<p>Hello. I will be auditioning for several musical theatre programs starting in less than a month. I have most of my pieces ready; the only piece I still need to decide upon is my comedic monologue.</p>
<p>My question is, how realistic does a comedic monologue need to be? Most colleges say they want monologues that are "truthful" and "show my personality," but I think the funniest monologues are the ones with crazy characters.</p>
<p>I did a scholarship audition last year, and most of the admissions officers didn't like my choice of comedic monologue because it was too over the top, although that monologue was one of few that I found to be actually funny. At what point does a comedic monologue become too unrealistic to use in college auditions?</p>
<p>The monologues I'm considering now are about strange people in normal situations, such as characters saying weird things at a college interview and a dinner date and freaking out the other people. Do these seem like good monologue choices? I think they are funny, and I can perform them well.</p>
<p>It's so much easier to pick dramatic monologues because I know what moves me. But how do I know what admissions officers will want to see in a comedic monologue?</p>
<p>When they say “comedic,” my understanding is they don’t necessarily mean laugh out loud funny. I would look for something light-hearted, not out and out funny which can be too over the top. A piece that comes to mind is in a play I read where a teenage girl in a hospital walks into a boy’s hospital room and asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend because she just lied to her new roommate and said she had a boyfriend down the hall. I loved that scene in the play though I did not fall over laughing when I read it. It was very cute and was not a monologue per se, but her portion of the back-and-forth interchange between the teenage boy and girl. Don’t “try” to be funny - just be real. They’re looking for the real YOU to shine through in an amusing or light-hearted situation. They’re looking for the real you, not you playing some quirky character that is not you. So don’t play a strange person; play the real you in a strange situation.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! I just found a comedic play with a character I really like, so I’ll see if I can find a monologue in it. The character’s kind of a “nerd” who struggles to find friends in school, but she’s pretty sassy and has acute things to say about high school life. Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>My comedic monologue is pretty over the top. I let out some pretty funky screams at the end. It worked for me- I got early acceptance at my first college audition. I use it for auditions at theatre camp and community theatre as well… I always say that monologue is the best thing that has ever happened to me! As long as you can perform it amazingly, don’t listen to whether or not it’s too “over-the-top”!</p>