off-mic shenanigans

To me, nothing creates more comic possibilities than talking off mic. (For you beginners, off mic is simply turning your head, or your whole body, away from the mic.) This creates space and distance and suddenly the conversation is not all on the same level. Suddenly someone’s across the room. Or has said something he didn’t want the other to hear. I did a spot once where the character thought the commercial was over, took a call from his wife, then wandered around the studio talking on his phone. The wandering away from the mic made the spot. The listener couldn’t help but lean in. Suddenly the professionalism of a radio spot fell off the table. It was hilarious. But if he stayed on mic… not funny.

This one worked out pretty well. A spot I did years ago for Food.com. I had the actor playing the wife yelling at her husband from another room. For the entire spot. She had to be in another room in a bathtub otherwise she’d be able to help her hapless husband. And I needed him to fumble on his own. Plus yelling off-mic is, to me, suggests a character's futile and helpless attempt to communicate. It’s just plain funny that a person chooses to yell from another room than actually do something.