302:, as Mama in one of their many "The Family" sketches, scored a rare turnabout on Conway (as Mickey, Ed's (Korman) hardware-store employee), who had reduced Burnett and Van Dyke to fits of laughter in the Siamese Elephant Sketch. After Conway's repeated interruptions during the sketch, making a bizarre story incrementally even more so, the cast attempted to resume the sketch – prompting Lawrence to break the
310:) "You sure that little asshole's through?" which brought down the cast and studio audience as well. Needless to say, the scene ended up on the cutting-room floor and is recognized as one of the best-known "blooper" outtakes in TV history. Asked about the scene, years later, Lawrence cryptically replied that the scene may have been an outtake, but wasn't a blooper. She never fully elaborated afterward.
76:, to specifically describe one of the most common ways of breaking character—when an actor loses their composure and laughs or giggles inappropriately during a scene. The British slang term is derived from an actor laughing when their character is supposed to be a corpse. If the breaking of character is particularly serious, it normally results in an abandonment of a
319:
Breaking character or corpsing is also being used more frequently to describe a participant-player who, having assumed the role of a virtual character or avatar and is acting within a virtual or gaming environment, then breaks out of that character. For example, this could be a player-character
63:
occurs when an actor fails to maintain the illusion that they are the character they are supposedly portraying. This is considered unprofessional while performing in front of an audience or camera (except when the act is a deliberate breaking of the
1025:
Tim Marsh. 2006. Vicarious experience: staying there connected with and through our own and other characters. Chapter, In: Gaming As
Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity And Experience in Fantasy Games. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, pp.
280:"reporting" from Britain and explaining, in terms laden with homoerotic imagery, that it would be journalistically irresponsible to go into detail about the story. He then peeled a banana and took a huge bite of it in imitation of
676:
92:
players, with the use of their precise pause and slow-motion functions, has made it far easier to spot breaks in character in motion pictures, and many internet sites collect such examples.
138:
hastily reworked the script to allow Ball to recover her composure. Ball's near-drowning was included in the finished episode, which was one of several from the series to lapse into the
859:
519:
959:
719:...Fallon ... often had difficulty keeping a straight face. In a new interview, Fallon recalls why he broke up in the middle of the famous 'More Cowbell' sketch...
732:
268:
or one of the correspondents occasionally broke character during a segment. One example was a piece on an allegation of a homosexual relationship involving
128:, in a rare example of breaking character for her, was forced to break character during filming of "Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower", a season 1 episode of
836:"'SNL' Star Heidi Gardner Says 'Anxiety Set in' After Breaking So Hard During 'Beavis and Butt-Head' Sketch: 'I'll Never Be Able to Shake' What I Saw"
706:
680:
134:. In the climactic scene, the titular shower filled with water due to a drain malfunction, and Ball nearly drowned attempting to unplug it. Co-star
284:, causing himself to smile and Stewart to begin giggling off screen. By the end of the segment, Colbert was laughing so hard he could barely speak.
810:
338:
Breaking character is not solely limited to performances in traditional theater, television, and film; the phenomenon is not unheard of in
523:
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behaving inappropriately within the social-cultural environment depicted by the virtual or gaming environment or the participant-player
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220:, who has built a reputation for maintaining composure during comedy scenes, drew considerable attention for corpsing in what
108:
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and others, Dratch eventually struggles to exclaim to exaggerated effect "By the way ... I can't have children!"
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255:
also breaking character, erupting in laughter. The
Christmas address was scripted, but the laughter was not.
31:
935:
909:
381:
339:
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and the
British tabloids' shameless use of innuendo and euphemisms to spread the rumor while avoiding
545:
811:"Heidi Gardner Reacts to Breaking Character During 'SNL' 'Beavis and Butt-Head' Sketch: "I Lost It""
351:
160:
149:
494:
The SNL Companion: An
Unofficial Guide to the Seasons, Sketches, and Stars of Saturday Night Live
291:
112:
and maintain her composure. Several scenes showing her laughing at his antics remain in the film.
1058:, it's possible that the episode contains other instances of actors visually breaking character.
860:"'SNL' Star Heidi Gardner Feels Terrible She Broke Character During 'Beavis And Butt-Head' Skit"
910:"'SNL' shows behind-the-scenes footage of 'Beavis and Butt-Head' skit that broke Heidi Gardner"
677:"Jimmy Fallon and James Franco laugh about 'more cowbell' sketch from 'SNL' on 'Tonight Show'"
607:
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30:"Break character" redirects here. For characters which break lines in text processing, see
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Perhaps the most severe example of an entire cast breaking is the first appearance of the
69:
42:
707:"Jimmy Fallon Recalls Famous Blue Oyster Cult / 'More Cowbell' Saturday Night Live Skit"
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co-stars to lose composure and break out in helpless laughter – in particular,
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886:"SNL: Heidi Gardner Explains Why She Lost It in 'Beavis and Butt-Head' Sketch"
655:
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324:(momentarily or entirely) leaving the character suspended and/or lifeless.
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281:
17:
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1007:"Carol Burnett Outtakes - the Hysterical Elephant Story by Tim Conway!"
991:
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382:
Out of character communication in the sociological theory of dramaturgy
333:
56:
936:"Heidi Gardner Explains Butt-Head Crack-Up On Last Saturday's 'SNL'"
760:"Debbie Downer: A History of Rachel Dratch's Iconic SNL Character"
733:"When Is It OK to Crack Up? Some Ground Rules for the Cast of SNL"
520:"Actors Breaking Character to Laugh With Each Other Between Takes"
355:
321:
273:
77:
410:. New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative. p. 25.
89:
121:
Examples of actors breaking character on television include:
367:
actor Canio kills his real-life wife and her lover onstage.
497:. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 148.
437:. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 132.
224:
magazine characterized "in spectacularly charming fashion".
190:
often broke character, which became one of his trademarks.
961:
Prince
Charles Scandal - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
987:"The Dentist from the Carol Burnett Show (Full sketch)"
147:
Many instances of breaking character have occurred on
59:(especially in the illusionistic Western tradition),
34:. For characters used to escape text formatting, see
1056:
and now only survives as a home-made audio recording
486:
484:
298:, in their Dentist Sketch as well as many others.
595:
407:Making Theater: Developing Plays with Young People
157:is known to strongly discourage character breaks:
786:"Heidi Gardner Couldn't Prepare for What She Saw"
631:"The 'SNL' mistake that Will Ferrell loved most"
550:"Movie Reviews: The Return of the Pink Panther"
467:. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 327.
594:Frank Castelluccio & Alvin Walker (1998).
434:Funny How?: Sketch Comedy and the Art of Humor
243:breaks character to wish the audience a merry
290:took almost sadistic pleasure in pushing his
41:"Corpsing" redirects here. For the band, see
8:
491:Tropiano, Stephen; Ginsberg, Steven (2024).
27:Common theatre phrase meaning to stop acting
346:Fictional depictions of breaking character
197:character, where in a 2004 skit featuring
656:"Matt Foley: Van Down by the River - SNL"
602:. Knowledge, Ideas & Trends. p.
625:
623:
1039:
393:
212:host Bobbi Moore in an April 13, 2024
693:'You always cracked up!' says Franco.
342:, which is normally highly scripted.
182:" sketch broke character reacting to
102:, who found it difficult to act with
7:
522:. twentytwowords.com. Archived from
171:'s motivational speaker character,
25:
731:Winter, Jessica (July 25, 2013).
675:Reiher, Andrea (Mar 15, 2014).
315:Virtual and gaming environments
705:Lifton, Dave (June 27, 2012).
109:The Return of the Pink Panther
1:
598:The Other Side of Ethel Mertz
80:in recorded or filmed drama.
964:. 2003-11-11. Archived from
276:statements. The segment had
167:could not stop laughing at
1091:
934:Evans, Greg (2024-04-16).
884:Ortiz, Andi (2024-04-16).
834:Sharf, Zack (2024-04-16).
809:Perez, Lexy (2024-04-16).
784:Ivie, Devon (2024-04-15).
331:
40:
29:
764:NBC Insider Official Site
709:. ultimateclassicrock.com
178:The band members in the "
1075:Metafictional techniques
679:. Zap2it. Archived from
573:"Ciaran Meets the Stars"
518:Abraham (June 6, 2013).
322:ceasing to interact-play
975:– via www.cc.com.
270:the then Prince Charles
32:Line wrap and word wrap
815:The Hollywood Reporter
464:Making It So: A Memoir
431:Clayton, Alex (2020).
340:professional wrestling
328:Professional wrestling
84:Famous breaks in film
45:. For the novel, see
683:on September 8, 2015
664:. 25 September 2013.
635:faroutmagazine.co.uk
526:on September 6, 2015
1048:The Feast of Steven
968:on January 30, 2021
352:Ruggero Leoncavallo
237:The Feast of Steven
161:Christina Applegate
153:, where showrunner
150:Saturday Night Live
72:uses a slang term,
365:commedia dell'arte
292:Carol Burnett Show
61:breaking character
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552:. John Varley
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201:, guest host
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916:. 2024-04-18
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766:. 2023-08-24
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744:September 7,
742:. Retrieved
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713:September 7,
711:. Retrieved
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687:September 7,
685:. Retrieved
681:the original
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639:. Retrieved
637:. 2023-03-22
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579:September 7,
577:. Retrieved
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556:September 7,
554:. Retrieved
546:Varley, John
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528:. Retrieved
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249:Peter Purves
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188:Jimmy Fallon
184:Will Ferrell
180:More Cowbell
169:Chris Farley
148:
136:Vivian Vance
129:
126:Lucille Ball
120:
107:
94:
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60:
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377:Fourth wall
304:fourth wall
266:Jon Stewart
186:'s antics.
165:David Spade
66:fourth wall
972:2024-04-30
945:2024-04-30
920:2024-04-30
895:2024-04-30
870:2024-04-30
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820:2024-04-30
795:2024-04-30
770:2024-04-30
641:2024-04-30
388:References
288:Tim Conway
253:Jean Marsh
232:Doctor Who
210:NewsNation
173:Matt Foley
1054:episode,
914:TODAY.com
360:Pagliacci
245:Christmas
239:", actor
235:episode "
95:Example:
1069:Category
1026:196-214.
940:Deadline
864:HuffPost
548:(2013).
461:(2023).
404:(1988).
371:See also
282:fellatio
274:libelous
74:corpsing
48:Corpsing
18:Corpsing
1012:YouTube
992:YouTube
890:TheWrap
840:Variety
790:Vulture
661:YouTube
334:Kayfabe
229:In the
222:Vulture
57:theatre
50:(novel)
1052:filler
610:
501:
471:
441:
414:
216:skit,
1034:Notes
738:Slate
356:opera
746:2015
715:2015
689:2015
608:ISBN
581:2015
558:2015
532:2015
499:ISBN
469:ISBN
439:ISBN
412:ISBN
251:and
163:and
78:take
1046:As
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354:'s
350:In
258:On
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