Comedic Heels
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I received more feedback for my “Cool Heels” column, last
week, than I have for any other column I’ve written. Most people agreed
whole-heartedly with my thoughts but the column also generated a lot of
questions. Because of this huge influx in inquires I decided to expand my
conversation on heels this week.
The most common emails were people asking me for my take on
“Comedic Heels”. Comedic heels are a great topic because there are both plus
and minuses to being the comedic heel. This is a very common role and I’m all
in favour of it, because I think the comedic heel role is a very useful and
important one.
The key to being a good comedic heel is making sure you are
the punch line of your jokes. You want fans laughing at you not with you. When
fans laugh at the heels misfortune or at how big of a joke he is, they are
generally having a good time, and enjoying themselves. You always feel better
about yourself when you can watch someone else being a bigger loser than you are.
There are a lot of people in the world who wish they were
cooler or that they were more popular. Watching a heel be a complete loser and
get laughed at by others allows fans to be in the cool group. The entire
audience gets to collectively laugh at and point out how much of a jackass that
heel is and it feels good. By being the biggest idiot in the room the comedic
heel lets everyone else feel like the cool kids.
For my money the best comedic heel in the business right now
is Santino Marella. He is so funny and entertaining that I look forward to his
segments each week on RAW. More importantly though Santino is funny and
entertaining without ever making himself look good. Santino has gone above and
beyond to make sure he is the butt of every joke. No matter how much of an
idiot you are, you can watch Santino Marella and take comfort in him being an
even bigger one.
Don’t get me wrong though, there is more to being a good
comedic heel than just being an idiot and a joke, there is a lot of skill to it.
Santino’s comedic timing and facial expressions are fantastic. Santino is a
tremendous promo and a very talented performer. Not every bumbling idiot can be
a member of the 3 Stooges; it takes a lot of talent.
Once you have a great comedic heel you have a very useful
commodity on your hands. Much like I mentioned last week about how if you have
2 people and one of them is cool, the other then looks like the loser, with the
comedic heel you are in a situation where you have 2 people and one of them is
a goofball idiot so the other person looks cool by default. A good comedic heel
can get the crowd behind almost any baby face. Because of this comedic heels
are perfect opponents for debuting baby faces. It’s tough to get the crowd
behind someone they don’t know but a heel like Santino is so established the
crowd would be forced to get behind the new guy just to spite Santino. Marella
is so good in his role because the crowd is just begging someone to punch him
in the mouth and shut him up so who ever does this is the baby face and will
get cheered as a result.
The comedic heel is also very useful because he is more
expendable and doesn’t need to be protected as much as serious heels. Because
the comedic heel doesn’t generate his heat by being a threat to the baby faces
he doesn’t need to be as credible. Santino has been used to further a lot of
storylines and has even been pinned by girls a few times. This always gets a
huge crowd reaction and because Santino’s heat is generated through comedy
these losses don’t hurt his appeal or value to the company.
The comedic heel is also a nice change of pace on a show.
Vince often calls the WWE a variety show and that is probably a very good
description. People watch wrestling for a lot of different reasons. Some like
the technique, some like the violence, some like the women, some like the
laughs. If you have 2 hard hitting violent matches on a show you don’t want
them back-to-back. Fans can burn out from too much of the same thing. A comedy
match between two heavier matches gives the crowd a nice break from the action
and can also highlight the other matches by making them look more violent in
contrast to the comedy.
There is one down side to being the comedic heel however;
you will never really be a Main Eventer. Because of their comedic nature
comedic heels don’t have much credibility and are never taken very seriously.
The thought process is that the serious battle over the World Title draws the
money, and the comedy act is just part of the entertainment. Comedic heels aren’t
going to be World Champions because comedic heels seldom win matches. Playing
the part of the comedic jackass can get you great crowd reactions and does make
your baby face look good, but you are in a position where if you beat the baby
face, he’s being beaten by an idiot and pretty much gets buried in the process.
Very few baby faces lose programs to comedic heels and the
comedic heel role is one designed to get the opponent over. The comedic heel
role is a valuable one and there is good job security in it, but you need to be
prepared to lose a lot of matches and pretty much accept that you will never
main event.
I will never pay to see Santino Marella wrestle; he does not
as they say, “draw money”. He is however
one of the best comedic heels this business has ever seen. I look forward to
seeing him every week on RAW, and find him more entertaining than ½ the guys on
the show. He is not the reason I tune in to watch the show but one of the many
reasons I’m happy I’ve watched when it’s over. That is the role of the comedic
heel and Santino Marella does it perfectly.
Check Lance Storm out online at www.stormwrestling.com
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