 Comedy: November 15, 2006 Issue [#1372] |
  Comedy
This week: Edited by: Mavis Moog  
More Newsletters By This Editor 
1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions
Comic writers need to have no self respect. This month I'll be giving tips on how to make your readers feel ten feet tall, and we all know vertigo is funny.
Find out who are the funniest writers on this site. Editor's Pick gives you the links for the very best of this month's entries for "Invalid Item" , plus some great stuff I found by accident.
Ask and Answer considers how ethical it is to steal someone else's material.
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Let Your Readers Feel Superior
Together with hyperbole and surprise, the ability to create a sense of superiority in your reader is a valuable tool of the humorous writer. Talk about ones failings, or a character's failings, and immediately the reader will be elevated to a position of good-humoured smugness. One of my favourite bloggers, emmyloo is particularly good at this technique. Let me give you some examples.
I have a secret: I add a few splashes of balsamic vinegar to my fajitas, and it gives the chicken a little extra "oomph." Hey, I didn't say it was a good secret.
Don't ask me why I find him [Johnny Depp] attractive as an unwashed, effete pirate in dire need of a decent dentist. I just make the hormones- I don't control them.
[writing about the popular Watering Hole webcam] But every time I go onto somebody else's blog, they're mentioning how they watched, spellbound, as a rare pygmy elephant used his trunk to rescue a heretofore considered extinct red-footed booby from the muck at the edge of the watering hole. All I can figure is I went to the wrong website, because I think I've been staring at one of those ornamental ponds they throw in front of government buildings. I guess the fountain in the center and the "Livingston County Municipal Garage" sign should have tipped me off.
We readers who find this kind of humour funny can kid ourselves that we just appreciate self-effacing charm, but truthfully we all know we like to feel superior.
In order to perfect this skill all you need to do is make a list of all your short-comings, and think of the best example of how each one has let you down in the past. Be honest, and ruthless. Here's my list:
 I'm very forgetful: I once forgot to pick up my friend and take her to the airport. She was catching a plane to America, to visit her fiancé. Well, it was a bit worse than that, she was actually flying out to marry him.
I mix my metaphors all the time. I'm forever getting the sticky end of the wicket, and my mice play while sleeping dogs lie.
I'm too friendly with strangers. I once spent an excruciating night on Euston Station in London, trying to avoid making polite conversation with a man who was absconding from his parole terms, having just been released from jail after serving most of his sentence for murdering his wife's lover. All because I made some chatty remark, which made him think I was his new best friend.
I'm tactless: "Enjoy your day off," I said, to a colleague one evening. It took me too long to remember, she was not coming in the next day because she was attending her father's funeral.
I'm short. I mean very short. I get lost in long grass.
I'm a hypochondriac. I once asked my doctor to do a biopsy of a zit.
Of course this technique doesn't have to be personal. Did you see how I smoothly changed the subject there? My self-criticism was beginning to get uncomfortable. Characters in a story can have as many dire faults as we choose to give them. Make them hideous, moronic or plain obnoxious. Your reader will love them for it, I promise. |
Please review these stories. Remember reviewing is the second most important activity on this site; second only to writing.
The second prize winner of this month's "Invalid Item" was a comedy story. It's set in Australia, is highly original and although the language is ripe in places, I'm sure you'll be too busy laughing to notice.
| |  | THE CATCHERS (18+)
A funny, kind- of -Christmas story. Australian Literary Award winner.
#1171240 by tosca |
Honourable Mentions
Following the recent election results in America, I don't know if this story will be more popular or not, but whatever your political loyalties, you should enjoy this savage satire.
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1120780 by Not Available. |
This is a very bizarre story. I hope many of you will read it, and review it, because it's such an unusual tale, I think the author will be very grateful to gather as many opinions as possible. I enjoyed the inventiveness of this rather Swiftian fantasy.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1170110 by Not Available. |
Talking of bizarre, and fantasy, here's another one for you. There's something highly unnerving about The StoryMaster  .
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1161111 by Not Available. |
I loved this accomplished, funny story, by a well-loved blogger extrodinaire.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#977811 by Not Available. |
It seems that getting rid of unwanted house guests is something of a theme. This newsletter has featured stories about the extermination of rabbits and flies in the past. This story deals with the carnage ensuing from an intolerance of crickets.
Do you think children should be banned from all aircraft, unless the flight path crosses the Bermuda Triangle? If so, you'll enjoy this one.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#907794 by Not Available. |
If you have a humorous story dying to be exposed as the work of comedic genius it is, then enter this contest.
I will review, or at least comment on, every entry.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1161788 by Not Available. |
These items were not contest entries, but amused me enough to earn a place here anyway.
This wry detective story is funny, and well-written. There are some delicious turns of phrase and a satisfying plot.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1177380 by Not Available. |
A little poem now, for those of you with short attention spans.
Here's a funny off-site link. I think this is so funny it's worth going very briefly off site for. It's about writing.
http://www.chrudat.com/writing_assignment.html |
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Response to last month's newsletter which was about eggcorns.
Melissa is fashionably late!
Hey Mavis! I must admit that I fall victim to eggcorns quite often. One of my favorite television shows has a character that often eggcorns common phrases. She's from Isreal, I believe, and isn't hip on Americanisms.
I found this newsletter both informative and entertaining! Thanks for all of your hard work!
JoeMiller
I enjoyed reading your newsletter. I get too confused when attempting to write malapropisms and I simply can't bring a decent wordplay-joke into the funny categoy But I do appreciate a good one. Here are my favorites...
Eurologist ~ Well, those Europeans are rather, how should I put it, pissy.
and
To all intensive purposes. ~ Intents and purposes are so free range these days.
Also, I liked Chester's "The Hardest Blow"
Lots of fun.
Write On!!
Joe Miller
I'm glad you liked Chester's story. Did you send him a review telling him? ~ MM
Answers to Last Month's Question
How bad is stealing jokes? Does everyone do it, or is it a real no-no in comedy writing?
Breezy-E ~ In College
Hey, Mavis.
I think we tend to tell all the great jokes to all our friends time and again. But when it comes to writing, we try to be original. We might use something similar, but I doubt that we copy word for word from others.
Breezy-E
Generally, using someone else's material, uncredited and without permission is a definite no-no. It could result in a law suit. However there's little stopping one from adapting the format of successful humour for original work. Added to that, once a joke has entered the zeitgeist it can be very difficult to trace its origin. I have no idea who wrote some of my favourite jokes. I suppose a joke writer must feel a sense of pride when his material reaches classic status. I agree with Breezy-E ~ In College , what might be acceptable in conversation or on a blog, is not acceptable in comedy which aspires to find a paying audience. ~ MM
This Month's Question
What do you get if you cross a hippy?
1,000 GPs for the best answer, but only if it's funnier than the one I have.
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