10 Humor Secrets - Florida Writers Association Conference, 2016
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These are 10 humor writing secrets that every comedy writer and humorist uses in one form or another. This presentation was given to the 2016 state conference of the Florida Writers Association.
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10 Humor Secrets - Florida Writers Association Conference, 2016
- 1. 10 Humor Writing Secrets Erik Deckers
- 3. For sale. Baby shoes. Never
- 4. Did you hear the guy who wrote the "Hokey Pokey" died? Took two weeks to put him in his coffin.
- 7. • Let the reader's knowledge do the work. • The more connections you can add, the better. • Jokes about real people are better than fictional characters. The Old Man and the Iceberg
- 10. If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end... ... I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
- 11. If you took all your blood vessels, and laid them end to end... ...you would die.
- 12. • Never telegraph that a joke is coming. • Don't pick the obvious answer. Readers are more sophisticated. • You can surprise people with old punchlines in new situations. Adds an additional surprise. You're all a bunch of liars
- 13. 3. Incongruity
- 14. Paronomasia (noun) A play on words, a pun
- 15. Two fish are in a tank. One says to the other, “Do you know how to drive this thing?”
- 16. I wasted my whole life playing video games. Good thing I have two more.
- 17. I was walking through a quarry and said to the foreman, “That’s a big rock!” “Boulder,” he said. So I puffed out my chest and shouted, “LOOK AT THAT ENORMOUS ROCK OVER THERE!”
- 18. 4. Recog nition
- 22. 5. Start With Good Structure
- 26. 5a. Last Word = Funniest Word
- 27. Remember when you were a little kid, and you thought new shoes made you run faster? I just got new tires, and my car thought it could go faster too, officer.
- 28. • Write tight. • Never put "he said" or "she said" at the end. • Never end a story with "we all laughed" or "it was so funny." • Put the punchline at the end of a paragraph. • Better yet, make it its own paragraph. Structure Tips
- 29. Writing Exercise • I love you more today than yesterday; yesterday I ______. • My kid whines so much, he/she should ____. • Items found in Jim Irsay’s garage sale. • Items on the Trump Family Christmas letter.
- 30. 10 Humor Writing Secrets @edeckers
- 31. 6. Brevity, and keeping things short, is, above all, the essence of successful humor.
- 35. 7. Exaggeration
- 36. Tragedy is when I get a hangnail. Comedy is when you fall in a ditch and die.
- 40. • Exaggerate BIG! • Slight exaggerations won't cut it. 15 is not funnier than 14. • Underexaggerate. • "A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? Twenty bucks and a pack of Gummi Worms." • Make the exaggeration obvious. "A kajillion dollars." "I told you a million times..."
- 41. 8. Visualization
- 43. • A word is worth a thousand pictures. • Use vivid language. • Metaphors — and sometimes similes — work best. • Descriptive language, not "thing" or "stuff." • Simple language. Don't make them decipher your words. • Let their imaginations do the work. Create Visual Imagery
- 44. 9. Superiority
- 47. • NEVER do humor about other groups. • Make fun of people in power, not people below you. • Best humor is self-deprecating. • As the writer, you're the one in power. Make them feel superior
- 48. 10. Know Your Audience
- 49. Q: What does the “B” in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A. Benoit B. Mandelbrot
- 53. • Never explain the setup of a joke. • If you have to explain, do it earlier in the piece. • Save the joke for later, so it's a surprise. • Assume your readers are already smart and knowledgeable. • Avoid inside jokes. Insider Knowledge
- 54. Writing Exercise ● What if a baseball umpire had OCD? ● Write a complaint letter to the Death Star’s HR director. ● Who has the world’s worst super power? ● Describe a conversation between an actor and his theatre critic wife.
- 55. • Never explain the punchline. • Keep the setup short, the punchline shorter. • Steer the person away from the punchline. • There ARE words/numbers funnier than others. • 17, 42, 87 are funnier than 10, 30, 90. • Words that end in "K" are funny. Final Takeaways
Editor's Notes
- Victor Raskin, linguist at Purdue. All humor is a lie. Take my wife...please. Expectancy violations theory: When people act differently than their prescribed roles (Seiter & Gass, 2004).
- Alsatian goes to telegram office, writes on form: "Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof.” Clerk says "Only 9 words here. Could send another Woof for same price.” Dog says, “But that would make no sense at all."
- Two hunters in the woods when one collapses. Not breathing, eyes glazed. Other guy calls 911, says “My friend is dead! What can I do?” Operator says, “Calm down, I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There’s silence, then a shot. Guy says: ‘OK, now what?’
- Punchline is at the end for a reason. Setup --> Punchline Funny word is also the last word. Don't make the punchline too long. Twitter is great for teaching you structure AND brevity.
- 10 minutes
- This is where you let people's imagination do the work.
- A word is worth 1,000 pictures. Just pick the right word.
- How bad is it when these guys are laughing at you? Harvard vs. Texas joke - Don’t end sentences with preposition. Kackass. Homer Simpson attracts attention to himself and gets hurt. We feel better about ourselves. • Insults • Self-deprecating humor (BEST) • Sexist/racist humor (STILL WRONG THOUGH!)
- 20 minutes