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Here's a thread on a specific element of comedy-writing that I see get overlooked a lot:
Giving your audience permission to laugh
It may seem like writing something funny is enough, but that's not always true. People need to know when they're supposed to laugh. 1/
Giving your audience permission to laugh
It may seem like writing something funny is enough, but that's not always true. People need to know when they're supposed to laugh. 1/
It's why sitcoms use laugh tracks. Have you ever seen clips of those with the laugh track removed? It's horrifying! Check out this clip of the Big Bang Theory. It's just people being awful. There's nothing inherently funny about this to me. 2/
Laugh tracks are cues to people to look specifically for humor. They're kind of cheating. You don't get a laugh track if you're writing a book, but you can still give permission. And you should. Especially if you're coming out of a dramatic scene and lightening the tone. 3/
Think about the movie "Up." It has a famously sad first-ten minutes. This is the scene that happens immediately after Ellie dies. Carl wakes up alone. What cues do the filmmakers give to let you know that it's okay to laugh at what's coming up? 4/
There's Carl's stretches and bones cracking. There's the musical score (Bizet's "Carmen") set overtop of Carl riding slowly down the steps. All the door locks. By the time you get the wide shot of Carl's house in the middle of the development, the image is more funny than sad. 5/
If we went straight from Ellie dying to Carl's house, it would be a dreadfully sad scene, but these slightly humorous images throughout that sequence let us know it's okay to laugh. So how can you accomplish this in a book? 6/
1.) Incongruencies and absurdities. At my dad's funeral, a woman from my church found out my wife was a biologist and immediately began talking to her about dissecting frogs. If I were writing my autobiography and I wanted to change the mood, that's exactly what I'd use. 7/
Picture a 50-year old woman talking of dissecting frogs in high school, and making hand motions (This is how I'd make the cut in the frog's belly to look at its intestines!) I can talk about my dad dying and make people laugh. It's the absurdness of it that gives permission. 8/
2.) Comic relief character
Characters that are always making jokes usually grant that permission ahead of time. When they show up, the audience knows it's okay to laugh. I know he sucks, but like...Jar-Jar Binks fills this role in Star Wars. 9/
Characters that are always making jokes usually grant that permission ahead of time. When they show up, the audience knows it's okay to laugh. I know he sucks, but like...Jar-Jar Binks fills this role in Star Wars. 9/
3.) Having your own characters make quips.
Some of us deal with tragedy this way. If you're giving the audience permission to laugh, know that the first joke won't land. The audience doesn't know it's okay to laugh yet. Don't waste your good joke at the start. 10/
Some of us deal with tragedy this way. If you're giving the audience permission to laugh, know that the first joke won't land. The audience doesn't know it's okay to laugh yet. Don't waste your good joke at the start. 10/
Start with an obvious, cliched joke. Something universal that everyone KNOWS is a joke, even if it's not funny. Like a "working hard or hardly working"-level joke. It doesn't need to land. It shouldn't. It gives permission so your later humor can work better. 11/
Anyway, those are a few tips and examples of how people use permission. A lot of great material gets wasted because the audience doesn't know it's supposed to be funny until after the joke has been told. Have fun out there, y'all, and bring some smiles!
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