History Funny / NoisesOff

* Originally, at the start of the first act of "Nothing On", Garry is supposed to surprise Dottie, leading to quite the mutual scream of fright between them. But by the start of the play's third act, when everyone is either exhausted, drunk, or so angry and at each other's throats they can barely stay on track with the script, Dottie barely even bothers to react; her "scream" is hysterically pathetic, and her hand-flinging gesture is quite half-hearted.

* One of the nice things is that even the original play as written has genuinely funny moments. For example, watching Phillip hop up the stairs after Vicki, his trousers around his ankles, the tax demands and the plate of sardines glued to his hands, is hysterical. And then at the top, after Vicki has hidden in the linen closet, Roger comes out of the bedroom and Phillip pathetically tries to hide...behind the slip Vicki had been going to don. Even better? Roger isn't even looking, so he just brushes it off with "Stop flapping that in my face!"

* Lloyd ripping off Poppy's skirt.

* "Sardines, I've forgotten the sardines--" ''(notices the plate next to her on the table)'' "No I haven't, I remembered the sardines. Well what a surprise! I guess I'll go into the kitchen and make meself some more sardines to celebrate."
* "I thought you was in...''Sardinia''!"
** For some context: this is after Dottie has discovered the newspaper full of sardines on the sofa (by sitting on them). Freddie tries to warn her, and is forced to resort to "Mrs. Newspaper!" Which leads to a glorious speech where the venomous Dottie thinks Belinda put them there on purpose and slowly stalks across the living room before chasing her up the stairs.
--->'''Dottie/Mrs. Clackett''', ''to the audience'': Ohhhh, what a ''lovely'' present they've brought home! I bet I know which one of 'em thought of it, too. Left it all quietly on the ''sofa''... '''''LET ME AT HER!'''''
* "Am I in Spain? No I'm not in ''Spain'', I'm in '''agony''', that's where I am!"
* Then there's the entire second act, which follows the complex (and nearly wordless) mayhem going on backstage during a performance. Particular items:

* In the third act, Garry hasn't gone to the second story when he's supposed to, so when Frederick and Belinda make their entrance, he leaps from behind the couch, grabs all of the props, stumbles up the stairs, and goes into the second door making a clatter, all while the other two are standing there, frozen. When he's left, Frederick continues with the text as written, "We've got the place ''entirely'' to ourselves!"
* In the third act, Belinda, trying to replace some missing sardines, has failed to put the bag in place for Brooke to react to it, but Brooke continues on, pointing at the empty space and crying, "Bag! Bag!" as she should. Garry sees the sardines that were missing but have reappeared, and points at them, saying, "Sardines! Sardines!" This distracts both of them enough for Belinda to put the bag in place, just in time for Brooke to point at what should be the empty space and cry, "No bag! No bag!"

* Then there's this improv by Dottie in the third act:

* At the start of the third act, when Dottie is about to come onstage, she gets kicked from behind (presumably by Garry, though it might be Belinda) and drops everything (including the sardines) on the floor. While she tries to clean it up, the phone keeps ringing, leading to this gem: "I can't answer the phone ''and'' pick up sardines off the floor. I've only got one leg!" Then when she finally gets to the phone and answers it, the backstage person doesn't shut the ringing off, leading Dottie to give quite the DeathGlare offstage.
** This has a great follow-up later, when some of the other characters are onstage when they aren't supposed to be. Dottie squints and comments, "Lucky I can't see too far with this leg."
* Originally, at the start of the first act of "Nothing On", Garry is supposed to surprise Dottie, leading to quite the mutual scream of fright between them. But by the start of the play's third act, when everyone is either exhausted, drunk, or so angry and at each other's throats they can barely stay on track with the script, Dottie barely even bothers to react; her "scream" is hysterically pathetic, and her hand-flinging gesture is quite half-hearted.
* In the second act, Belinda has been delayed in coming onstage (by putting the axe back, after getting it away from Garry), so she has to rush to make it. As a result she's quite out-of-breath and thus exclaims in [[LargeHam dramatically over-the-top]] fashion, "[[SuddenlyShouting Look at it]]! I can't believe it!"
* The time has come in the second act for Dottie to pull the sheet off of Vicki, revealing her "in her smalls for all the world to see." However, because Garry tied the sheets together, she can't, leading to a bit of tug-of-war while she exclaims, "There she stands...in her sheet that won't come off!" Selsdon, meanwhile, is watching from the stairs and supposed to recognize her; when she runs out (still covered in the sheet), he says, "It's my little girl...or what I saw of her before she went..."

* In the third act, Belinda has been delayed in coming onstage (by putting the axe back, after getting it away from Garry), so she has to rush to make it. As a result she's quite out-of-breath and thus exclaims in [[LargeHam dramatically over-the-top]] fashion, "[[SuddenlyShouting Look at it]]! I can't believe it!"
* The time has come in the third act for Dottie to pull the sheet off of Vicki, revealing her "in her smalls for all the world to see." However, because Garry tied the sheets together, she can't, leading to a bit of tug-of-war while she exclaims, "There she stands...in her sheet that won't come off!" Selsdon, meanwhile, is watching from the stairs and supposed to recognize her; when she runs out (still covered in the sheet), he says, "It's my little girl...or what I saw of her before she went..."

* In the third act, Belinda has been delayed in coming onstage (by putting the axe back, after getting it away from Garry), so she has to rush to make it. As a result she's quite out-of-breath and thus exclaims in [[LargeHam dramatically over-the-top]] fashion, "[[SuddenlyShouting Look at it]]! I can't believe it!"

--->'''Dottie/Mrs. Clackett''', ''to the audience'': Ohhhh, what a ''lovely'' present they've brought home! I bet I know which one of 'em thought of it. Left it all quietly on the ''sofa''... '''''LET ME AT HER!'''''

* One of the nice things is that even the original play as written has genuinely funny moments. For example, watching Freddie hop up the stairs after Vicki, his trousers around his ankles, the tax demands and the plate of sardines glued to his hands, is hysterical. And then at the top, after Vicki has hidden in the linen closet, Garry comes out of the bedroom and Freddie pathetically tries to hide...behind the slip Vicki had been going to don. Even better? Garry isn't even looking, so he just brushes it off with "Stop flapping that in my face!"

* Originally, at the start of the first act of "Nothing On", Garry is supposed to surprise Dottie, leading to quite the mutual scream of fright between them. But by the start of the play's third act, when everyone is either exhausted, drunk, or so angry and at each other's throats they can barely stay on track with the script, Dottie barely even bother to react; her "scream" is hysterically pathetic, and her hand-flinging gesture is quite half-hearted.

** Immediately after this, Garry is supposed to rush into the bedroom and find their things are gone (because Belinda confused them for hers and Freddie's)...but they're still there due to the previous delay/mix-up. So he rushes in...only to have them shoved into his arms. To which he says, "The box...the bag. They've both not gone."

** This has a great follow-up later, when some of the other characters are onstage when they aren't supposed to be. Dottie squints and comments, "Lucky I can't see too far with this leg."

'''Garry:''' ''(staying true to the text)'' Why, what is it?

-->'''Frederick:''' ''(offstage, falling down the stairs after slipping on sardinces)'' '''[=OH MY GoooOOooOOoOOOooooOOOooooOOOOooooDDDDD!!!!=] ''(CRASH!)'''''\\

'''Dottie:''' ''(TrashingTheSet)'' '''[=OH MY GoooOOooOOoOOOooooOOOooooOOOOooooDDDDD!!!!=]'''\\

* In the third act, Belinda, trying to replace some missing sardines, has failed to put the bag in place for Brooke to react to it, but Brooke continues on, pointing at the empty space and crying, "Bag! Bag!" as she should. Garry sees the sardines that were missing but have reappeared, and points at them, saying, "Sardines! Sardines!" This distracts both of them enough for Belinda to put the bag in place, just in time for Brooke to point at what should be the empty space and cry, "No bag! No bag!"

* Then there's the entire second act, which follows the complex (and nearly wordless) mayhem going on backstage during a performance.

* The phone gets just tossed out the window (or in the bathroom) in the third act after Dotty tries to pull it through the door because she got her lines wrong and just didn't care. When Flavia and Phillip walk in, Flavia brings the phone and adds, "[[UnusuallyUninterestingSight how odd to find the telephone in the garden/bathroom.]]"

* Then there's the entire second act, which follows the complex (and nearly wordless) mayhem going on backstage during a performance.