Wit and the Unexplainable

1. Yeah basically this is comedy. Wit and the Unexplainable

2. What is comedy, you ask? • I’m not telling you, because you already know. [Or you do not, in which case I will pray for your soul].

3. The 7 S’s people think of when they think of comedy: • Surprises • Stupidity • Severity [violence] • Sexuality • Systematic • Sources [references] • Superficial [over-produced] • Consistency

4. Am I limited to that S? • Think of it like this: comedy is painting. You can take your colors and mix and blend them in an infinite number of ways. You are creating something, not just throwing ingredients around. • AND REMEMBER: stupidity can be comical, but stupidity is NOT comedy itself. Think about that. Am I blowing your mind? Probably not.

5. General attributes of that which makes you laugh and happy. • Comedy comes casually. Well, naturally is the word… but alliterations are awesome. • DON’T FORCE IT. • Comedy gets away with what drama cannot. • If you think comedy is not a form of art, or a talent, or a blessing, you are wrong.

6. Tips, or what you might call advice, for writing or creating humor. • Characters are so important. • Subtle is a beautiful thing. • Remember, never sell-out to what “The Majority” wants. • Consider your audience. But more importantly, consider you. • Don’t stress about being mind-blowing; being original and at times avoiding letting things be too obvious is key.

7. More advice and things. • Tact, my friends. You need tact. • Be willing to give up on jokes that don’t work. AND, be willing to work with jokes that don’t work. You need a balance of crafting lumps of clay into masterpieces and throwing material out that is dead. That being said, there is usually a glimmer of light in every idea. Don’t give up easily. • Don’t be afraid of comedic implementations that don’t gain laughs out loud.

8. EVEN MORE. SOON. RIGHT NOW. • Making social commentary is great, and this can be done well with humor. I encourage it! But be careful. Look, I’ll even go as far as to say that insulting people (in the real world) can actually be good. But you know where to draw the line. • Try to be able to view and write comedy from others’ perspective. This will help if you are writing a character with a totally different sense of humor than you. And also, sometimes it’s just cool to look from another’s viewpoint. You might even want to consider your audience. Hah! Who would’ve though? Not me.

9. And one more thing… • And I think we can all agree… IF YOU’RE NOT MAKING ME LAUGH, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.

10. But, how do I write it? • Comedy is just like any other fictional literary form. There is a story. • However, you can also do satirical essays.

11. Anything else? • You are not limited to this format; Straight line + Punch line = Joke LOL JK ASDFGHJKL I CAN’T

12. INSPIRATION • Some internetainment on YouTube you may want to look up: “Trends” by Blur Zog “Ghost In The Stalls” by Olan Rogers “Beached Whale” by Julian Smith “Not Right Now, Derrick” by Balloonshop

13. The Prompt • Your mission: • Write a comical work of some sort. Finish it (at least roughly) by next Friday. • Make Tangent laugh.