One thing a comic needs is a good sense of timing.Here a list of examples are given of a good sense of timing.
� The African/European Swallow debate at the beginning is a great use of pauses.
� He bulls through the punchlines quickly and effectively.
� The entire play/movie (especially the middle section; excellent physical use of timing!)
Back to the Future
Back to the Future
� Michael J. Fox uses timing brilliantly by pausing before his line to create wonderful facial expressions, conveying a wealth of emotion.
The comedy of life isn't really much different. Great statesmen give every appearance of a good sense of timing. Churchill and the war against the Nazis; Robert Menzies and post-war prosperity.
Shakespeare said it all in Julius Cæsar. Act iv. Sc. 3:
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
Until 1996, John Howard seemed to have misjudged the tide. Ten years as Prime Minister of Australia has given every appearance that Howard has judged the tide very well. Now, in 2007, John Howard's judgment of tides has ebbed indeed.
Climate change denial by Howard has seen him overtaken by the electorate and he is now in catch up mode. He is under constant pressure from an increasingly vocal electorate to bring David Hicks home to Australia from Guantanamo Bay. Now, Tony Blair has overtaken him in his surprise announcement to bring British troops home from Iraq.
POOR SENSE OF TIMING, JOHN.
