You don't have to make it over the top. If a guy has a bad temper, for example, and is scary in real life and in drama, you can play it in a way [in comedy]so that it's unexpected and short-lived -- and funny. With drama, when it's really ticking, you empathize with it, but comedy is more detached, you observe it from outside, so you can watch bad behaviour and laugh at it.
Experience in doing comedy really helps a lot in determining the boundaries, knowing where you've taken a character too far. At SCTV, we'd bounce ideas off each other and help each other out. But as far as getting down to the mechanics of comedy, we never discussed that too much.
I'm doing mostly TV, some film work here and there. I've also gone back to performing in front of an audience. I think that when you're performing comedy, it's always best, natural, to be able to hear the laughter. You can feed off the energy of the audience and they feed off of you.
The more I think about it, the more I think of performing as an occupation rather than a calling. When you choose to make it your living, it has to be an occupation. Ultimately there's a certain calling, and you need talent. That's a mystery -- some people have it and some people don't. And it depends on how much you like being in the spotlight, not necessarily a real-life spotlight or being the centre of attention, but once you get in front of a bank of lights, what do you do with that? And you have to enjoy that. You also need unlimited energy, love what you're doing and be reasonably assured you're good and be honest about it. Joe Flaherty will perform May 29 and 31 in Toronto during the Second City Annual Alumni Week. For information, call 416-343-0011. He spoke to Rebecca Caldwell.