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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 349249" data-attributes="member: 2013">Well, since my quote seems to have started this little tiff, I'll define my terms (sort of).When I think "ham" I immediately think of Adam Sandler, Jim Carey (including the Truman Show to some degree), and Mike Meyers.  These guys are very good at one genre - comedy - and to me they seem to be hams - in that their performance seems to be, as indicated, limited to comedic, outlandish, exaggerated spoof stuff.This does not mean they CAN'T do serious acting (see: Robin Williams, who has done a lot of serious stuff of late but was probably considered a ham early in his career), but simply that they DON'T do it.Note also that I did not say "all serious actors despise hams" - I said there are (some) serious actors who despise hams.  By serious actor, I suppose I should have said something a little more inflammatory, such as, "someone who is vain about the acting profession and thinks of it as a highly evolved art form and despises the fact that some people seem to want to take it and do lowbrow comedy to amuse the masses."  In other words, people who think acting should always/only include serious characters and that comedy never has a place.Whether or not a ham is selfish and hogs the spotlight is not the point - plenty of "serious actors" are selfish to the point that they are prima donnas and can't stand anyone else getting attention either.  Do they come on stage and crack a joke to steal the other guy's thunder?  No.  Instead, they put in a well-placed complaint/veiled threat or two and get the other person in the spotlight fired.  Which is worse?  IMO, both are equally bad in different ways.Before you go looking down your nose at my statement simply because it relies on some slight generalizations, please step back for a moment and see if it contains a grain of truth.  The reaction the statement has gotten does nothing but prove my point - that some people despise hams even though a lot of people love them because they want comedy - even lowbrow, pandering comedy.Now, I'm not saying these guys are like this in real life.  For all I know, they are serious, dedicated actors - as serious as anyone - in fact, I kind of suspect they are - but their persona is hammy and goof-off.BTW, for the record, 99 days out of 100, I despise Adam Sandler, Jim Carey, and Mike Meyers movies - I have no need for the immature, lowbrow humor.  100 days out of 100 I despise Carrot Top.  But does that mean that I have the right to say they're doing things the wrong way and are not doing things correctly?  Especially on that 1 day out 100 that I actually want to watch an Adam Sandler movie?  By the amount of money they rake in, I would say not - obviously a lot of people have different opinions.And that is what it comes down to - it's a difference in opinion.  99 days out of 100 I want to play a "role-playing" campaign with a depth of roles and stretching my imaginative limits.  But there are days when I just want to pull out my +12 Hackmaster and start mowing down anything that moves indiscriminately.Ultimately, we need varied experience - we need to laugh at "hammy" and cry at "serious" potrayals.  We need to stretch ourselves and roleplay something that is completely out of our normal experience (perhaps a CE mind flayer priestess of hellspawn) as well as something that is a magnification of what we hope are our best qualities (that LG paladin that is always on the verge of putting Good too far ahead of Lawful).  And sometimes, we just need to bust out our +12 Hackmaster sword and a can of Whoop-Arse.  It's dangerous to call someone a munchkin just because he's doing the latter - who's to say he can't do the former?To paraphrase a famous LotR line - Many that live deserve death... and some that die deserve life.  Can YOU give it to them?  No.Many that "munch" need a dose of "how to role-play"... and some that "role-play" need a dose of "munch."  Can YOU give it to them?  Yes.  Then do it and do both of you a favor - let yourself loose and go munch once in a while - and educate them in the finer arts of "role-playing" - then you can BOTH be comfortable in each other's world.--The Sigil</blockquote>

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