Thread: Hamming it up

How would this expression translate in Russian? In English, it can have a negative connotation, but not always:

Examples:

Tom was really hamming it up at the comedy club last night!

Mary is so funny, always hamming it up.

John is such a ham.

I've found two meanings.
1.
hamming it up
A classified word for flatulence, or fart.
The type of fart that smells like bologna. Quite awful.
Hamming it up is an awful smell, consisting of a bologna-like smell coming from the arse.
2.exaggerate one's acting, to show expressions or emotions more obviously than is realistic Here's a picture of Philip hamming it up for grandma when he was only three.
Usage notes: usually said about expressions made to amuse others

Думаю, речь идет о втором значении. Возможно "Переигрывать"?

Да, второе значение, пожалуйста! Я даже никогда не слушала о первом...

My grist for the mill:
to ham up – выпендриваться, красоваться, рисоваться.
A ham -позер, показушник, дешевка

In case anyone is wondering, the word "ham" in this sense derives from "ham fat" (ветчинный жир), which was formerly used in amateur theaters as an inexpensive base for making грим ("stage makeup").

Thus, "a hamfatter" was originally an inexperienced amateur actor, and later, a professional actor whose performance is artificial and/or lacks subtlety and/or is full of cliches. So, in the context of film/theater, "to ham it up" is a synonym for:

• "to overact" or
• "to be excessively theatrical" or
• "to be too melodramatic"

And the original slang "a hamfatter" is now very rare and old-fashioned -- we simply say "a ham."

Real-life example: Al Pacino is often named as an actor who was very good in his early films, but became increasingly "hammy" in his later years -- he stopped playing characters, and instead we got Al Pacino playing the role of Al Pacino. In fact, some comedians say that it's pointless to do an "Al Pacino impression," because Al Pacino has been doing a parody of himself for so many years.

P.S. Also, there is sometimes a lot of "conceptual overlap" between hammy and campy. They're not exact synonyms, but quite often both words can be applied to the same performer/performance. And kitschy fits into roughly the same "conceptual space" -- though, again, it's not an exact synonym with the other two:

Example: Faye Dunaway playing Joan Crawford in 1981's Mommie Dearest is "equal parts ham and camp", but I'm not sure if anyone would describe it as "kitsch":

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

P.S. Also, there is sometimes a lot of "conceptual overlap" between hammy and campy. They're not exact synonyms, but quite often both words can be applied to the same performer/performance. And kitschy fits into roughly the same "conceptual space" -- though, again, it's not an exact synonym with the other two:

Example: Faye Dunaway playing Joan Crawford in 1981's Mommie Dearest is "equal parts ham and camp", but I'm not sure if anyone would describe it as "kitsch":

That movie reminds me too much of my mother

I've got the (wrong?) impression, that initial examples contain praises to Tom and Mary, but now you say that in English all this ham-stuff is more the criticism than approval, correct?
Then, indeed, "переигрывать" fits.

переигрывать it is. Thank you all!!!