 Comedy: August 05, 2015 Issue [#7137] |
  Comedy
This week: Using Comedy as a Technique Edited by: Cinn  
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Humor is everywhere in that there's irony in just about anything a human does. ~Bill Nye
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When I first saw an opening to write the comedy newsletter, a series of odd thoughts swirled through my mind. "I'm not qualified" was key among them because, while I have a keen sense of humor and joke around all the time, I'm not a comedy writer. On those rare occasions when I write stories, they tend to fall on the drama side of the coin, and my poetry is not of the happy, light, and fun variety.
Just as I was about to hit the X and forget the entire idea, it occurred to me that I write comedy all the time, if I broaden the definition a bit anyway. The hangup for me is that I don't have a single item in the "comedy" genre as far as I recall. It is not something I set out to write but, rather, something that flavors my writing. The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that I use humor as a technique, not as a genre.
Irony
Where does the humor in my poetry come from? I am inspired by anything that strikes me as ironic, and often, irony is also funny. It isn't 'roll on the floor laughing til you cry' funny, but it is 'smirk and nod' funny. For me, that's good enough sometimes to release the tension created in a poem. There are times when, in a story or poem, you just need a gentle shift in tone, and an ironic aside might be perfect to give the tone a nudge without entirely breaking the mood.
Snarkiness
Another major form of humor in my work is a natural tendency to be snarky. This trait appears in my stories once in a while, but because poetry is often a form of venting for me, the snarkiness bubbles to the surface all the time. If something annoys me, I write a poem about it, and though they are not necessarily mean-spirited, the finished pieces tend to be a bit sassy. People may not admit to loving this sort of humor, but I know that my snarky one liners hit home sometimes.
Quirkiness
A good quirk is another source of comedy for me. I love that odd and unexpected detail that seems so out of place on the first read but perfect on subsequent reads. It is an interesting juxtaposition sometimes and acts as a teaspoon of sugar at other times, making unpleasant ideas more palatable. Perhaps no one else finds it funny, but I like to write a serious poem and add carefully placed cheerful details. For instance, all of these odd lines appear in poems that I have written in the past year:
 a red juicebox straw greeting the night like a tulip in spring
 the vulture with a mullet, cawing Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes
the world's biggest wooden spoon and tallest outhouse and longest line at a wax museum
penultimate statements about Mr. Sun going beddy-bye
Now, people might not laugh aloud when reading these. I know that I don't. However, they all made me smile when I wrote them, and they made me smile when digging through my portfolio a moment ago. There is subtle humor in quirkiness. In context, a few of these quirky details also fall into the aforementioned categories of irony and snarkiness. The juicebox straw is ironic in context, as the poem is about someone claiming to be tired from the weight of adulthood while drinking this whimsical child-like concoction, and the Mr. Sun line was a snarky view on children's poetry that has not evolved for modern, tech-savvy children.
Comedy makes its presence known in all genres and formats. A little dose of humor can be used to soften the tone of a piece or lighten an intense moment or drive a message home in a memorable way. Sometimes a subtle punchline can be more effective than a boisterous joke. I would never claim to be a comedy writer, but after giving it some thought, I have realized just how frequently I write a line to amuse myself, to brighten up my own day. They may not amuse everybody. Humor can be hit or miss in general, but I think it's safe to assume that if the author finds it funny, someone out there will agree.
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When do you think it is appropriate to use sarcasm and/or snarkiness in your writing? Do you ever find it funny? |
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