For this movie, J.B. does what we would do and goes a step beyond. So when I look around and see the same sound recordist and the same prop man and the same art director, all from LA, and then my Vancouver gaffer, I have to come to the conclusion that the look is not going to change that much. Irwin says his approach to shooting comedy has been derived from a number of different sources, from Jerry Lewis films to those of Woody Allen. The cut points are different between shooting comedy and shooting drama. There is a theory that brighter is funnier.
Lighting is funny because there are no shadows to wonder about.
But then you look at the Woody Allen movies and they were shot in black and white by Gordon Willis, who also did the Godfather movies. I was lucky with There's Something About Mary and Kingpin, movies that weren't knee-slapping funny. I think it comes down to choice of lenses and camera movement and trying to make things work in a two shot or three shot so action and reaction are timed to themselves. It also depends on the scene itself. Certainly in a film like this which tends to have a lot more sight gags and a little more body or bawdy humour you want to see more of the close-ups.