 Comedy: January 29, 2020 Issue [#9990] |
This week: Born Funny Edited by: Aennaytte: Free & Wild in GoT  
More Newsletters By This Editor 
 
1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions
| ASIN: 1945043032 |
|
Amazon's Price: Price N/A
|
|
Born Funny
What does it take to write and tell funny stories?
Some people are just naturally funny. Any story they tell makes you laugh, chuckle, or giggle.
But what about the rest of us? Are we doomed to mediocrity and boring stories where the punchline falls falt?
Only if we never try.
If you think that you would like to be funny, but it's not happening by itself, you can do the next best thing: write, get reviews, listen to the feedback, edit and revise until you get someone to laugh out loud.
It is said that the act of laughing comes from being surprised. If your joke is told in the form of a list, make the last item in your list something surprising.
Reasons to stop drinking coffee, "No jitters, no crashes, no coffee breath, that's my way to rage against the machine."
Some of the best humor can be creepy, edgy, and outrageous. So, while you could go by the formula tragedy + time = comedy, you can also flip that upside down by commenting in snarky ways about tragic events from a day before.
The Onion's writers found a way to make fun of 9/11 as early as two weeks after the tragedy. They also wrote a piece about the bombing in Manchester during a Taylor Swift concert that achieved to make me laugh. No, it's not funny when people die. No, it's especially not funny when children die. However, the job of the jester is to find a way to make reality bearable.
Twisting cliches can be funny. Imagine a rapper talking like rapper. Not funny. Now have a grandma with purple hair talk like a rapper. That can be funny.
It used to be that self-deprecating humor was a sure bet to get laughs. You could easily follow the formula to write down all the things you hate about yourself and work them into your stories for comedy effect. Unfortunately, a lot of humor of that type has now become triggering. It's no longer OK to make fun of people of a certain shape, race, or religion without being called all sorts of names that imply you're not only not funny but a very terrible person.
To make up for the disappearance of self-deprecating humor, you can at least fall back on dark emotions like jealousy, loneliness, and failure. Bad breakups can also be a source for dark emotional humor. "My boyfriend didn't sleep with one of my best friends. He slept with all of them." Most people can relate to lousy romances, so you should be able to get some comedy mileage from this one.
One surefire way to get at least some chuckles is to describe your troubles with new technology. You can go all out an describe all the weird episodes you had with a piece of tech. Or you can use it as a punch line.
|
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1853919 by Not Available. |
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1614681 by Not Available. |
|
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!
| ASIN: B085272J6B |
Product Type: Kindle Store
|
Amazon's Price: $ 9.99
|
|
While I fall in the category of unable to write anything funny, we have some people here on the site that pretty much can't be serious.
Check out
|
| ASIN: 0997970618 |
|
Amazon's Price: $ 14.99
|
|
To stop receiving this newsletter, click here for your newsletter subscription list. Simply uncheck the box next to any newsletter(s) you wish to cancel and then click to "Submit Changes". You can edit your subscriptions at any time.
|
This printed copy is for your personal use only. Reproduction
of this work in any other form is not allowed and does violate its copyright. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
