Usually, I reserve my comedy philosophizing for the pages of the Yale Record alum site, Rasputin Bigbodie, but today, I'm going to do my muttering closer to home.
It has occured to me that the use of one actor in multiple roles in a single film can be used both for good (Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove) or evil (Eddie Murphy in Norbit), but this occasional an usually successful comedic device is almost non-existent in television comedy (though Becki Newton had a small role as Ugly Ruthie in addition to her regular role of Amanda on Ugly Betty). I wonder why this is. I don't count Jaleel White playing Urkel and his alter ego Stefan, or Jeffrey Tambor as twins in Arrested Development because they HAD to be played by the same actor.
I think somebody should write a sitcom in which an actor pulls double duty as more than one character. My pilot does not have this but a play I wrote back in the day considered it optimal (mostly because of Angels in America).
Any thoughts?
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