As an acting coach, it’s great when you can offer an actor a quick tip or bit of advice that makes their job easier and a career more accessible right away. Sometimes though, a close inspection of the marketplace and some nuanced thought about what’s working and what isn’t wins the day.
You may not have realized it, but virtually all the comedies that have lasted two to four seasons feature either narcissists or buffoons in leading roles. In contrast, the comedy pilots that made it to air in the last few years and didn’t feature buffoons or narcissists, didn’t last. It’s worth noting.
To illustrate, the sitcoms from all previous decades featured anchors, dreamers, and neurotics as lead archetypes. They were generally grounded, hopeful, book smart or street smart, responsible, and charming, with some insecurity and desperation thrown into the mix.
They were relatable and had an everyman quality to them. Roseanne and Seinfeld were anchors on their shows. Lucy (Lucille Ball) was a dreamer on “I Love Lucy,” as was Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) on “30 Rock” and Ray (Ray Romano) on “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Ross and Monica (David Schwimmer and Courteney Cox) were both neurotics on “Friends,” as are Claire and Mitchell (Julie Bowen and Jesse Tyler Ferguson) on “Modern Family.”
Our current batch of comedies have switched the paradigm. It appears our prevailing socio-economic conditions combined with our technology driven, social media immersed lives have made us more self-involved and foolish. Well, if not us, the characters with whom we spend time. But they say art mirrors society, right? So is there a difference?
At any rate, opinions are fine, but I prefer evidence. Here is the list of comedies that are two-to-four seasons old, which means they’ll likely be around for a while longer and are therefore noteworthy, regardless of personal taste.
“The Mindy Project” stars Mindy Kaling as Mindy Lahiri, a proud narcissist who refers to herself as such constantly. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” stars Andy Samberg as a sweet, totally lovable…narcissist. He even has his own groupie, Det. Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio).
“The Goldbergs” stars Wendi McLendon-Covey as smothering, Narcissist mother Beverly Goldberg. “Girls” stars Lena Dunham as hateable-because-she’s-such-a-narcissist Hannah Horvath. “Episodes” stars Matt LeBlanc playing a version of himself; the difference from the Joey days of “Friends”? He’s now a narcissist and the other characters call him that all the time.
“The Comeback” came back to HBO after a nine-year hiatus. Lisa Kudrow’s genius portrayal of Valerie Cherish, the ultimate narcissist, was too good not to invite to the party once more. “Web Therapy” features Kudrow’s other narcissist character Fiona Wallice on Showtime.
“Mom” stars Allison Janney as yet another narcissist mother. “2 Broke Girls” has a 50 percent chance that one is a narcissist. She is; Beth Behrs as Caroline Channing. “Veep” stars Julia Louise-Dreyfus as über narcissist Selina Meyer. Max Greenfield’s Schmidt is so into himself on “New Girl,” we don’t even get to know his first name.
“Workaholics” features a crew of Buffoons, as does “Silicon Valley.” “Undateable” just started Season 2 and simply sounds like it must be about a group of Buffoons (it is). “House of Lies” follows a group of narcissistic management consultants. Lastly, “Getting On” stars the brilliant Laurie Metcalf as raging narcissist Dr. Jenna James who seeks global acclaim for her study of feces.
I am passionate about this current trend in comedy because it permeates all the variables: single camera, multi-camera, gender, age ranges, broadcast, and cable and premium networks. I see actors misreading scripts and developing characters in ways that don’t make sense in this marketplace. I frequently coach actors on series regular roles who struggle with what to bring into the audition room and don’t understand why they’ve stopped booking.
The answer is simple. They don’t know how to play these characters in an honest, comedic, and current way. The shows that are in development are just like the shows that I’ve listed here. If you want to book the work, you must understand it. My advice? Watch these shows and consider how your worst qualities are fun for other people to spend time with.
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