How Exactly Do Actors Not Laugh At Their Own Comedy Skits?

Question:Is there "special training" that goes on to teach actors how to pull of comedy seriously without laughing at it themselves?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Is there "special training" that goes on to teach actors how to pull of comedy seriously without laughing at it themselves?

The secret to playing comedy is to play your character, no matter how weird or silly, or funny, as seriously as you can. Believe in your character's dialog and actions, and let the audience find the comedy---you're on stage to work, not to crack up at your own stuff.
Rehearsing the comedy helps. You need to practice to get the timing of the scene just right, your dialog word-perfect and your actions and blocking set, so you don't mess up the scene or the other actors who are out there with you.

Even with all this preparation, even the best of actors can get a fit of the giggles, or be suddenly the victim of a practical joke by another actor, or an unforeseen accident. In one play, a mechanical goof caused an onstage phone to ring. The actor nearest the phone, picked it up, said "hello", then listened, and then,with a straight face, handed it to another actor, said 'It's for you." and walked off.

How do you cope? Practice. Think on your feet, Stay in character. Know what you're doing. Be ready for anything.

Well, for them, they have read the material and practiced it so many times that keeping themselves from laughing is much easier than someone who is hearing and seeing the material for the first time.

Just like how you don't laugh at a joke nearly as hard the second or third time as much as you did the first, they don't laugh at their own stuff. They got the script and read through it, then had to read through it a lot on their own to memorize it, and then rehearsed it.

After that many times, they are ready to keep a straight face.

Sometimes, though, they can't help themselves, and they get a case of the giggles, which is what many of the Bloopers videos will show.

Have you ever seen the out-takes? Ever seen SNL? They can't always keep themselves from laughing at first.

on tv and movies they edit it out. if you watch the the DVD's with the actors commentary you will hear them talk about making each other laugh.

and, im nt sure if there is special training for not laughing, but they go through a lot of other training. they change accents and what not, so im sure not laughing is easy.

did you know on "hereos", the woman who plays the cop who can read minds wife is from new zealand, speaks with a strong accent? she does the whole part in a fake accent.

did you know the girl that plays " Claire", the cheerleader, can cry on demand? she has perfect control of crying she can cry as much or as little as they want, for as long as they want. a director once told her to be on the verge of tears, but dont cry. during a close up he saw her eyes fill with water, then stop, then fill again.
i learned all this from the DVD.

they go through a lot of training.

There's no magic formula....I think most actors have heard the material so often that it's not all that funny to them anymore.
-Pelagia

Basically, it's just called staying in character. If you laugh at your own skit you destroy the comedy. So do the character development and stick with your characterization. Don't break character.

It's quite simple, after the joke has been repeated 15 - 20 times, its not funny.

They Do.
Every night is different.
I have had to hold back Laughs when doing a skit because when you are onstage with your friends and they may say something different. Its funny.
If you cant listen to what you are doing onstage and react to things as if every night is new. What is the point?