 Comedy: June 14, 2023 Issue [#12009] |
This week: Pratfall Comedy Edited by: Leger~  
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The purpose of this newsletter is to help the Writing.com comedy author hone their craft and improve their skills. Write to our editors if you have an idea you would like presented.
This week's Comedy Editor
Leger~
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The Pratfall
We've all been out with our friends and done something to make them laugh at us. Sometimes that includes falling down. And our friends, if they're good friends, will help us up. After they have a good laugh at our expense.
A pratfall is a staged fall on your butt, for comedic effect. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were famous for their pratfalls. The fun thing about a pratfall is that it doesn't make fun of others, it's pure simple comedy with the joke on yourself. The pratfall effect happens when a likable person and competent actor does something silly and surprising, making the audience laugh. I've done a few silly things to get my babies to laugh.
Think about how you can add a little pratfall to your story. Perhaps your character spills a drink on himself. Or stumbles into the bar stool next to a pretty lady. In the boardroom, someone is getting admonished and your character drops something loudly to distract the boss.
Put the pratfall in your writing toolbox, it could be useful to change the mood of your scene.
And as always, Write On!
This month's question: How would you use a pratfall in your writing? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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Excerpt: On most weekday mornings, Richard McKellop can be found sitting in a booth next to a window at Shorty's Diner. There, the thirty-seven-year-old father of two, sucks-up several Diet Cokes while perusing the morning Register. The pleasant hour of leisure sets Richard’s mind right before driving to Lloyd's Hardware where he is employed in the screen door repair department.
Excerpt: Old Fraidy Cat was my Mama's cat, although I held the belief that he belonged to me. Actually, whether I or my mama knew it or not, Old Fraidy Cat was his own cat. Mama found him one Sunday afternoon at the Old Regular Baptist fried chicken affair. She had just finished her third game of Bingo and was looking for a means to offset her Sunday evening boredom when she first saw him. He was just a little bitty fellow. He was sitting on a stool halfway pushed under a table while he chewed on a chicken wing. Beside him on the stool were the well-polished bones of an extra crunchy six-pack.
Excerpt: Terry heard voices in the hallway and froze. His heart pounded as he realized he'd been caught. The whispering women stopped as they came in the room and stared at him with their mouths agape. How was he supposed to explain this! He'd just been caught red handed at a funeral going through the dead man's pockets. In the hallowed silence of the church, he could swear he heard Roy's ghostly laughter in his ear.
Excerpt: Jerome parked his jetboard in the alcove next to the imposing entrance to the League’s Headquarters. It had taken several days but he had finally built up the courage to enter that esteemed building. His father had been a member of the League and Jerome was determined to follow in his footsteps.
Excerpt: It was the year 1985: when our neighbor knocked on the door and presented me with the largest turkey I’d ever seen. When he handed it over, it was so heavy I almost dropped it. He smiled and came to my rescue.
Excerpt: “Your Aunt Winnie’s not happy either. She’s got mashfrytitsis.”
Excerpt: Sometimes what constitutes as a culinary delight can be a choking nightmare to an unsuspecting palate. I refer, of course, to Japanese sushi--a raw piece of fish, about the size of a hacked-off finger, stretched across a scoop of sticky rice.
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Excerpt: Today’s my 21st birthday, and I’m in court. Not how I envisioned celebrating the occasion, but at least I’m wearing a suit. It’s the little things in life that matter, right? I didn't use to think so, but it must be. Why else would I be standing trial over a chicken nugget?
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This month's question: How would you use a pratfall in your writing? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's question isn't available since I'm a guest editor in the Comedy newsletter.
Tell us about a real-life pratfall with a fun ending! |
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