  Comedy
This week: Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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"I had thought — I had been told — that a 'funny' thing is a thing of a goodness. It isn't. Not ever is it funny to the person it happens to. Like that sheriff without his pants. The goodness is in the laughing itself. I grok it is a bravery... and a sharing... against pain and sorrow and defeat."
- Valentine Michael Smith
(Robert Heinlein,
Stranger in a Strange Land) |
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Uni-VERSE-al Comedy
When discussing the history and execution of humorous writing, it wouldn't do to overlook one of the most important comedic forms: Funny Poetry.
Funny Poetry can take many forms - rhyme and rhythm, free-verse, lyrics, or parody. Some forms are relatively recent; others are even older than I am.
What makes a poem funny? Mainly, the same things that make anything funny - twisted expectations, surprise, and, often, absurdities. It's also important to note that "serious" poets don't consider humorous poems to be poems - they usually take themselves entirely too seriously, thus opening themselves up to more opportunity for parody. Usually, serious poets dismiss attempts at using poetic forms for humorous effect to be, at best, "verse," and at worst, "doggerel." Most discussions of poetry by serious poets will, in fact, omit the long and twisted history of comedic verse, concentrating on such boring subjects as "epic" poetry, "lyrical" poetry and "dramatic" poetry. 
Let's look at a couple of forms that are intended to be humorous - as opposed to forms that become humorous because we're laughing at the serious poets behind their backs.
Limerick
Sadly, I can't give too many examples of the Limerick in this newsletter - most of them are bawdy, obscene or otherwise politically incorrect enough to earn an 18+ rating. You know the ones I mean, especially if you're a man from Nantucket or a lady from Wheeling. One I found online explains this succinctly:
The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical,
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean,
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_%28poetry%29
It is, however, possible to write "clean" limericks - the form itself is straightforward enough: 5 lines, AABBA rhyme scheme, and a rhythm pattern close to the above example. The book entry "Limerick" explains this further.
Senryu
When is a haiku not a haiku? When it's a senryu. See the discussion above concerning serious poets. You can't just write the usual 5-7-5 syllables and slap the label "haiku" upon it - oh no! It's got to have a season word, and break it in the right place, and so on - it's a lot harder than it appears, or so I'm told.
Fortunately, the senryu only requires itself to be funny. If you can keep it to the traditional 5-7-5, it's even MORE funny, because you're making fun of serious poets.
One time, I was stuck in traffic behind a Subaru going about 10 mph below the speed limit, with no way to pass. The Subaru had a vanity plate that read, "HAIKU."
Counting out the syllables with my impatient fingers on the steering wheel, I said,
Slow-ass Subaru
Blocking my way through traffic.
Wish it would move now.
Of course, not everyone has been in that situation, and it was rather situational humor (my wife, sitting next to me, laughed - but then, she laughs at even my worst jokes, which, while feeding my ego, doesn't help me to become a better comedian) so here's another senryu about something to which most of us can relate:
Computer frozen.
Mouse buttons nonfunctional.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete
Part of the fun in senryu is seeing if you can come up with them ad lib, in front of people. Practice first.
Parodies
Parodies, of course, take on the form of whatever they're parodying. One of the most parodied poems has to be "A Visit from St. Nicholas" a/k/a "The Night Before Christmas," attributed to Clement Clarke Moore. In fact, I'd wager that Christmas poems and songs are parodied more than any other type, from rubber cigars to Santa smells, and anything by Bob Rivers. Since this is July, though, I'll save Christmas song parodies for the December issue.
Whether a parody of song or verse, the parody presents its humor through, second, clever adherence to the form of the original and, first, its own comedic attributes. If the original isn't obvious, the parody will fail as parody (though it may still be funny), but if the parody itself isn't funny, it'll just fall flat.
The best example I can think of would be Weird Al Yankovic, who specializes in parodies of popular music.
There are, of course, many other ways to make funny poems. Some rhyme and rhythm schemes are more suited to comedy than others, but pretty much any poetry form is fair game, especially if your audience is familiar with the form.
To close, I'll point you to the best resource I know for poetry forms (the "limerick" link above is from this item):
| | Poetry Forms (13+)
Poetry Forms Easily Explained - a work of Bianca with additions by kansaspoet
#945530 by Bianca  |
And my apologies in advance to b_boonstra for any use, misuse or abuse of her lovely work for comedic purposes  |
Writing.com members have created thousands of humorous verses. Here's but a small, mostly-random sampling:
| |  | Invalid Item
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#1212556 by Not Available. |
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#656156 by Not Available. |
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#516813 by Not Available. |
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terryjroo: Wow Robert, to think I hadn't signed up for this newsletter before now - I've been missing out on the chuckles and the guffaws! I can't remember the last time I guffawed - it must be the Valium your darned Yakutsk references and the speaking in tongues! Yes, that will do it every time! Great newsletter! 
Thanks, Terry! Hope you enjoyed the di-VERSE-ity of this newsletter as well [Terry's one of the regular Poetry Newsletter editors - check out this week's archives if you're not yet a subscriber! ]
dogfreek21:  I wanna bribetip!!! Ummm... *tries to think of something really flattering to say*
Puppy's apparently still thinking...
fleckgirl: Robert-what a funny newsletter! I've heard about these "elite golfcart communities" and the level of souping-up that goes on is funny in & of itself. Adding in the humor about the tacky golf club covers & language... well, I was rolling! Thanks for the laugh. The features here were great! LOVED New York Girls by Bernie Thomas, he's one of my favorite authors here! Very enjoyable newsletter - keep up the good work!
Glad you enjoyed the newsletter and features! I try to make them par for the course
For Next Time!
My next newsletter will come out August 8. Is there anything you want to see? Throw me some ideas, and if I like them I might just throw you some GPs!
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Comedy: July 11, 2007 Issue [#1824]
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