You’ve probably stood behind a corner, smiling, waiting to jump out and scare the daylights out of your wife, friend, or maybe your dog. That anticipation, the quiet-laugh-while-you-wait for something to happen is one of the “causes of laughter.” It’s because you anticipate the shock they’ll experience (knowing it won’t REALLY hurt them). Shock canContinue reading “Writing Funny: Startled into laughter.”
Tag Archives: #Minnesota
Writing Funny: Traits of Comedic Characters
Stereotypes are real. We’ve all carry them. If we’re wise or well-disciplined, we don’t take action on them–moving from stereotyping to discriminating. Stereotypes are often ignorant and unfair, but they can be funny. Playing off them–or creating them–effectively can help you get some laughs. You’ve seen it a thousand times: “Dumb Blonde” jokes, “What doContinue reading “Writing Funny: Traits of Comedic Characters”
Writing Funny: Comfort & Affliction
No one wants to see the innocent child beaten down, but most of us do like too see the tables turned on the bully, so he or finally gets his or her comeuppance. The general population also has some common, shared, arch-enemies: violent criminals, corrupt government officials, the dictator, “boss,” and more; they’ve become tooContinue reading “Writing Funny: Comfort & Affliction”
Writing Funny: Surprise People
Twists and Reversals are great ways to get laughs–and to scare the daylights out of folks. For the grin, let the underdog overcome the Goliath or make the cute and cuddly pull off the caper. Even a sudden scare can often lead to a laugh, especially if the audience knows it hasn’t truly harmed theirContinue reading “Writing Funny: Surprise People”
Writing Funny: Humor in Any Situation
Years ago, I taught an acting and film unit called “The Seven Causes of Laughter” and it covered things like Exaggeration, Incongruity, Protection Factor, Relief of Pressure, and more. Relief of Pressure is an important concept when trying to find humor in difficult situations. When tension builds or emotions are already high, a well-timed quipContinue reading “Writing Funny: Humor in Any Situation”
Writing Funny: It’s all about the…
… timing. Truly, I think this this is what makes writing funny more difficult than performing funny. In a performance, you can hold for a split-second to be sure the audience is following before hitting them with the punchline. Then, you can stop, start, speed up, slow-down, repeat, change your inflection, or pull the escapeContinue reading “Writing Funny: It’s all about the…”
Writing Funny: Rewrite your Joke
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 ChangeContinue reading “Writing Funny: Rewrite your Joke”
Writing Funny: Horror Stories are Easy
Sad and scary things are universal. Evolution and Emotion have teamed up to make the dark-and-unknown scary and death-and-dying sad. Things that make us laugh is more nuanced and varies more from culture to culture, person to person . . . and political party to political party. (Memes featuring cats and ducks with guns wearingContinue reading “Writing Funny: Horror Stories are Easy”
Ships & Bricks: alike in the way they’re different.
This was another simple, absurd, and entertaining description from Hitchhiker’s Guide. When we draw parallels we frequently compare like things. The choice to combine “these two things that are similar because their not” caught me pleasantly off guard. I’ve been looking for some funny books of late–the kind that make you laugh out loud. They’reContinue reading “Ships & Bricks: alike in the way they’re different.”
Comparing Incomparables
The overstatement understatement have been perfected by teenagers. Lifting it out of Comedy into Middle or High Comedy requires some smarts. Here Barry uses incomparable comparisons, drawing a parallel between massive human tragedy and a light-hearted spring dance. That wasn’t enough, though. Nothing good happens in Stephen King novels–which gets us eagerly anticipating “what happensContinue reading “Comparing Incomparables”
“…even though your head is shaped like an anvil…”
This was a fantastic back-handed compliment that uses both exaggeration and incongruity to get the laugh. Initially it’s hopeful. If delivered by an attractive and “ditsy blonde” character–it might actually be intended as a compliment. The dim-witted recipient might also believe it was a compliment. For the reader (of higher intelligence) we see the unintended,Continue reading ““…even though your head is shaped like an anvil…””
“Both legs were hanging down his back”
Bumbling crooks have long been a part of comedy. Two of the most iconic are probably Harry and Marv from the Home Alone movies. Yes, they’re dangerous, but they’re also dumb enough to for us (and Kevin) to stay one step ahead of them. Dave Barry offers two comparable crooks, Snake & Eddie, in BigContinue reading ““Both legs were hanging down his back””