Genre of the week: Comedy

I'll admit it, I know nothing about making comedy work. Well, I know it's all about timing, but anyone who can make someone chuckle from something they've written has had more success than I have. If you can make comedy work, then that's awesome, and you have my respect for it.

I obviously don't write it, but I do enjoy a good comedy every once in a while, but no comedy movies round out my top three. I guess I prefer my comedy sprinkled throughout a good storyline and characters, rather than the main focus. Not that there's anything wrong with comedy movies, but they tend not to be my favorite.

I used to write a few comedy fanfics, but they're pretty hard to write. Sometimes there are jokes I thought of, but I wonder if it'll make sense to someone else reading it.

I used to love comedy movies, but I haven't watched much of those lately. I too like humor sprinkled in with the story and characters (why I like shows like Sleepy Hollow sometimes). I'm still watching a couple comedy shows on TV, though.

I prefer more cartoony comedy, like what you'd see in classic Disney shorts and Looney Tunes--comedy need not be fart jokes and toilet humor

EmeraldSky said:

I prefer more cartoony comedy, like what you'd see in classic Disney shorts and Looney Tunes--comedy need not be fart jokes and toilet humor

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I remember enjoying those type of cartoons too! One of my favorites back when I was a kid was the Animaniacs. Now these days while the cartoons don't always rely on toilet humor the jokes fell short somehow. There are still some cartoons with good humor though like Over the Garden Wall and Gravity Falls. I also heard Adventure Time and Steven Universe are good ones too, but I haven't watched those nor not sure how much humor are put in both of those series.

Don't forget Tiny Toon Adventures, either!

I will also add Disney's Wander Over Yonder to the rare current cartoon that captures that spirit.

*waits patiently for bobandbill*

Comedy is definitely not an easy genre. You need to be clever, witty, have an eye for what works, and have a good sense of comedic timing. It requires understanding audience expectations and being able to play with them. While there are certainly tried and true formulas, you also have to be original. Comedy is tough.

A lot of writers just starting out with comedy writing tend to rely on random humour, which overall doesn't really work. It doesn't require cleverness or subtlety or a whole lot of craft, from my perspective, and while that isn't inherently a bad thing, random humour is can often be used as an easy way to get a cheap laugh. I enjoyed it when I was younger, but it really loses its novelty quickly.

There are lots of books and TV shows that aren't necessarily comedies that I really enjoy - I always like to laugh. I'm currently in love with Brooklyn Nine-Nine and would highly recommend it. I also love stand-up, and go to at least a few shows during the big comedy festival in my city each year. <3

EmeraldSky said:

I prefer more cartoony comedy, like what you'd see in classic Disney shorts and Looney Tunes--comedy need not be fart jokes and toilet humor

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Eh, I don't find that all other comedy is necessarily dirty/immature. That said, I'm not really bothered by that kind of humour. (There are definitely some topics I think need to be joked about with care, but we don't have to get into that topic here.)

~Psychic

A lot of writers just starting out with comedy writing tend to rely on random humour, which overall doesn't really work. It doesn't require cleverness or subtlety or a whole lot of craft, from my perspective, and while that isn't inherently a bad thing, random humour is can often be used as an easy way to get a cheap laugh. I enjoyed it when I was younger, but it really loses its novelty quickly.

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This randomosity was what made 30 Rock so funny (at least to me). I would describe a typical episode of that show like this:

Main story
Go off on Tangent A
Come back to main story
Go off on Tangent B
See how Tangent A is progressing
Come back to main story
Wind up Tangents
Wind up main story

Psy_MoonShadow said:

*waits patiently for bobandbill*

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I'm not late or anything, I swear!

So, uh, as hinted above I tend to write fics in the comedy genre. I've done a parody of the game Pokemon Colosseum, and also an Ace Attorney one-shot and more recently three-part comedy fic last year. It's my favourite genre to write in. =p

I also enjoy reading and watching comedy stories/films, and of a range too (e.g. your standard sorts, or black comedy, etc). Less so a fan of the 'poop' humour sort.

Comedy is definitely not an easy genre. You need to be clever, witty, have an eye for what works, and have a good sense of comedic timing. It requires understanding audience expectations and being able to play with them. While there are certainly tried and true formulas, you also have to be original. Comedy is tough.

A lot of writers just starting out with comedy writing tend to rely on random humour, which overall doesn't really work. It doesn't require cleverness or subtlety or a whole lot of craft, from my perspective, and while that isn't inherently a bad thing, random humour is can often be used as an easy way to get a cheap laugh. I enjoyed it when I was younger, but it really loses its novelty quickly.

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This is certainly true. You can't just rely on the same sort of gags over and over, and execution is a massive part of it too. I improved with that, I don't think I had quite a handle on that when I started my first fic.