The Funniest Scenes in the World

The Fifty Funniest Scenes in the World is a valuable tool that is badly needed in today's fast-paced, competitive marketplace: a book of original scenes that are worthy of being performed for agents, managers, casting directors and network executives. A book of scenes that are worthy of being shot and broadcast on television and are formatted like proper scripts used by professional actors. Gunnar Rohrbacher is a writer, actor, director, producer and teacher who happens to also co-own Actors Comedy Studio in Los Angeles. ACS primarily teaches acting and audition technique for on-camera comedy; sitcoms, half- hours, dramedies, whatever term you like. Of note, we do two other things at ACS that are relevant to this collection of scenes: we host casting director workshops and produce student showcases. Many of the scenes in this book have been performed live in one configuration or another. A few are brand spanking new. Within casting director workshops, actors will perform scenes from television pilots that never aired, scenes from television that have aired and, at ACS, scenes written by Gunnar. Time and again, these scenes have grabbed the attention of our guest casting directors. They love them and are often curious where the actors found them. They're amused, surprised and impressed when they hear they came from Gunnar. So while these scenes have had validation from a wide swath of industry professionals, they are new in the scheme of things. They aren't from existing works. They have not been done over and over again. They aren't scenes from plays from the 1950s or movies from the 1980s. Actors deserve a better choice than dated material that more often than not features an indelible performance by a notable actor. These scenes are designed to make you the star. The format is pretty simple - scenes are organized into the following categories: male/female, female/ female, male/male and gender neutral. The gender neutral scenes are also age neutral. Thus, each traditional category is made larger by the additional scenes that most anyone can perform. In addition, the scenes were all envisioned for the screen rather than stage. Some of them have been shot and produced and are viewable as MiniComs (TM) on our production site, ACSDigital.tv. Not all of the scenes in this book are represented there, but if you'd like to see some that were shot live in front of a studio audience (the laughter is real), with rehearsal, direction and terrific actors, please check them out. Even if your scene of choice is not one that we shot for our two seasons of MiniComs (TM), you might get some ideas about performance energy, timing, rhythm, pace, delivery, etc. Some scenes may seem broader than others. Some may read more poignant to you. That was intentional. There is a wide range of comedy being distributed by an enormous number of broadcasters and streaming services. With all the comedy shows being produced for ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, HBO, BBC, Showtime, Comedy Central, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. the tone of all these scenes matches something that is out there in the marketplace. Lastly, a lot of actors need reel footage but are reluctant to self-produce largely for fear of writing or lack of experience. The Fifty Funniest Scenes in the World will help solve that problem, too. If you want to shoot and edit these scenes, you're more than welcome to! Each scene is three to six minutes long. You only need 30 seconds or so to create a clip. If you shoot footage using these scenes, please feel free to send a link to Gunnar at gunnar@actorscomedystudio.com