Your clever line may be hilarious–but if you or tweak it (or twerk it, depending on your audience), it could be funnier.
First, and always, consider your audience. Catholics tend to think Olympic Ceremonies co-mingling drag queens and the Last Supper is unfunny. Liberals rarely appreciate jokes referencing Global Cooling, Global Warming, or Climate Change . . . or whatever the trillion-dollar-grift is called now. Teen boys think “your mom” jokes are hilarious; your mom doesn’t.
Next, play with your word choice and sentence structure. Barf is a funnier dog name than Spot. Noob is funnier sounding than inexperienced. And if your rambling complaint can be summed up with eat my shorts you’re on the right track–even Bart Simpson knows that.
In his book, How to Write Funny, Scott Dikkers suggests practicing your verbal pratfalls. A comma here or a word swap there–especially with your audience in mind–can be the difference between a knee-slapper and a sigh. And, as you write, worry less. Just write and rewrite. Your audience–maybe your mom–will let you know.
I’ve been reading–and attempting to write–funny. The former is easier than the latter, though it is surprisingly rare to find a book that makes you laugh out loud. It takes more time to set-up the joke in literature than it does using quick visuals or physical humor seen in film and television. Scott Dikker’s book How to Write Funny attempts to offer a recipe. (Dikkers is the founder of The Onion.) In his book, Dikkers’ mentions a quote from E/B. White: “Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process.” Dikkers is correct, his book isn’t funny, but there were a few interesting tips I’ll share. You can learn more about Dikkers and his writing in GoodReads. And if you know of any books that made you laugh out loud, let me know!
To keep up on more of what I’m reading and writing, subscribe below!