The Value of Unseen Characters in Situation Comedies

Who doesn't enjoy seeing Robert Petrie trip over the ottoman at the start of every Dick van Dyke show? Comic pratfalls can be the lifeblood of any situation comedy. Hilarious gestures, facial expressions, witty dialogue-no wonder we have the popcorn ready every Wednesday at 9 pm.

But, there is a more curious phenomenon that comedy writers have been known to employ with a great deal of success. This comedy device is known as the unseen character, a character that everyone may refer to from time to time, yet no one in the television audience ever sees.

Unseen characters in situation comedies have a value that is similar to that of other running gags, a value that is based on predictable patterns of behavior. Aren't you always convinced that whenever Deputy Fife enters the jail cell he will always lock himself in? Running gags in situation comedies are appealing because they provide a safe haven of anticipated comedy.

As unseen characters show, however, this comedy doesn't even have to be derived from the visual-a telephone call, for example, can bring the character instantly to our imagination.

The Value of Unseen Characters in Situation Comedies: The Convenience of Exaggeration

Before he finally found happiness with Daphne, Niles Crane (from the Frasier show) often spoke of his troubled relationship with his first wife, "Marris." Through his descriptions, we get the idea that she is an ultra-thin person who can't push her way through a revolving door. Marris, as an unseen character, offers great comedic value to the Frasier show because the illusion of her exaggerated thinness would be destroyed by a real person. The convenience of exaggeration makes use of the audience's imagination to far greater effect than if the writers had used a real person to play the role of Marris.

The Value of Unseen Characters in Situation Comedies: The Presence of Comic Antithesis

Another example of the value of unseen character in situation comedies is Quanita-the waitress at the diner of the Andy Griffith Show-whom Deputy Barney Fife regularly calls when he thinks Sheriff Taylor is out of the office.

Quanita is a valuable unseen character in part because she serves as a foil for Barney's character. The conservatism which Barney represents as a lawman is humorously deflated as he calls for a last minute and desperate date with the potentially more free-wheeling waitress. In effect, the unseen character of Quanita indicates the presence of comic antithesis in the show. We get more of an indication of the conservative approach Barney attempts to maintain by watching him stumble through various flirtatious overtures in his telephone conversations with the waitress.

The presence of comic antithesis is a clever way to show different sides of a protagonist's character without having to put it into direct words. The value of the unseen character is that this character drives the plot along without having to say a thing.

While it is true that slapstick humor is appealing because it can be anticipated by the nature of visible characters, think of how valuable an unseen character can be to a situation comedy. The writers can achieve great effects by just letting the telephone ring.

The imagination of the audience does the rest.