I was going to write something in praise of the sit com today. Specifically, the American sit com. And in so doing, of course, talking about the unquestionable demise of the English sit com would have been inevitable. But that's a huge, flabby topic, and one I don't feel able to talk on with much knowledge or authority. So rather than lay a huge, flabby topic on the table (sorry, I enjoyed that phrase and wanted to repeat it!) I thought I'd talk on one of sit com's most pleasing devices: the unseen character.
It's always struck me that the the invention of the unseen character is a bit like the invention of the number zero (bear with me). Who'd have thought you needed a number for nothing? You don't count sheep starting with a non-existent "zeroeth" sheep. And yet, with the invention of zero, complex aritmetic - with tens and units - was made possible. Ultimately, a counting system that has zero makes computation possible. We owe the modern world to "nothing".
The unseen character is, I think, similarly counter-intuitive, if not quite so revolutionary. The idea that a character can be funnier in absentia takes a real leap of imagination - one I don't think I'd have ever been capable of. Which, I realise, isn't saying much, coming from an insignificant man with no comedy-writing pedigree. What I mean to say is that I think it's a leap of imagination beyond most people's capability.
Of course, many comedy writers have since got the hang of the technique, and used it to great effect. At its best, not only can the unseen character build up a detailed history and personality in his or her own right, but their background presence aids the character development, not to mention the comedy, of the main characters.
The choice of comedies pictured at the top is, of course, not a coincidence. In my opinion, Dads' Army and Frasier are the finest sit coms ever written, and both employ the unseen character technique. Having said this, there are notable absent characters in other great comedies. In Fawlty Towers, Sybil is often seen talking on the phone to her friend Audrey. Through the half-conversations we hear with Audrey, and the barely-contained resentment emanating from Basil in the adjacent bed, we learn more about the Fawlty marriage than if the character of Audrey didn't exist. M*A*S*H has many absent characters - the families and loved-ones of the doctors and nurses - whose correspondences are used to delve beneath the surface of the visible characters, to both comic and tragic effect.
In Dads' Army and Frasier, though, the unseen characters are used in the traditional way. And, in fact, they're very similar. Elizabeth is Captain Mainwaring's wife in Dads' Army. As is in the nature of an unseen character(!), we never see her (the closest we come is a bulge in the top bunk in the Mainwaring's Anderson Shelter). But from the details we hear, the unconvincing excuses George (Capt. Mainwaring) provides for her absence, the way he has to hold the phone away from his ear when she's on the other end of it, and even a mysterious black eye on his part, we learn much about why Mainwaring is the way he is - particularly his class issues. It becomes clear his parents-in-law did not approve of him (he is a social class below them), and that Elizabeth herself doesn't approve of him much either. With this in mind, George's need for control in his work life, and Home Guard life, isn't much of a mystery. Elizabeth's presence gives George Mainwaring depth - real sadness. And yet, the whole thing is written and acted so well that the character of Mainwaring's wife remains, above anything, hilarious.
I think it's almost certain that when the writers of Frasier came up with the character of Maris - Frasier's brother Niles' wife - they has Elizabeth Mainwaring in mind. Like Elizabeth, Maris is from a family of high social standing, and seems to be a demanding, neurotic, sort of person. Whereas Elizabeth's presence in Dads' Army was occasional, Maris is a near-constant feature of Frasier, especially early on. Even after their divorce in Series 5, she still has a disruptive influence on Niles' life and plans.
The big question, though, is whether unseen characters are actually funnier than if they did exist as appearing characters. The answer to that is partly a matter of opinion, but there are some rational reasons why their absence might make them more funny. For a start, the continued absence is a ready-made comic device: the excuses made by Captain Mainwaring and Niles become ever more convoluted and ludicrous. The near-misses can be used to good effect, too. The aforementioned bulge in the top bunk, along with the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, is the closest we get to seeing Mrs Mainwaring, whilst a bizarre gargling sound is as close as we get to meeting Maris. The anticipation that, one day, we might get to meet the hidden character is key to his/her humour (and, of course, is something not available for standard, on-screen characters).
Finally, not appearing means that the unseen character has more license to push the realms of physical possibility. The writers of Frasier used this fact well with Maris. I've heard it said that from the pieces of information we hear about her, she shares more physical traits with a lizard than a human. In the end, the character of Maris was so outlandish that no actress could have looked weird enough to play her, even if they'd wanted her to appear.
Comedies can be perfectly funny without unseen characters, of course. And the Romans showed that you can count things without a zero. But both unseen characters and zeroes can enhance their respective milieux, and increase their potential.
I hope otherwise, but you may not have learned much about comedy from this. But you've definitely learned something about me: Once I'm set on a metaphor, I'm like a dog with a bone.
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