  Comedy
This week: Edited by: Mavis Moog  
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3. Letter from the Editor
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| I introduce myself as a new Comedy Newsletter Editor and hope that you will join me in an exploration of what makes readers laugh. |
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This is my first Comedy Newsletter. So all of you who are not too busy preparing for the weekend and have time to read this, are witnessing history in the making here. Oh dear, that doesn't sound good does it? I hope I won't be history too soon.
Here's a little contest for you.
WIN 1,000 gps.
How many jokes (excluding the taboo-breaker) are there on this newsletter (search every section)? I mean actual jokes, not my writing! Send your joke-count in, using the comments submission panel below. Feel free to include a polite message too.
The winner, selected randomly from the correct entries, will be announced in next month's issue.
Up until very recently I ran a monthly Comedy Club in Derbyshire and was privileged to meet many funny men and women from all over the world. I even gave stage time to some who have since become far too expensive for my little club..
The world of comedy is a warm and surprisingly sane place. When the stage personas are sloughed, most comedians are sensitive and intelligent people. It takes a crystal clear mind to find hilarity in the mundane.
The British writer, director, former Cambridge Foot-lighter and generally very clever man, Sir Jonathan Miller, once said that comedy is in the surprise. While trying to analyse the nature of humour he concluded that we laugh at ideas that take us unawares. It is the comic's job therefore, to lead us down a familiar lane and then startle us with the destination. This makes for a very difficult task, because once the surprise is revealed it is spent. Comedy has to be fresh if it is to work.
Word-play, misdirection, satire and absurdity all have their parts to play but the most important skill for a comedian is probably lateral thinking.
I once wrote a book on hedgehogs - but found paper was easier.
Breaking taboos is another quick way to startle ones audience. Some comics take this to the extreme and their work becomes nothing more than comedy porn. I'm blushing as I recall one woman's act at my club. She horrified the audience with explicit vulgarity which was shocking because no one could believe that anyone would have the nerve to stand on a stage and say such things. Her sense of humour consisted of embarrassing her audience. I did not allow her to finish her act, and was applauded for stepping onto the stage to stop her.
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Death, bodily functions and sex are the common targets for taboo-breakers. Many of us wince and declare such humour is sick, but many have a discreet chuckle too.
I wrote a book on tigers - but kept falling off.
Comedy in literature has a rich tradition. My favourites include;
 Terry Pratchett,
Charles Dickens,
Mark Twain,
James Thurber,
Saki,
Flann O'Brien
Tom Sharpe.
Literature provides the ideal stage for slow-burning humour as well as wordy tricks and complicated intellectual acrobatics. The writer has time to set-up outrageous puns, bizarre situations and eccentric characterisation. So surely comedy in writing should be easy. Not a bit of it. Like all good writing, comedy needs insight and sensitivity. Bawdy slap-stick and vicious prejudice dressed up as satire do not cut it with today's discerning readership. I hope to explore the world of literary comedy with you in these newsletters, and hope to make you laugh a little on the way.
I wrote a book on television - it sold quite well actually.
Oh, and happy Thanksgiving everyone. |
There is some top-class humour on this site - enjoy.
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And then there's some of my humour.
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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
Don't forget to support our sponsor!
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Please nominate funny poetry for next month's Editor's Picks.
This is a joke that is notoriously difficult to understand:
Two parrots are sitting on a perch and one says to the other, "Can you smell fish?"
Have you got a joke that you know is funny but it took you a moment to understand why? If so, please submit it, and the best will feature on next month's newsletter.
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Comedy: November 23, 2005 Issue [#723]
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