hamming up
Playing overly dramatic
Hamming up is exaggerating one's performance for dramatic or comic effect, especially in acting.
The phrase suggests theatrical overplaying—broad gestures, melodramatic delivery, milking a moment: He was really hamming it up for the camera.
The expression comes from ham, slang for an actor who overacts.
- overactingExcessive theatrical performance
- chewing the sceneryExaggerated theatrical performance
- campinessTheatrical, ironic exaggeration
- flamboyanceShowy, confident style
- melodramaSensational, emotionally overwrought drama
playing to the gallery · theatricality · stage presence · hyperbole · caricature · playfulness · comic relief · attention-seeking · making a scene · buffoonery · actor · emphasis · clowning · pantomime · mugging · scenery-chewing · mimicry · slapstick
- slang behaviorsgoofing off, messing around, fooling around, horsing around, slacking
- exaggerationhyperbole, overstatement, exaggeration, magnification, amplification
performance intensity
hamming upunderplaying
Deliberately understating something
understating · underacting · downplaying · toning down · holding back