Major Nelson was good at physical comedy

[nerrad]

Larry Hagman is one person we don't mention when it came to physical comedy. I never used to realize how good he was until I began watching the DVD's. To me, Jack Tripper was the best at it.

[Subspace]

Originally Posted by nerrad

Larry Hagman is one person we don't mention when it came to physical comedy. I never used to realize how good he was until I began watching the DVD's. To me, Jack Tripper was the best at it.

Dick Van Dyke is also often cited as a classic genius of physical comedy. John Ritter was definitely a great. But can you provide some examples of Larry Hagman's physical comedy? Not saying he's a bad actor - far from it, he's an excellent actor - but I just don't recall many (any?) instances of Larry Hagman doing physical comedy in IDOJ.

Well, he did do a nice long solo dance scene in one Season 1 episode - somewhat analogous to John Ritter's long solo dance scene in the Season 6 Up in the Air episode of Three's Company - but Hagman, while a good dancer, did not actually do much physical comedy during the dance, whereas Ritter did plenty during his dance. Hagman's dance was funny because of the presence of the two peeping Toms (one of which was Dr. Alfred Bellows) and the police officer outside... Hagman's dance was not funny in and of itself. Whereas Ritter's dance was funny in and of itself, not because of anyone else.

Then we have the time in another Season 1 episode where Hagman got temporary amnesia after he got popped on the head with a falling plant... again, I wouldn't really say he did much physical comedy there either... the plant falling thing was merely an explanation for his amnesia, it wasn't funny in and of itself.

So while Hagman may trip and fall a lot, as Ritter does, Hagman's trips and falls aren't funny in and of themselves, nor are they meant to be; more often they are simply used as vehicles for setting up other situations that are funny. Ritter's trips and falls, OTOH, are funny in and of themselves, and being funny is their sole purpose of occurring.

But I may be wrong. Could you please provide some examples of Hagman's physical comedy in IDOJ? I'd love to know if I forgot some great IDOJ physical comedy scenes.