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Knock-knock.
Who's there?
General Lee.
General Lee, who?
Generally, I do not tell jokes. 
Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Doughnut.
Doughnut, who?
Do not ask me again, because I'm not going to tell you!
Welcome to the Melissa is fashionably late! edition of the Comedy newsletter! This week, we'll be discussing sentence structure as related to comedy. |
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The Structure of Comedy
"I've seen many comedy pieces here that could benefit from a bit of tweaking, so I think a great question to address would be: How does sentence structure relate to comedic timing?"
Thank you for asking such a thoughtful question that could require a long and complicated answer! Sentence structure matters in all forms of writing, not just comedy. But before I go in to why sentence structure matters, I suppose I should explain the different aspects of sentence structure.
There are many different kinds of sentences: simple, complex, compound, loose, periodic, declaritive, exlamatory, interrogative, and imperative.
 Simple statements are those used in everyday conversation, letters, and some types of professional writing (like newspaper and magazine articles). They are used to grab a reader's attention and have no dependent information provided.
John laughed.
Complex statements are generally long and show what information depends on other information.
Jessica told a joke, causing John to laugh.
Compound sentences consists of two independent clauses joined by a conjuction (if, and, but, or).
Jessica's joke wasn't really that funny, but John laughed anyway.
A loose sentence puts your main point at the beginning of a long sentence.
John laughed at Jessica's joke, even though everyone else in the room groaned and grimaced, shook their heads, and rolled their eyes in exasperation.
The main point of the sentence is that John laughed at Jessica's joke. This point is made at the beginning of the sentence. Everything following that statement is extra information.
A periodic sentence is the opposite of a loose sentence. The point is at the end of a long sentence, rather than the beginning.
While everyone else in the room groaned, grimaced, shook their heads, and rolled their eyes in exasperation, John laughed at Jessica's bad joke.
The main point of the sentence is still that John laughed at Jessica's joke, but the reader doesn't know that is the point that the writer is going to make. The reader is given the information of everyone else's reaction without the conclusion of John's reaction.
Delcarative sentences states a fact or argument without requiring an answer or action from the reader. Declarative sentences are always punctuated with a period and are commonly used in essays.
Jessica told a knock-knock joke.
An interrogative sentence asks a question. If it is a direct question, it ends in a question mark. If an indirect question is asked, it is usually punctuated with a period.
Direct: Why did John laugh at Jessica's bad joke?
Indirect: I wonder why John laughed at Jessica's bad joke.
An exclamatory sentence is a more forceful version of a declarative sentence and usually ends with an exclamation point.
Jessica's joke was not funny!
An imperative sentence gives a direct command to someone. It can punctuate with either a period or an exclamation point, depending on how forceful the writer wants the command to come across.
Don't laugh at Jessica's joke!
Learn to tell better jokes.
The way you choose to use your phrases and clauses will determine how interesting your ideas come across and how clearly your ideas are conveyed. Just as a good artist uses the appropriate paintbrush for the type of paint they are using, a good writer chooses different sentences for different situation.
Using declarative sentences throughout a piece meant to be comedic might not be as effective if you don't include a few complex or compound sentences in there. Laughter found in the written word is often associated with sentence structure. Sentence structure is going to be what immerses your readers into what you write. If you write an entire piece, meant to be funny, in a series of simple and declarative statements, you'll find it's not likely to immerse your reader, along with maybe even boring him to pieces.
I hope that answered the question, as well as provided you with some information on how to use sentence structure to your advantage. Please let me know if you have anything to add. I am certainly one to admit that I am not the all-knowing authority on anything, so additional thoughts and information are always welcome!
As an aside, which of the knock-knock jokes in my introduction do you think Jessica may have told?
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Comments from my last newsletter
JoeMiller :
I have just two words for Melissa with her excesses... Pack Rat.
Nice newsletter, lots of laughs.
I do have to admit that I exaggerated the condition of my house a bit for the sake of humor. You can actually see floorboards and carpeting in my house. We do have quite a clutter in the basement, but that's mostly because since my pregnancy, we haven't had time to go through certain things and determine what we want to do with them. I'm sure it'll only get worse as my son gets older, but one of these days we'll get around to it. In the meantime, I'll embellish and use it to the advantage of comedy.
newmeadowuno:
"We all love to laugh at others’ embarrassing moments… and it never hurts to invite others’ to laugh at ours!"
If you can't laugh at yourself, no one can!
Wren :
I went to a party tonight where the hostess invited us to tour her victorian home. It was wonderful, richly full of lovely things, and everything in its place. She said she couldn't abide clutter. I know that even if I had that much room, I'd still have clutter. I have no idea how to avoid it. How about I list all the "stuff" I have in one room of my house, any room, and hold an essay contest to see who can best tell me what to do with it? They'd probably say, "Throw it away." "Sell it on Ebay." I think we need some kind of a comedy contest about clutter.
A "Clear the Clutter Contest" so to say? If you set it up, send the link in to us and we'll share it with other readers of this newsletter! 
scribbler :
It appears to me that your family might not have a problem with excess but rather with letting things go? (and a little procrastination, aka the remodeling) have you ever considered that you folks are pack rats? I'm one and none to proud of it.
Honestly, the pause in remodeling has been caused by 2 job losses and the birth of a baby. When you don't have the funds to buy the supplies to complete a remodel, it kind of can only go as far as the supplies you have on-hand. And we do have a bit of pack rat in us, but have tried to purge as much as we bring in the house. Time just keeps working against us! 
Ronis brain tumor is gone!
I have to say that I am not alone with the clutter...hehe...I thought this was really funny...Can't wait to get signed up for this one...
Glad you enjoyed it!
Ghostwriter
I had a good laugh at reading your 'excessive rambling about excess'. While I have my own share of mess, I'd have to admit that it's nothing compared to what you described! BUT, having recently been burgled, I encourage people worldwide to collect and hoard mess and useless items at home.
True life story: the burglars left a lot of valuable items in exchange for things they'd thought were extremely valuable, but were in fact, well, NOT. The Sony home theatre, Nikon F50 and Yashica cameras that they took were all not in working order anymore! Wonder why they took them? Simply because we'd packed these things in their original boxes, complete with styrofoam, and stored it. They must have assumed they were all new things  .
Finally, making a mess out of hoarding useless items has paid off!
 A story that finally makes me see the advantages of not throwing stuff away!
Problematic Content :
I should be angry at the dirty lies you're spreading about me, but instead you've only managed to stroke my enormous ego by making me so important that I get a free reference in a newsletter that has nothing to do with me.
Oh, PC, everyone knows you're a male scrapbooker. I wasn't advertising anything that wasn't already old news.
Martin Mills
I enjoyed the topic of excess. Being a music geek, I have quite an excess of CD's in my apartment. And the pile sitting in my room had accumulated over the course of the two years I have lived in Korea. I won't even mention the ones I left in the US, but let's just say my parents' basement is being put to good use.
I realized I have way too many CD's when my girlfriend said "I think I have more than one junk drawer". I might have two drawers (out of six) that aren't!
We went through the junk drawer shortly after I moved in with my husband (then boyfriend). He had stuff from his old place in the junk drawer of his new place. He'd lived here for 3 years already. One of the things from his old place was an allen wrench used to adjust one of the doors in the hallway. I wonder what the new tenants thought when they wanted to adjust the doors and couldn't find the proper tool.
Elisa the Bunny Stik  :
I think we all have excesses. My parents give me lots of grief about my many boxes of snowman items (including two containers of ornaments for my snowman tree). So you're definitely not alone!
Meanwhile, I was wondering something. Normally, I write drama, as drama is a strange sort of comfort for me. However, for my narrative technique class, I'm finding myself coming up with a character more suitable for comedy. I've decided to branch out and try writing a comedy story (about a pen collector, nonetheless!). ANy advice for a writer crossing over from one genre to the other?
Well, in many ways, comedy is drama. Instead of tension, tears, or other emotions, comedy brings about laughter and smiles. So, you're not really crossing from one genre into another as much as utilizing one form of drama over another.
Puditat :
Oh dear, I bet your house has nothing on mine! My excess ranges in all sorts of crafts, not to mention the image files on my computer!! My husband regularly groans at my 'excess' while simultaneously telling people how I'm so clever doing all those crafty things. 
Very enjoyable newsletter, Melissa.
Thank you! I hope to write many more for you and everyone else to enjoy in the future!
My challenge for this month is to send me your knock-knock jokes. Consider this a mini contest of sorts, because the best knock-knock joke-teller will win a Comedy merit badge!
That's it for me for this month. Until next month, keep laughing!
Melissa is fashionably late! |
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Comedy: October 11, 2006 Issue [#1314]
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