# The Stammering Method of Acting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2022, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071 "2022-07-17T02:29:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/1 "2022-07-17T02:29:34Z")
Watching an old ep of Colombo, with Roddy McDowell as the murderer, I’m reminded how much better of an actor he was prepuberty. In adulthood he lost all trace of naturalness and joined the school of acting that equated manufactured stammering with natural speech patterns. I’m trying to remember other devotees of this tried and true method. The worst offender of all time, of course, was Jack Lemmon. I simply can’t watch him because of this affectation. Another club member was Elizabeth Montgomery. I know there are many more actors I’ve noticed with this “method,” but none come to mind at the moment. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/2 "2022-07-17T02:34:05Z")
Moved to cafe society. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/3 "2022-07-17T02:37:55Z")
Fred Armisen. It’s not funny when every single character of his has the same exaggerated stammer. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zRgg-9Ph3Lk/maxresdefault.jpg "Portlandia - Peter (Fred Armisen) Stutter Compilation") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRgg-9Ph3Lk) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/4 "2022-07-17T02:55:35Z")
This has a lot of Jeff Goldblum stammers, as well as an awful lot of "oh"s, "ahhh"s, and random other vocal noises. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gEJKQI_ht1I/maxresdefault.jpg "Jeff Goldblum Making Noises (Supercut)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEJKQI_ht1I) ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/5 "2022-07-17T03:01:26Z")
Bob Newhart. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/6 "2022-07-17T03:03:02Z")
Jimmy Stewart, but apparently he really had a speech impediment, according to this site: [https://www.speechpathologygraduateprograms.org/2017/11/6-famous-people-you-never-knew-had-a-speech-disorder/](https://www.speechpathologygraduateprograms.org/2017/11/6-famous-people-you-never-knew-had-a-speech-disorder/) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/7 "2022-07-17T03:19:17Z")
Oh sorry thought I had ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/8 "2022-07-17T04:17:16Z")
I have never found Bob Newhart’s shtick to be funny. He’s just always the same annoying persona. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/9 "2022-07-17T04:53:37Z")
Hugh Grant in his Rom-com days. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/10 "2022-07-17T07:16:40Z")
Sandy Dennis? Leonard Rossiter? I’m sure ole Larry Olivier muttered the odd stammering proclamation / entreaty / intimation / admonishment / etc. Marty Feldman? > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I have never found Bob Newhart’s shtick to be funny. He’s just always the same annoying persona. That observation can actually be scientifically, empirically proven wrong. Well, ok, no, it can’t. But almost. I mean, really - how can… oh… words can’t… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/11 "2022-07-17T11:52:58Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > of all time, of course, was Jack Lemmon. Can you do a Woody Allen impression? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/12 "2022-07-17T16:10:28Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Hugh Grant in his Rom-com days. It worked really well at first and then not so much as it got overused. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/13 "2022-07-17T16:35:04Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > It worked really well at first and then not so much as it got overused Come to think of it, John Ritter got plenty of mileage out of rapidly but amiably stammering his way through situations where a likable everyman is acting as if things are as they should be — and now you’ve got me wondering if the reason that didn’t get too old too fast on THREE’S COMPANY was him eventually getting to present it as comparatively regular-guy schtick next to, y’know, Don Knotts. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/14 "2022-07-17T18:04:49Z")
Allen did it occasionally. Even frequently. Lemmon couldn’t answer a yes or no question in less that 73 syllables ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stammering-method-of-acting/968071/15 "2022-07-17T18:06:24Z")
Warren Beatty