So I said I'd write about what I know about humor. But then I realized I couldn't just write
down the word nothing a thousand times or so.
So I feel I should come with a disclaimer. This is how I work humor.
Some of these tricks are universal. But the real challenge of humor is that
it's a matter of taste. You have to accept that you aren't always going to be
funny, no matter how amazing your dad joke is. Or mine in this case.
Ready?
So my novel is apparently pretty funny, quirky for sure. So
how did I do it? Since “I have no idea” is the kind of answer that you didn't
come to read, I'll give this a shot.
Comedy is hard
Groucho Marx wasn't kidding. Drama is easy. We all understand pain. We all feel pain.
Humor is a more fickle beast. Jokes that may crack you up. They may not. Comedy
is very subjective. So with this great truth, how do we approach humor then?
It's okay for jokes
to be bad
So let's look at Peter Parker. Peter cracks jokes all the time
as Spider man. I find Spidey is written best when some of his jokes aren't
funny. Peter David in particular is great at this technique. He will make
Spider man drop some stinkers. Don't get me wrong, David definitely puts a few
extra bit of punch in his zingers too. But part of how that works is the fact
that some of the jokes are bad.
There are a few lessons to take from this approach. Comedy
isn't a steady line of laughter. It's about taking your reader or listener on a
journey. Sometimes you go up with the laughter, and sometimes you go down with
the groans. Good comedians sprinkle their A material with some not quite so
nice stuff. It accentuates the zingers and the A material when it comes out of
nowhere. We can't all be funny like
Robin Williams. We just don't have that gift, but we can use technique, and
this is a good one.
Dirty your jokes a little bit with some bad ones. They are the
ones you tell that you think are funny but aren't. I recently wrote an
interview with a zombie. My beta reader for said jokes didn't understand one of
them. It wasn't that the joke couldn't work, but the joke didn't work as it
was. I modified it to add a layer.
Is it my best joke? Nope. But it sets up my best jokes.
Fun is contagious
Now, there's a point where the quality of jokes don't matter
anymore. Comedy and music are similar that once the song is fully in motion it
doesn't matter what the tune is, people will dance to it. Finding that balance
is tricky. That all said, another great
technique is to have fun with it. Enjoy your own material. Be okay that it
won't all hit (it won't, no matter how good you think you are) , but that your
authenticity will carry you through the routine.
Here's the thing about fun.
Fun and play are contagious. If you are having fun, and people catch on,
they will start to too. Without much in the way of actual nuance, you will
convince your audience that you're having a good time. Once they are convinced
of this, you will find they will be with you.
Show me a person who doesn't like to play and I will show you
a liar. Everyone wants to play. Give them that excuse and more often than not
they will do the work for you. This is
true in fiction as well. If the reader can pick up that you are having fun,
they will too. They'll want to interact with this experience the same way.
Surprise!
Great humor must include a surprise. One of the great joys of
comedy is how they bend the expectations of the reader or listener. Comedy more
than anything else, challenges expectations. If anything, expectations motivate
comedy to distract you with those very things you come to expect.
Surprise is the true goal of comedy. The outcome will make you
laugh, and if the comedian is great, they will make you think. Terry Pratchett
is one of my favorite comedians. I remember Eric in particular is where
Pratchett eviscerated expectations. There was a reference to a great and noble
knight that was going to slay the dragon. Everyone knew it. They talked about
it. It was all over but the shouting they'd say.
But the dragon won. That was funny. And then Pratchett took it
one step further. The dragon, now in charge was requiring sacrifices and people
were doing it. Because they were afraid of the dragon and the dragon would
spare their lives for these people being killed. Comedy turned into deep thought.
There was a famous line in watchmen that shows how a comedic
line changed everything. Great comedy challenges convention. The great ones not
only make you laugh, but consider the world around you in a new light.
There is more but...
I don't know much more than this actually. I hope if you read
the Cloud Diver that you will be pleasantly surprised, and maybe laugh at some
of my terrible jokes. That all said, my real hope is that I make people think
while enjoying themselves.
Maybe. Or maybe I'm like Peter Parker. Only I laugh at my
jokes.
I'm okay with that.
------------------
Joshua Pantalleresco writes stuff and podcasts too. His forthcoming book, the Cloud Diver is his
first novel, and fourth book. Joshua
always has written poetry for Mirror World Publishing, and has been published
in magazines such as Onspec. He writes a
column for First Comics and has made the leap into the freelance world.
His podcast Just Joshing is fast approaching 400 episodes. He
has interviewed debut novelists, New York Times Bestselling Authors, musicians,
illustrators, pro wrestlers, politicians, comedians and other creative people
twice a week, and reads from his work, along with other authors every weekend.
He has won the Aurora for his podcast, and has been finalist for that award
twice. He lives in Windsor currently,
but has been known to wander at a moment's notice.
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