The Best Monologues For When You Want to Play the Fool

Written by: Amanda Grace

Date: April 16th, 2020

It is important to be earnest, but it’s just as crucial to embrace cleverness and poke some fun! Here are 10 monologues that play on the archetype of the not-so-straight player:

A monologue from Hide by Ellen Margolis

(Male, Serio-Comic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s)

There are a rhinoceros loose in town, and soon, the characters in Hiding find themselves running from, or trying to run with, the group of rhinos which are rapidly taking over. Sheffer is a self-satisfied philosophy professor; here, he finds that the number of rhinoceroses in town has been escalating so quickly that a resistance would have no hope.

Get the Monologue Here

A monologue from Madeline by Juanice Myers

(Female, Comedic, Young Adults 20s, College 18-22)

Madeline cannot be described; she must be experienced… though many of us have known someone like her.

Get the Monologue Here

A monologue from As You Like It by William Shakespeare

(Male, Comedic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s, College 18-22)

Touchstone comes before the Duke Senior and Jacques, asking to be married to Audrey. He introduces himself as a fool, yet an accomplished man. After the Duke asks about a fight Touchstone nearly had; the jester goes into his own dissertation on logic and the rules of arguing.

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A monologue from Atonement in the Sun by Olivia Briggs

(Male, Dramatic, Mature 50s, Adult 30-40s)

Willy, a clown who unfortunately professes to be “not funny”, tells the story of his last-ever performance under the big top. Forced to fill in for Bruiser, the stand-up comedian, Willy finally gets his moment in the sun. It is short-lived, however, when a drunken fan begins abusing his daughter during the act, and Willy’s pent-up rage is released.

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A monologue from God of Laughter by Gordon Bennett

(Male, Comedic, Adults 30-40s)

Molière and his troupe are celebrating their successful audition before King Louis XIV in the expansive living room at Molière’s rented house in Paris. The well-
known poet Boileau, much-liked by Molière and his troupe, has been asked to do one of his famous impersonations…

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A monologue from Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

(Male, Comedic, Mature 50s, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s, College 18-22, High School 14-18)

Dogberry, a passionate, bumbling, and misspoken man is a proper police officer, but his way of doing things doesn’t quite line up with the procedure. He’s also not that great with vocabulary. In this monologue, Dogberry rolls up his sleeves, extremely upset and offended, after Borachio has called him an “ass” for apprehending him.

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A monologue from Penelope by Phanesia Pharel

(Male, Serio-Comic, Adults 30-40s)

Clueless Clown, a teacher at a circus school, addresses his new class. He appears to be energetic and enthusiastic; here, however, he claims his incapacity to teach the material that students are supposed to learn.

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A monologue from Behind Cut Glass by Rosary O’Neill

(Male, Serio-Comic, High School 14-18)

In an effort to punish his mother, a runaway housewife, Bunky shows up as a
stowaway on the train she and her Tulane professor are taking through the
Louisiana Swamp. Here, tongue-in-cheek Bunky defends running away from
home.

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A monologue from Not Medicine! by Janet Milstein

(Male, Comedic, Kids & Juniors 5-13)

Poor Chas is sick, but he’d rather pretend he’s well than take his awful medicine.

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A monologue from Her Tongue by Henry Arthur Jones

(Female, Comedic, Adults 30-40s, Young Adults 20s)

Patty’s incessant talking tends to get in the way of anyone being interested in her, but Mr. Scobell and her have been talking for quite a while. Patty, knowing that her friends are trying to set her up, is expecting a proposal, but she finds out that Scobell had no such thing planned.

Get the Monologue Here



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Amanda Grace is an actor, writer, composer, improvisor and director whose work has graced stages from  Central Florida to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is based in London, where she is studying to obtain her M.F.A. in Actor & Performer Training at Rose Bruford College. Amanda holds an honours B.A. in Theatre Studies and a B.A. in Psychology, as well as a certificate in Shakespearean Performance from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her original albums can be streamed at amandagrace.bandcamp.com.
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