If you are auditioning for a serious role, this is probably not the best to choose; however, for a lighter, funny role, it may be just the thing.
A Quick Dive Into History
For the past hundred years, comedy monologues have been becoming increasingly popular. Music halls and a variety of other shows in Britain and the United States led to their popularity. Over time these monologues have become a regular feature of television comedy as well as stand up comedy.
Usually various television programs and stand up comedy programs have an opening comedy monologue that is intended to entertain and amuse. Often they become a regular feature of shows like the Jay Leno Show or the Tonight Show. Most of the shows that feature these monologues are one person shows, or solo shows that bring together drama and comedy.
Popular Comic Monologists
Believe it or not, there are quite a few people who are famous for their comic monologues. One of the older comic monologists that you are probably familiar with is Bob Hope. There are many others that you may have heard of as well, including Dave Chapelle, Billy Connolly, Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld, and Johnny Carson.
Where to Find Them
If you want to audition with a comic monologue, first you will need to find one. There are many places to find these monologues, but one of the best places to find one is on the internet.
There are many sites available to actors that offer a variety of comic monologues for you to choose from. If you can’t find one that you feel is suited to you, then you may want to consider actually writing your own.
Writing Your Own
Writing your own comedy monologue can be a great idea if you can’t find other great material, but it is going to take a bit of work on your part.
First of all, you need to come up with your character, and make the character someone who is amusing and funny. You’ll also need a situation to put that character in that will lead to hilarity throughout the piece.
Make sure that you learn to actually become the character and then work on varying the moods that the character experiences, since one mood will become dull and cease to be funny. This type of a monologue must have a lot of energy in it, and remember, you need to use more than just your words and voice to be funny. Physical humor is important as well if you really want to sell the part.