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hypothetical ep4
Mar. 1st, 2019 09:05 amoh my god acaster just couldn't deal with the lorraine kelly bit could he
i thoroughly enjoyed watching James Acaster: Agent of Chaos, having agent-of-chaosed his way through two of osman's panel games, getting out-agent-of-chaosed on his own panel game XD feels nicely karmic
additional observations:
1) the wig oddly suited him? especially when he was laughing. it softened his face shape
2) 'the hair of a hollywood star, the cheekbones of a catwalk model' - don't hold back, josh, tell us how you really feel
3) ohhhhh straightboy, you sure lost that game of matt forde gay chicken quickly
4) 'wingdings!' - the most melodious i've ever heard him. seriously! proof that he can actually give his voice a pleasant timbre if he tries. i was so bewildered when i read his Scrape about being phobic of singing/terrible at singing, and needing a singing teacher, and the teacher saying 'i can't teach you' etc etc. because not only can he absolutely carry a tune, he sings A LOT. ('music, lots of music playing in the car!') sure, his voice has a horrible timbre, but he always stays on-key for the entirety of kettering town fc, f'rex, which someone who wasn't good at singing Could Not Do, i guarantee you.
(i get nerdy about voice shit because a) i studied linguistics b) i'm a natural mimic, although only a mediocre one and c) i'm a natural singer, have a reasonable understanding of the principles of singing, and have been able to coax a couple of self-described 'tone deaf' people into singing slightly better. and our boy is a funny one because... a lot of this shit is about consciously controlling your voice, which isn't a very natural thing to do because using your voice is such an everyday unconscious thing. he can't seem to control the timbre of his voice when singing, but he CAN control the pitch of it, easily. and he is totally incapable of controlling his voice by way of putting on an accent (lol), BUT... so much of comedy is about delivery. and so much of his comedy leans on his offbeat delivery (a guardian article described it as 'eccentric inflections', which stuck in my mind). and there's a bit in comcompod where he's talking as his normal self and then he 'puts on' his 'persona voice' briefly, which is a joy and so obviously highlights the calculated differences, so... clearly he knows what he's doing! clearly he knows how to control his voice in some respects! just... not others?
so there's obviously something else going on when it comes to timbre and accents. maybe he CAN do it but it's funnier not to (like, obviously kettering town fc wouldn't be as funny if it was a rich smooth tenor :P or maybe it would be funnier? :P but it's not like he's done stars in their eyes or anything, we don't really have a base for comparison). maybe it's a confidence thing - if you try to sing with a pleasant timbre, which is basically putting on a voice that isn't really yours, and it doesn't quite come out right, it can be more embarrassing than just not even trying. ditto accents. it could be that he doesn't have an ear for accents? but he has an ear for music, for heaven's sake!
but... yeah... like, either his singing teacher was a god damn miracle worker, or i just don't buy that he was ever that bad at singing? because he! knows! what he's doing! with his voice!
...maybe his singing teacher was a miracle worker, and if it hadn't been for her, he'd never have learned to control his voice enough (in general) to deliver comedy well :) so let's all be grateful for that!)
i thoroughly enjoyed watching James Acaster: Agent of Chaos, having agent-of-chaosed his way through two of osman's panel games, getting out-agent-of-chaosed on his own panel game XD feels nicely karmic
additional observations:
1) the wig oddly suited him? especially when he was laughing. it softened his face shape
2) 'the hair of a hollywood star, the cheekbones of a catwalk model' - don't hold back, josh, tell us how you really feel
3) ohhhhh straightboy, you sure lost that game of matt forde gay chicken quickly
4) 'wingdings!' - the most melodious i've ever heard him. seriously! proof that he can actually give his voice a pleasant timbre if he tries. i was so bewildered when i read his Scrape about being phobic of singing/terrible at singing, and needing a singing teacher, and the teacher saying 'i can't teach you' etc etc. because not only can he absolutely carry a tune, he sings A LOT. ('music, lots of music playing in the car!') sure, his voice has a horrible timbre, but he always stays on-key for the entirety of kettering town fc, f'rex, which someone who wasn't good at singing Could Not Do, i guarantee you.
(i get nerdy about voice shit because a) i studied linguistics b) i'm a natural mimic, although only a mediocre one and c) i'm a natural singer, have a reasonable understanding of the principles of singing, and have been able to coax a couple of self-described 'tone deaf' people into singing slightly better. and our boy is a funny one because... a lot of this shit is about consciously controlling your voice, which isn't a very natural thing to do because using your voice is such an everyday unconscious thing. he can't seem to control the timbre of his voice when singing, but he CAN control the pitch of it, easily. and he is totally incapable of controlling his voice by way of putting on an accent (lol), BUT... so much of comedy is about delivery. and so much of his comedy leans on his offbeat delivery (a guardian article described it as 'eccentric inflections', which stuck in my mind). and there's a bit in comcompod where he's talking as his normal self and then he 'puts on' his 'persona voice' briefly, which is a joy and so obviously highlights the calculated differences, so... clearly he knows what he's doing! clearly he knows how to control his voice in some respects! just... not others?
so there's obviously something else going on when it comes to timbre and accents. maybe he CAN do it but it's funnier not to (like, obviously kettering town fc wouldn't be as funny if it was a rich smooth tenor :P or maybe it would be funnier? :P but it's not like he's done stars in their eyes or anything, we don't really have a base for comparison). maybe it's a confidence thing - if you try to sing with a pleasant timbre, which is basically putting on a voice that isn't really yours, and it doesn't quite come out right, it can be more embarrassing than just not even trying. ditto accents. it could be that he doesn't have an ear for accents? but he has an ear for music, for heaven's sake!
but... yeah... like, either his singing teacher was a god damn miracle worker, or i just don't buy that he was ever that bad at singing? because he! knows! what he's doing! with his voice!
...maybe his singing teacher was a miracle worker, and if it hadn't been for her, he'd never have learned to control his voice enough (in general) to deliver comedy well :) so let's all be grateful for that!)
