Why do ‘ensamble cast’ comedians all become stars?
These were all famous names after the first show. Technically, before we had even seen them work. Why? because they were treated like stars when announced, but more importantly, we got to hear/see/read about them in the same 2-seconds-each introductions. Fifteen seconds out of the show, tops.
SNL…no need to list.
Laugh-in…Dan Rowan Dick Martin Gary Owens Ruth Buzzi Judy Carne Eileen Brennan Goldie Hawn Arte Johnson Arte Johnson Jo Anne Worley …Still doing ads and guest spots 30 years later. Still Celebrities.
They were all unemployed lightweights when they joined, and if they’d been characters on sit-coms, even lovable characters, they would never have risen to name-above-the-title movie stars.
This is an easy way for producers to create the effect of “all-star” casts. I first saw it on Your Show of Shows where they would announce Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris…
Cavalcade of Stars Jackie Gleason Jack Carter Art Carney Larry Storch Audrey Meadows Buddy Hackett … We know the names and faces when the name of the show is no longer familiar.
My main point: These people were instant Name celebrities, while sit-com stars like from “Seinfeld” and “Friends”, now all stars, took years to reach similar Name Recognition.
And now the hard question all actors want answered:
If a good introduction creates fame, and it costs nothing, and it makes everyone involved rich, why don’t all producers do it?
Do you really consider people like Ruth Buzzi, Henry Gibson, Tony Rosario, Danitra Vance, Lyle Waggoner and many others too numerous to name to be STARS?
Ensemble variety shows are based on the assumption that each cast member got equal billing. There are a few ensemble sitcoms, like Friends, that work that way, but most of them, MAS*H, Cheers, Seinfeld, Frasier, etc., either started out with an identified star or had one rise up (like Alan Alda) very quickly.
What makes a star break out of an ensemble cast is usually the movie or TV work they do after they leave the show. Who remembers the work of Robin Williams on the second incarnation of Laugh-In, or Jim Carrey in In Living Color?
Quite the contrary. Just using SNL as an example: where are Morwenna Banks, Beth Cahill, Denny Dillon, Robin Duke, Brad Hall, Yvonne Hudson, Melanie Hutsell, David Koechner, Gail Matthius, Ann Risley, Sarah Silverman, Pamela Stephenson, Terry Sweeney, Danitra Vance, Dan Vitale, Nancy Walls, Patrick Weathers now?
Some SNLers were known before SNL: Billy Crystal, Janeane Garofalo, Randy Quaid, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Others became known because of SNL: Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Jane Curtin, Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers.
So it’s pretty much a mixed bag on how being part of an ensemble will help your career. For SNL, it helped most of them, but some (like those in my first paragraph) are destined for obscurity.
Quite the contrary. Just using SNL as an example: where are Morwenna Banks, Beth Cahill, Denny Dillon, Robin Duke, Brad Hall, Yvonne Hudson, Melanie Hutsell, David Koechner, Gail Matthius, Ann Risley, Sarah Silverman, Pamela Stephenson, Terry Sweeney, Danitra Vance, Dan Vitale, Nancy Walls, Patrick Weathers now?
Some SNLers were known before SNL: Billy Crystal, Janeane Garofalo, Randy Quaid, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Others became known because of SNL: Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Jane Curtin, Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers.
So it’s pretty much a mixed bag on how being part of an ensemble will help your career. For SNL, it helped most of them, but some (like those in my first paragraph) are destined for obscurity.
Quite the contrary. Just using SNL as an example: where are Morwenna Banks, Beth Cahill, Denny Dillon, Robin Duke, Brad Hall, Yvonne Hudson, Melanie Hutsell, David Koechner, Gail Matthius, Ann Risley, Sarah Silverman, Pamela Stephenson, Terry Sweeney, Danitra Vance, Dan Vitale, Nancy Walls, Patrick Weathers now?
Some SNLers were known before SNL: Billy Crystal, Janeane Garofalo, Randy Quaid, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Others became known because of SNL: Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Jane Curtin, Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers.
So it’s pretty much a mixed bag on how being part of an ensemble will help your career. For SNL, it helped most of them, but some (like those in my first paragraph) are destined for obscurity.
[sup]New topic:[/sup] Why didn’t the producers of Friends give them all a decent intro in the first season?
It would have cost them 15 seconds and kept the show from struggling for an audience.
All these actors had innate star power, but had to scratch too long to become celebs.
They had what it took on the very first show, one of my favorite premiers.
And boy, is that one weird premiere to watch once you’ve been a longtime viewer of the show. The rhythm is completely different. Obviously they were trying to do something funky and unusual, but oddly enough, I think it worked better when it reverted to the more conventional sitcom rhythm. Maybe because it just happened to be a very snappy, very well-written conventional sitcom.
The cast of Friends has “innate star power”? If by that you mean the supernatural ability to get movie contracts, I agree. But good GOD, their movies suck donkey. It’s like a fundamental physical law or something: no Friends cast member shall make a decent movie. I submit Ed as Exhibit A in proving my thesis.
About SNL: Remember the early 80s, when you couldn’t go to the cineplex without seeing posters for the latest Robin Duke, Charles Rocket, or Gary Kroger movie? [/sarcasm]
Friends was a pretty big hit in its first season–no real struggling going on.
The premise of the OP has already been shown to be very erroneous. Very few members of “ensemble casts” go on to be stars–heck, few of the early-80s SNL people are even working anymore.
>Why didn’t the producers of Friends give them all a decent intro in the first season?
A sitcom is very different from a variety show like SNL or Laugh In. We tend to think of the characters in a sitcom as the characters they play. The star power of the actor can detract from that illusion, so it wouldn’t necessarily be in the interest of the show’s producers to push the actors’ identities. On a sketch comedy show like SNL, the actors don’t maintain a single persona, so it’s their reputations that sell the show. We watch SNL to see Eddie Murphy, but we watch Friends to see Chandler, not Matthew Perry.
I admit I haven’t seen The Opposite Of Sex yet, so I’m withholding comment until I see it. Still, from what I can remember from its promotion, she’s not the main draw in TOOS, so perhaps the theory needs to be amended, but only slightly: no Friends cast member shall be a headliner in a decent movie.
Since we’re on Kudrow, I present counter-exhibit B1 - Hanging Up.
The ensemble shows that had the highest percentage of after-show success would probably be the original casts of SNL and SCTV.
Most of the original cast of SNL became pretty big stars, with the exceptions of Garret Morris and I suppose Laraine Newman. The original cast was Chevy Chase, Bill Murray (second season), Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, and Garret Morris.
The original cast of SCTV was John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Dave Thomas, Harold Ramis, Andrea Martin, and Martin Short.