51
votes
Accepted
How do actors control laughter in comedy scenes?
Practise and familiarity.
The actors will already know the lines by heart. The first couple of blocking run-throughs, even before camera is set up, will let them get over most remaining giggles. You'd ...
- 45.7k
40
votes
Accepted
Looking for a movie of about futuristic city and alien society
I believe you're looking for the movie The Fifth Element 1997 starring Bruce Willis.
It features flying cars/ Aliens and lots of futuristic tech. It has a scene at the beginning where Aliens visit a ...
- 2,728
28
votes
Accepted
Laughter in Comedic TV Shows
It's called a "laugh track". They've been around since radio shows and they're often used to prompt the audience into finding the jokes funny.
Before radio and television, audiences experienced ...
- 26.3k
21
votes
Accepted
Teenage Boy gives Counselling Sessions in the Bathroom
This sounds like Charlie Bartlett.
Let's look at the trailer...
High school boy - Check
Rich - Check
Private to Public school - Check
Wears uniform and not well ...
- 9,218
18
votes
Seemingly tall man answers door but he's actually short
You are describing a scene from Top Secret: When Nick and Val reach the resistance, a high latch opens and a man appears through it. But when he opens the door, he's short (he's the guy on the left ...
- 99.1k
17
votes
Why is Hollywood not casting Jim Carrey anymore?
There are plenty of reasons, as shown in this article on Looper:
He's too much of a risk
He's not as much of a box office draw as he used to be
He stopped promoting Kick-Ass 2
His method ...
- 45.9k
14
votes
Accepted
Comedy about a red slime monster alien devouring a spaceship's crew
It's The Creature Wasn't Nice (AKA Naked Space AKA Spaceship) from 1981 with Leslie Nielsen.
When the spaceship Vertigo stops to explore a previously unknown planet, the crew finds an unrecognized ...
- 99.1k
14
votes
Accepted
What's the meaning behind this joke in George Carlin's 1977 HBO special?
You have to look at different versions/transcripts to get the full meaning of that passage. While I haven't seen that particular one, I have heard this skit in a different format:
Or sometimes if ...
- 8,664
13
votes
Accepted
Movie about a bridge accident, people dying horribly and premonition
This is Final Destination 5 (2011)
Sam Lawton is on his way to a company retreat with his colleagues. While their bus crosses the North Bay Bridge, Sam has a ...
- 130k
11
votes
Accepted
Old comedy/spy movie where the heroine is a much better fighter than the leading man
I can say with strong certainty that the film you are referring to is called 'Don't just stand there' (1968). The film stars Robert Wagner and the woman that performs the fighting is the busty, ...
- 326
11
votes
Accepted
Can you identity a movie about friends trying to murder each other?
Sounds a lot like Throw Momma From The Train
Here is the plot synopsis -
Larry (Billy Crystal), an author with a cruel ex-wife, Margaret (Kate Mulgrew), teaches a writing workshop where Owen (...
- 9,372
11
votes
1980's/1990's French comedy with a person who can't be captured in a photograph
This is the plot of Zig Zag Story from 1983.
The lives of three Parisians - a color-blind painter, a radio show host and a perverted photographer - intertwine and go hilariously out of control. A ...
- 99.1k
9
votes
Comedy spy movie (probably with Leslie Nielsen)
My guess is Get Smart, Again!(1989). Don Adams was the agent. #2 and #3 sound like variations on the running joke of the "cone of silence". This movie featured the variation called "hover cover", ...
- 573
8
votes
Accepted
Opening scene with a woman who gets her high heels stuck in a grate
Sounds like the opening credits of Stir Crazy, a 1980 comedy with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor (and directed by Sidney Poitier!). They featured a few vignettes from New York, and one of them was the ...
- 99.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Comedy movie/TV show featuring a lactating girl convincing a boy to consume her breast milk
Seems you saw a clip from the season 2 premiere of Nip/Tuck from 2004 where Gina, whose baby Christian helps her with, is lactating and doesn't want to ruin her silk shirt, so she asks Christian to ...
- 99.1k
8
votes
Why is Hollywood not casting Jim Carrey anymore?
In 2013 he ended his relationship with his agents/managers Eric Gold and Jimmy Miller - they had represented him for the prior 25 years of his career.
The following year he signed with Rick Yorn's ...
- 1,379
7
votes
Accepted
Comedy where a guy glues a dog to his hand while hiding in closet
Sounds like Blake Edwards' The Man Who Loved Women with Burt Reynolds and Julie Andrews from 1983.
This is the tale of a sculptor named David who has a major womanizing problem. He goes to seek ...
- 99.1k
7
votes
Why do criminals whistle after doing something?
TVTropes defines this as the Not-So-Innocent Whistle
In media of all types, especially comics and cartoons, the "innocent" whistle is a main staple, often played for humor. Alice, feeling ...
- 4,540
7
votes
Accepted
What cancelled ABC (US) TV show is Seth Meyers talking about in this comedic monologue?
He is referencing the 2018 revival of the 1988 sitcom Roseanne, which was cancelled after its star, Roseanne Barr, made questionable comments on twitter.
- 875
7
votes
Accepted
What is the connection between Key and Peele's 'Continental breakfast' and the movie 'The Shining'?
Here are the references that I found:
1. Room 237
When Jordan Peele's character walks into the hotel, the concierge tells him that he will be staying in room 237. This is a direct reference to the ...
- 3,686
6
votes
Accepted
Male alien searching for a girlfriend on Earth
This is the sci-fi comedy What Planet Are You From? from 2000 starring the late Garry Shandling, Annette Bening and many other known names.
A denizen (Garry Shandling) of a faraway planet occupied ...
- 99.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Style of shooting where common activities are filmed as if they were epic
It's TvTropes to the rescue again, where they decided to call the technique Mundane Made Awesome and present a few billion examples from movies, TV, advertising and other media. Edgar Wright's films ...
- 99.1k
6
votes
Was Dr. Strangelove originally intended to be serious?
At first, Kubrick intended to make a serious film, but soon decided to scrap the idea, because - rather ironically - he thought that people would laugh.
Q: Strangelove was based on a serious book,...
- 11.6k
6
votes
Accepted
A guy hires man to commit suicide-by-assassin, but killer fails, kills other people accidentally?
You're after Shut Up and Shoot Me:
Long-suffering Czech Pavel Zeman works six jobs, so his ungrateful
wife Liba can buy designer shoes and clothes. Colin Frampton is an
Englishman who never ...
- 14.7k
6
votes
Accepted
A movie with quotation argument and a literal book of quotations
Yep, Tim Curry's the henchman, and the battle's between Denis Leary and William Shatner, no less! You're looking for Loaded Weapon 1 from 1993 starring Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson. However, I ...
- 99.1k
6
votes
What is the first mockumentary style show?
There are a lot of great mockumentary style comedy shows such as The
Office, Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, etc. My question is who
invented this style? Who was the first to make a show or a ...
- 5,582
6
votes
Accepted
Old black-and-white political comedy about a young idealist running for Mayor
This seems to be the American B&W comedy The Reformer and the Redhead from 1950.
Hot-tempered Kathleen Maguire enlists the services of a young attorney to help her zookeeper father get his job ...
- 99.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Looking for a funny and inspirational hindi movie
The movie is Shivaji The boss(2007) with Rajnikanth as the lead role. It was a Tamil movie dubbed into Telugu, Hindi. You might have watched the Hindi dubbed version of the movie.
In the movie, the ...
- 10.9k
6
votes
What makes a comedy series a sitcom?
Situational Comedy
A sitcom, short for "situation comedy", is a genre of comedy centered
on a fixed set of characters who carry over from episode to episode.
Sitcoms can be contrasted with ...
- 22.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Is Leslie Nielsen's distinction between a comedian and a comic actually insightful, or is he just telling a joke here?
Time magazine did a story about Michael J Fox appearing on the TV show Spin City. The essence of the article was that Fox understood what it meant to be a comedic actor, as opposed to the explosion ...
- 206
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible