No dissecting frogs here. We'll try to understand the rhthyms, logic, wit. and tragedy of humor. Leave the croakers in the ponds, unless they come up with a good one-liner, a play, an essay, a novel, a short story, a poem, etc.
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Obviously "funny" is a very personal matter. What's funny to you might be lackluster to me. (Case in point, farts. Not at all funny to ME.)
That said, I've always been fond of observational humor...the stuff that we all do, but don't really pay much attention to. (If you've been in the car with me when I farted, which you've not, you'd know that my farts hardly go unmentioned.)
I also like so-called "smart" humor. Things that take a little more thought to "get".
Just my taste, though.
That said, I've always been fond of observational humor...the stuff that we all do, but don't really pay much attention to. (If you've been in the car with me when I farted, which you've not, you'd know that my farts hardly go unmentioned.)
I also like so-called "smart" humor. Things that take a little more thought to "get".
Just my taste, though.
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It's all subjective, really
I suspect, Rich, that you are looking not for the topics that we find funny, but a more nuts and bolts approach. What makes humor tick, right? Because regardless of what you find funny, not everyone has the same taste when it comes to humor. While the topics may change, the tools stay pretty much the same. Things like timing, juxtaposition, and exaggeration are at the heart of humor.
But the real key to being funny, IMO is finding humor that others relate to. Here are a couple of examples I found that work really well because lots of people can relate to them, not because they have had the exact same experience, but because most people have had SIMILAR experiences. It makes them funny.
Example 1: Aol Hostage
Example 2: A letter to Six Flags
I suspect, Rich, that you are looking not for the topics that we find funny, but a more nuts and bolts approach. What makes humor tick, right? Because regardless of what you find funny, not everyone has the same taste when it comes to humor. While the topics may change, the tools stay pretty much the same. Things like timing, juxtaposition, and exaggeration are at the heart of humor.
But the real key to being funny, IMO is finding humor that others relate to. Here are a couple of examples I found that work really well because lots of people can relate to them, not because they have had the exact same experience, but because most people have had SIMILAR experiences. It makes them funny.
Example 1: Aol Hostage
Example 2: A letter to Six Flags
Okay
I always hear that humor is a personal matter. It's not. There are folks that don't like Groucho, but enough do. Letterman, Carson, Leno, may not be your style, but enough do. Thurber, Woody, Martin, may not click for some, but enough do. On the other end, there are folks who don't like Tolstoy, Hemmingway, Faulkner, but enough do.
So, let's not pontificate here--it's demeaning to the enough-do's. Let's just discuss humor.
I always hear that humor is a personal matter. It's not. There are folks that don't like Groucho, but enough do. Letterman, Carson, Leno, may not be your style, but enough do. Thurber, Woody, Martin, may not click for some, but enough do. On the other end, there are folks who don't like Tolstoy, Hemmingway, Faulkner, but enough do.
So, let's not pontificate here--it's demeaning to the enough-do's. Let's just discuss humor.
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Humor touches a raw nerve. Someone may call it "the funny bone." It should be highly relateable for a lot of people. The more universal it is the better. By universal I don't mean it has to be about a "normal every day" person. Something can be funny about a weird, out-of-this-world person in an unbelievable situation... BUT, it should be about something that is universal, something that a normal person can relate to...
Take George Carlin for example. Take away all his crudeness and swearing and all that. His materials are funny because we can relate to them. It's self-deprecated. I laugh until I drop because I thought "oh Gawd, how awful and embarrassing -- but it happened to me!"
Take George Carlin for example. Take away all his crudeness and swearing and all that. His materials are funny because we can relate to them. It's self-deprecated. I laugh until I drop because I thought "oh Gawd, how awful and embarrassing -- but it happened to me!"
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ZaZ
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Blah Cubed
Ooh, look at me, I'm just too sophisticated to laugh at methane releases from the human anal cavity. I want to wrap my noodle brain around something classier, like political discourse with tight lipped chuckles.
Sarcasm, now that's funny, almost as humorous as passing gas.
Ooh, look at me, I'm just too sophisticated to laugh at methane releases from the human anal cavity. I want to wrap my noodle brain around something classier, like political discourse with tight lipped chuckles.
Sarcasm, now that's funny, almost as humorous as passing gas.
"It's funny because it's true" Homer Simpson, who likely stole it.
Some names are funny; I once started collecting names of people and places that were funny in various languages, thinking that there might be a phonetic commonality for each language that made the names funny in that language.
My prof, to whom I proposed the topic, said, "You're joking, right? This is a joke."
It wasn't, but I never found the time to go back to it.
There are jokes that one sex find funny that the other doesn't.
Some names are funny; I once started collecting names of people and places that were funny in various languages, thinking that there might be a phonetic commonality for each language that made the names funny in that language.
My prof, to whom I proposed the topic, said, "You're joking, right? This is a joke."
It wasn't, but I never found the time to go back to it.
There are jokes that one sex find funny that the other doesn't.
What's funny.
Don't you just love critics that have never written a thing, never published a thing, that tell you that you have no talent for writing. They are like *******s and farts everyone has got one. As for correcting misspelled words yes do that but to send someone a email that says. Yo yore riting ain't ****. I ought to come up their an smack you down yo *****. Right and go ahead an make my day if you can. Haven't shot anyone in a while so show up this is one lady that will put your business in the wind. Some say they want to pray for you and all the while they are flat out rude and still have nothing significant to show for themselves other than to just pick at everything they read. I used to review work but stopped because if I did not put down a lot of useless words that did not amount to a hill of beans it was sent back to me. Plus the site was a ripoff anyway. I have found some people's work so good that giving them a five star was really distressing because I would have given them a much higher review. If I got bored with the work I generally did not review it. But the critics that use foul language or abused me did irritate me and I had to send the email to the server and block their emails. But some of them can be pretty funny and smelled just like a fart. But people are basically funny and in order to survive what I did you must have a sense of humor.
Don't you just love critics that have never written a thing, never published a thing, that tell you that you have no talent for writing. They are like *******s and farts everyone has got one. As for correcting misspelled words yes do that but to send someone a email that says. Yo yore riting ain't ****. I ought to come up their an smack you down yo *****. Right and go ahead an make my day if you can. Haven't shot anyone in a while so show up this is one lady that will put your business in the wind. Some say they want to pray for you and all the while they are flat out rude and still have nothing significant to show for themselves other than to just pick at everything they read. I used to review work but stopped because if I did not put down a lot of useless words that did not amount to a hill of beans it was sent back to me. Plus the site was a ripoff anyway. I have found some people's work so good that giving them a five star was really distressing because I would have given them a much higher review. If I got bored with the work I generally did not review it. But the critics that use foul language or abused me did irritate me and I had to send the email to the server and block their emails. But some of them can be pretty funny and smelled just like a fart. But people are basically funny and in order to survive what I did you must have a sense of humor.Funny: Man-boobs.
Not funny: Bob
Funny (to 12 year olds) Farts.
Not funny: Bob
Funny: That fact that I don't get some jokes....Uh, no, that's not funny, is it?
Not funny: Bob
Funny (to 12 year olds) Farts.
Not funny: Bob
Funny: That fact that I don't get some jokes....Uh, no, that's not funny, is it?
Taken out of context, this is funny (to me). Do we need these things at the same time, maestro? Never mind, I don't want to know.maestrowork said:
I have a funny name. And I often do 'funny' things to people in public.
Like a few weeks ago, I went in a store and bought a package of maxi pads and an Almond Joy candy bar. As I tossed the items on the counter, I told the male cashier, "Because I'm going through a difficult period and I feel like a nut." It was just something funny that popped into my head right at that moment. The lady behind me laughed, but the male cashier's face turned red...which I thought was funny.
Okay, I'll stop now.
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Sorry, Rich, I just realized I didn't answer your question. I agree with what Barb said about people being able to relate to it.
Yeah, since I'm the one who started this topic I wonder the same thing. I was looking to avoid dissecting the frog, but I'm not sure how. I thought of laser surgery but that's still dissecting the frog. You may be in the right direction poppyhullings, Miss B. Things anecdotal keep the frog alive and well, croaking in the better sense of the word. We should try explaining humor more homeopathically.
Actually it is all funny.
Well Poppy I thought what you wrote was funny. Dissecting a frog with a partner can be funny but it isn't to the frog. Me I was nervous as get out the brain in the frog and wanted to find out what my career had in store. Since I failed at being a brain surgeon and having found none in politicians I started to write.
What is really funny is watching my dog Ringo get all hyper over being sprayed for fleas and he hisses and cusses in dog at my husband.
Man that little dog can get mad about that. Or my dog that grins when he thinks he is in trouble because he puts his lip back and shows his silly side.
Watching baby goats playing.
Well Poppy I thought what you wrote was funny. Dissecting a frog with a partner can be funny but it isn't to the frog. Me I was nervous as get out the brain in the frog and wanted to find out what my career had in store. Since I failed at being a brain surgeon and having found none in politicians I started to write.What is really funny is watching my dog Ringo get all hyper over being sprayed for fleas and he hisses and cusses in dog at my husband.
Man that little dog can get mad about that. Or my dog that grins when he thinks he is in trouble because he puts his lip back and shows his silly side.
Watching baby goats playing.
humour in one word
i've always been told that humour in one word is
conflict.
Conflict between individuals, conflict within an individual. I personally have doubts about it. But it's a good place to start. Most witty dialogue is usually between people who don't particularly get on and are scoring points off each other in company.
Me personally, it has to be dialogue. Woody Allen, Frasier, and for you anglophiles BlackAdder and Red Dwarf are great dialogue coming from character conflict.
But then i love Laurel and Hardy too - very limited dialogue, littered with cliche, and yet the conflict (and love) between them is so evident in the physicality of the humour.
Look at the old banana skin gag.
A man falling over a banana skin is - in itself - not funny. It's a man losing his balance, that's all.
A man falling over a banana skin starts to become funny because you have internal conflict. A feeling of hoping he's not hurt, but relief it wasn't you looking like a donkey, and guilt because of the feeling of relief.
Now, make the man falling over, a character on-screen who isn't likeable. That way you remove the guilt when he falls. That' really important. People won't laugh if they feel guilty,or pity to the victim. Set him up before the gag, by making him do something to reinforce audience dislike (Ollie Hardy's sense of betterment and pomposity is ideal), cause tension because of the way he's just treated a likeable character, and people will laugh at one of the oldest cinema gags around.
Juxtaposition, timing and the actual words used are crucial, but as mentioned above, the audience have to relate to the feelings in one of the active characters (screen or book or standup). They have to be given a guilt-free let-out-clause to laugh openly at someone else's misfortune
IMHO
ant
i've always been told that humour in one word is
conflict.
Conflict between individuals, conflict within an individual. I personally have doubts about it. But it's a good place to start. Most witty dialogue is usually between people who don't particularly get on and are scoring points off each other in company.
Me personally, it has to be dialogue. Woody Allen, Frasier, and for you anglophiles BlackAdder and Red Dwarf are great dialogue coming from character conflict.
But then i love Laurel and Hardy too - very limited dialogue, littered with cliche, and yet the conflict (and love) between them is so evident in the physicality of the humour.
Look at the old banana skin gag.
A man falling over a banana skin is - in itself - not funny. It's a man losing his balance, that's all.
A man falling over a banana skin starts to become funny because you have internal conflict. A feeling of hoping he's not hurt, but relief it wasn't you looking like a donkey, and guilt because of the feeling of relief.
Now, make the man falling over, a character on-screen who isn't likeable. That way you remove the guilt when he falls. That' really important. People won't laugh if they feel guilty,or pity to the victim. Set him up before the gag, by making him do something to reinforce audience dislike (Ollie Hardy's sense of betterment and pomposity is ideal), cause tension because of the way he's just treated a likeable character, and people will laugh at one of the oldest cinema gags around.
Juxtaposition, timing and the actual words used are crucial, but as mentioned above, the audience have to relate to the feelings in one of the active characters (screen or book or standup). They have to be given a guilt-free let-out-clause to laugh openly at someone else's misfortune
IMHO
ant
I just submitted my little story about the maxi pads and Almond Joy to Reader's Digest for their Life in these United States section. I'll let you all know if they think it's funny (funny enough to pay for it and publish it, that is).
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I find Dave Barry's essays hilarious, and of course, they have a lot of truth in them. I feel like that guy in "Good Morning, Vietnam" who says he can recognize humour (he can't). I love humourous writing; I wish I could do it. I'll have to practise and try really, really hard and hope I don't gag on the results. *sigh*
Torin
Torin
I submitted a story
I submitted a story last month about a bus trip and did it as a humor piece. I heard today that it was accepted and another story is being published. I will let you know how it goes. Anytime you put a group of people together on a bus it has a lot of potential for humor. I am also doing a biography of my family and I am still writing it. One story that got a lot of reviews was my POV of the things that you see in ER and not the heavy duty trauma stuff but like the guy that was well known and came into the ER with a potatoe up his rectum. That one had them talking for months. It was hard to look that guy in the face when we went into his store without busting out laughing. Or the lady that got glued to the toilet seat and the comments made by the doctor.
I submitted a story last month about a bus trip and did it as a humor piece. I heard today that it was accepted and another story is being published. I will let you know how it goes. Anytime you put a group of people together on a bus it has a lot of potential for humor. I am also doing a biography of my family and I am still writing it. One story that got a lot of reviews was my POV of the things that you see in ER and not the heavy duty trauma stuff but like the guy that was well known and came into the ER with a potatoe up his rectum. That one had them talking for months. It was hard to look that guy in the face when we went into his store without busting out laughing. Or the lady that got glued to the toilet seat and the comments made by the doctor.
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Really? That's great. Where will these pieces be appearing?Judy T. Lloyd said:
Hopefully in June.
In June and no it was not Dan Quale but a jewelry store owner. I guess they weren't mining for gems. The woman asked the doctor if he had ever seen anything like her condition. The doctor said without batting an eyelash. "Yes but never one framed." You know I am so glad that they have those masks things. You know something that I would like to see a reality television show and this is not meaning any harm folks because I believe in peaceful habitation. But do a Survivor Series and take 30 odd peace activists lock them up in a building where they can't get out and have to share everything. Take bets on which one of them swings first. If they could manage it then take them up to Washington and let them run things for awhile.
In June and no it was not Dan Quale but a jewelry store owner. I guess they weren't mining for gems. The woman asked the doctor if he had ever seen anything like her condition. The doctor said without batting an eyelash. "Yes but never one framed." You know I am so glad that they have those masks things. You know something that I would like to see a reality television show and this is not meaning any harm folks because I believe in peaceful habitation. But do a Survivor Series and take 30 odd peace activists lock them up in a building where they can't get out and have to share everything. Take bets on which one of them swings first. If they could manage it then take them up to Washington and let them run things for awhile.
Good job Poppy and Judy for submitting your funnies, be sure to let us know what pub. Judy, and Poppy let us know when they'll run yours (it's too funny for them not to buy!)
I enjoy people's reactions, for example I'm a rather large woman thus I buy my clothes in the Plus size departments. Now, there's a store here in town (ok, nearby town) that carries a nice assortment of large size clothing, most of the clerks, however, are min-sized. Since I hate clothes shopping I have to do something to make it more enjoyable, I always ask "where's the fat lady section?" The look on the girl's face is priceless as she stammers, "uh, uh, you mean the plus-size? It's right over there", and she points. Guess she's afraid to accompany me, I might be crazy or something.
Yeah, or something alright.
Nita
I enjoy people's reactions, for example I'm a rather large woman thus I buy my clothes in the Plus size departments. Now, there's a store here in town (ok, nearby town) that carries a nice assortment of large size clothing, most of the clerks, however, are min-sized. Since I hate clothes shopping I have to do something to make it more enjoyable, I always ask "where's the fat lady section?" The look on the girl's face is priceless as she stammers, "uh, uh, you mean the plus-size? It's right over there", and she points. Guess she's afraid to accompany me, I might be crazy or something.
Yeah, or something alright.
Nita
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