Want to know the funniest joke in the world,
according to a large scientific study?
We’ll get to that. But first, what makes you
laugh? The question has intrigued scientists and comedy-lovers alike. Or maybe
you’d rather not analyze the underlying components of what makes something
funny. As a young intern I began my career working with Lizz Winstead
(co-creator of The Daily Show) and her group of comedy writers (including Emmy
Award-winning comedy writer Jo Miller) – and I was consistently surprised how
unfunny the analytical process of comedy writing sometimes can be. E.B. White
famously said: “Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in
the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific
mind.”
So again – what makes you laugh? If you imagine a
few jokes or scenarios that always make you smile, what do they have in common?
If you think about it, every joke has a crucial
element of surprise. And every funny image has a surprisingly incongruous
combination of ideas. The “kick of the discovery” is a phrase used by the Nobel
Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. Have you noticed that comedy almost
always involves misleading the audience and then surprising them?
A few years ago, ScreenCraft hosted a panel called
Professionally Funny: Comedy Screenwriting featuring some of the industry’s top
comedy screenwriting professionals. If you’re interested in reading more about
that great event, you can get a comprehensive set of notes and quotes from the
event, available to download for only $3 here.
And if you’re writing a comedy feature film
screenplay, be sure to mark your calendar for these comedy screenplay contest
dates.
Here are a few highlights to keep in mind when
writing comedy:
Avoid too many “jokes.” Writing a comedy is a very
specific exercise in genre, but at its heart it is no different than writing
drama, horror, action, or any other mode of narrative. The key is to define
your premise with the utmost specificity and to know your core characters
inside and out. According to Mike Werb (screenwriter of The Mask), “the more
you know your characters, regardless of genre, the more you can pit them
against something unexpected, which can lead to high tension [and conflict],
whether [it be] dramatic or comedic.” There is often a tendency to frontload
and overload comedies with jokes, but the best comedies have elements of drama
and, conversely, the best dramas often have moments of levity. Jokes, bits and
gags are important, but as comedy screenwriting guru Steve Kaplan points out,
they are surface elements of your script, not the spine: “Jokes constantly have
to land, but there have to be comic characters that work to hang them on,
because jokes are subjective.” In other words, you can’t ensure that every joke
you write will play for everyone, but you can have more control over how your
characters impact and appeal to viewers. Great characters are your throughline,
your safety net.
Comedy is serious. Neither the characters nor the
actors playing them should ever feel like they’re in on the joke. Nothing
backfires faster than actors or characters that know they’re funny before an
audience has a chance to make that determination for themselves. Characters
can’t be in on the joke; they have to be earnest and invested. Smugness kills
the relationship with the audience.
Take a step back. As Charlie Chaplin said, “Life
is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” A good comedy
shows us a different perspective. It takes a step back from the emotional drama
of daily life, and allows us to laugh at it from a distance. Some of the best
comedy writers have mined the tragedy of their own lives for things to laugh
at.
Confidence. Embrace your unique comedic tone
confidently. So much of comedy is in how it’s delivered. Nothing kills
creativity and comedy more than the fear of making a mistake or fear of looking
bad. There are no wrong answers when you’re in the open mode. Wait until later
to be critical. Write first. Edit later.
Focus on the mundane. There is much humor to be
mined out of magnifying the mundane. As the great comedy screenwriter David
Mandel pointed out in our comedy panel, this was the operating principle behind
both Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Richard Whitley remembers from his days
as a staff writer on Roseanne that the mantra there was to “make the big out of
the small.”
You can download the full event notes here for a
deeper exploration of comedy screenwriting. And if you’re writing a comedy TV
pilot, be sure to check out our popular online screenwriting e-courses here.
Oh, and still wondering what’s the funniest joke
in the world? The British researcher Richard Wiseman searched for funniest joke
in the world by thousands of people to rate their favorite jokes. The study was
interesting because it revealed a lot about humor tastes across demographics
and cultures. Shock only takes us so far – because crude jokes offend some
while entertain others. But surprise is crucial to making everyone laugh.
A hunter and his friend are out in the woods, when
suddenly his friend collapses onto the ground and doesn’t seem to be breathing.
The hunter calls 911: “My friend is dead! What should I do?” The operator
replies, “Calm down, sir. Take a deep breath. I can walk you through this.
First make sure that he’s dead.” There’s a silence, then a loud bang. Back on
the phone, the guy says, “Ok, now what?”
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