Hilarious actors tone it down to remarkable effect in harrowing new series
Fargo
Debut: Tuesday, April 15, FX Canada/ FXX
Whether it’s as a creator and performer on HBO’s iconic Mr. Show with Bob and David or bringing levity to the darkness of AMC’s Breaking Bad as opportunistic lawyer Saul Goodman, Bob Odenkirk knows comedy.
He is as good an authority as any to talk about the sweeping variances in comedic forms. Standup, which he also does, is very different than sketch comedy, which is presumably different than sitcoms. And, you might think, all are very different than doing drama.
The actor is certainly earning a reputation for the latter. His Breaking Bad character, while often used as comic relief, endured some heavy moments in the bloody series and will be spun off into his own AMC comedy- drama, Better Call Saul.
He was recently seen in Nebraska, the sad and funny Alexander Payne drama that earned Bruce Dern an Academy Award nomination.
And now he’s in Fargo, which is being filmed in Calgary, playing a somewhat goofy, in- over- his- head deputy for the Bemidji, Minn., police force.
“People are always so surprised that a sketch comic actor can do drama,” Odenkirk says. “But I think most of my sketch- comic actor friends and actresses could do serious drama because they are good at committing. In comedy they are committing to outlandish motives and scenarios, but it’s utter commitment.”
The producers of Fargo obviously agree. Odenkirk isn’t the only cast member with serious sketch- comedy credentials.
Comic duo Keegan- Michael Key and Jordan Peele play FBI agents in the series. And when it came to casting the pivotal role of determined deputy Molly Solverson, producers chose newcomer Allison Tolman.
The Texas- born actress was working at a Chicago temp agency when she first auditioned for the role, but has a long background in both theatre and comedy. She went through the training program at Chicago’s iconic Second City and wrote and performed satirical sketches for various troupes there, including the comedy podcast The City Life Supplement.
Fargo, the series, has the same unique tone as the 1996 Coen Brothers film of the same name, on which it’s loosely based. The film was often uproariously funny, but the humour was dry, natural and unforced, with most of it coming from the writing and that beguiling “Minnesota nice” accent that many of the characters possessed.
“I think the trick to this type of comedy is to play it like it’s not comedy, to really dial it down,” Tolman says. “Whereas at Second City and when you’re doing sketch work you have it up at 12, you take it down to a 2 for this. Because it wouldn’t work any other way. These scripts really call for a gentle touch when it comes to the comedy.”
The accent certainly helps. Other than the gruesome wood- chipper scene, that famous singsongy tone is probably what most remember about Fargo the movie. For the series, Vancouver dialect coach Tony Alcantar was on hand to make sure everyone got it right.
Minnesota nice helps offset those flashes of brutal violence throughout. A hallmark of dark comedy is to add that lightness to what are often harrowing and shocking situations.