  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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Lists
Lists are inherently boring and unfunny.
This goes back to some of the earliest writings we know about: lists of Sumerian kings, lists of the kings' cattle holdings, and the interminable "begats" of the Bible. And things don't change much; your average grocery list is about as funny as a bug on a blade of grass.
But (there's always a "but") - it doesn't have to be that way.
Rowan Atkinson, the British comedian who is probably most famous for his Mr. Bean and Black Adder characters, once did a sketch that consisted of little more than a teacher calling roll. It's just... okay, it's not possible to describe. You'd have to see it.
David Letterman made a name for himself with Top Ten lists, usually topical, often absurd, and sometimes even funny - especially at 1 in the morning after you've been drinking.
A radio station near me tried to mimic the success of the Top Ten list by coming up with the Bottom Five list. It's... okay, it's not as funny, but they do try.
Now, Letterman's list has been around in one form or another for over twenty years, so it's ingrained itself into popular culture. Even I know about it, and I haven't watched late-night TV in... well, almost 20 years. As comics, we don't want to just ape what someone else is doing (besides, CBS has lawyers). And changing it to a "Top Eight List" isn't going to materially affect it.
Still, the "list" idea has potential, in whatever format. The important thing is to follow that first rule of comedy: Make it funny. The following list should help:
6 ways to make lists funny
1. Trip over your shoelaces while reciting the list.
2. Mention a duck in no less than, and no more than, one of the items.
3. Know your audience - don't rag on Republicans at an oil company convention.
4. Keep items short.
5. Give 'em something unexpected.
Actually, those six items can apply to almost any form of comedy.
Remember them next time you're in the grocery store, trying to read your spouse's handwriting. |
Speaking of lists, here's a list of some funny things:
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Last month's subject was things that shouldn't be funny, but are. Or was it things that aren't funny, but should be? You know, things like heart attacks.
TerJa  : For that matter there are few funny jokes about cheese either. (And poets also ignore cheese.)
Go watch Monty Python. They combine the two.
Mumsy  : Did you say something about a mime's death!? Oh do I have a joke for you . . . 
Q:What was the last thing Marcel Marceau said before he died?
A:"I think I'll become a mime."
 ! Comedy gold. Comedy gold.
Vivian  : Yes, Robert, too close to home isn't funny, at least until enough time has passed to dull the pain of the illness or condition. Some day, I may be able to laugh at some of my husband's Alzheimer's incidences, but for now they aren't funny. However, a dear friend can laugh at some of her father's actions and words -- now. ~~ Viv
As I've said in the past, comedy is often our only way of dealing with untenable situations - and rarely is it pretty.
Tigger thinks of Prancer : *twitches* at the mention of 8 more years with Republicans... eek!
Well, it could be worse. The Chinese could take over. Dong ma?
andromeda : not really. I'm working on a story that is mostly comedy and I'm running out of ideas.
We live to serve.
katherine76: Great newsletter this week Waltzy! I enjoy the topics you choose and it inspires me to write more about a specific topic in my own newsletters
And a fine job you did of it! Now if I could only inspire scriptwriters to come up with funnier movies... |
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Comedy: May 07, 2008 Issue [#2379]
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