Funny Stereotypes

You make them not stereotypes.

Stereotypes aren't just potentially offensive -- they're also not original and not interesting. They need at least some kind of a twist. Otherwise, why bother including them?

Exactly.

That's why we've banned you from the cabaret, ng.

Pfft. Typical, stereotypical muppet.

I cannot, off the top of my head, name a single recent bestselling novel with a funny stereotyped character -- meaning one that doesn't have at least some kind of twist that makes it not a stereotype. Which novels are you thinking about?

ETA:

I'll also note that established best-selling authors often get away with stuff new authors don't. They're going to sell no matter what, and they have agents and publishers already. If you don't have those things already, you have a higher bar to meet.

ETA:

I suppose it might be possible to do straight-up farce with a stereotyped character, but to make it non-offensive, the audience would have to be very much in on the joke. That takes some serious talent to pull off, I think.

Or you could do a stereotype of a character who is himself offensive -- e.g., a stereotypical racist. Or a stereotype of someone rich, beautiful, etc., so that making fun of their quirks doesn't feel like a putdown of someone who is already down. The thing is, though, even if such characters would not be offensive, they also tend not to be very interesting.

ETA:

Perhaps this is just me, but I always think it's more amusing if you stand a stereotype on its head somehow. E.g., a weepy chick who needs a man to rescue her. Not funny. Kind of boring. Possibly offensive to some who find it sexist. But a weepy 6'5" man rescued by a 5'1" woman? Funny.

I'm actually not easily offended. But I'm very easily bored, which is my bigger issue with stereotypes. I love humor, but I think there's a real art to writing it -- a genuinely funny book is rarer than a gripping book, IMO.

Well...

-the clumsy, stupid, unlucky, useless fat male (always eating)
-the clumsy, stupid, lazy, loud fat female (always eating)
-the criminal, slang-barking, fried chicken-gobbling, sex-crazed black male
-the delinquent, loose, overly-decorated, poorly articulating black female
-the buck-toothed, straw-hatted, computer-savvy Asian
-the effeminate, weak, squeaky, overly sensitive, cheesy homosexual
-the ugly, greedy, dishonest Jew
-the hirsute, turban-donning, excessively angry Muslim who keeps blowing up

Thing is, to find the audience who find these funny, you gotta get one of those oil drills because the level those people are found at, is a tad below your local graveyard dwellers.

AKA: those stereotypes suck. They all suck.

Yeah, those are definitely only going to seem funny to the lowest common denominator -- unless you somehow manage to stand them on their heads and make that person the hero.

You can likely get away with the stereotypical uppity cheerleader with tossing hair, perfect figure, etc. But probably only as a minor character, since she's probably not going to be that interesting, unless you can give her a twist. Everyone's seen her a thousand times, so she's a yawn. Any humor would have to be in what your main characters do around her.

CassandraW said:

Yeah, those are definitely only going to seem funny to the lowest common denominator -- unless you somehow manage to stand them on their heads and make that person the hero.

You can likely get away with the stereotypical uppity cheerleader with tossing hair, perfect figure, etc. But probably only as a minor character, since she's probably not going to be that interesting, unless you can give her a twist. Everyone's seen her a thousand times, so she's a yawn. Any humor would have to be in what your main characters do around her.

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Oh but I shudder and cringe at making stereotypes the hero. After all, those "funny" stereotypes are always kinda pathetic - fat and useless, black and stupid, gay and weak... So making them the hero seems like such an icky blend of pity on one hand ("Here, have something to feel good about for once"), and revenge ("LOOK WHO'S LAUGHING NOW YOU SEE THEM LAUGHING AT YOU NO YOU DON'T CUZ YOU'RE SAVING THEM ALL!!") on the other.
I call it "the Chicken Little". Like, that ridiculous guy, bullied, nothing expected of him, scoffed at, makes it big and saves the day? Nah.

I like discarding stereotypes altogether, like Glenn in the Walking Dead.

NaeimGiladisLegacy said:

Oh but I shudder and cringe at making stereotypes the hero. After all, those "funny" stereotypes are always kinda pathetic - fat and useless, black and stupid, gay and weak... So making them the hero seems like such an icky blend of pity on one hand ("Here, have something to feel good about for once"), and revenge ("LOOK WHO'S LAUGHING NOW YOU SEE THEM LAUGHING AT YOU NO YOU DON'T CUZ YOU'RE SAVING THEM ALL!!") on the other.
I call it "the Chicken Little". Like, that ridiculous guy, bullied, nothing expected of him, scoffed at, makes it big and saves the day? Nah.

I like discarding stereotypes altogether, like Glenn in the Walking Dead.

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I think to do it, you basically have to give them a strength that either far transcends any stereotype, or else blows the stereotype on its ass. E.g., that fat guy who loves to eat? Well, whatever -- he's a drop-dead brilliant detective, way smarter than anyone on the police force -- and there's nothing pathetic about him. In other words, "fat" is not his defining characteristic, though he happens to be overweight and love food so much he has a live-in chef. (I'm thinking Nero Wolfe, here.)

But then -- he's not a stereotype. He's a very complex character, with one aspect to him (e.g. fat, loves to eat) that could be stereotypical, if the character weren't so richly drawn.

ETA:

Nero may not be a bad example, actually, even though he's in mystery books rather than humor books. Besides loving to eat, he also hates moving. In fact, he hates moving so much he almost never leaves his house. Yes -- a detective who won't leave his house. He's got a sidekick, Archie Goodwin, who does all his legwork. Archie narrates the stories, and he makes frequent cracks about his employer's weight and dislike of movement. (The latter makes Archie crazy sometimes, when it gets in the way of a case, which it frequently does). But his deep respect for Nero is so manifest, and they are both such great characters, it's not at all offensive. You'd probably have to read the books to see what I mean.

You must be very, very careful in the way you use stereotypes.

Using them to get a laugh is problematic. In a live show, you can see and hear the audience and that allows you to gauge how your humor is working.

Once you write it down, however, it can be taken out of context with disastrous results for you. Some humor doesn't come across well on paper.

So you can do a character sketch of the 'fat cop who loves to eat' and make him a stereotype, but once you use his size or appetite as a source of humor, your audience may cool a little or leave you entirely.

In a case like this the best way to use a stereotype is to put them in there and then bust the stereotype to the other character's chagrin.

So fat cop, loves to eat, but is also an expert swimmer... as people are joking about him being fat, he dives off a boat and grabs the lady and her dog, swims to shore and revives her as everone is looking on. The joke is on his Dbag friends who call him fat and useless.

I'd still avoid stereotypes as much as possible, they are really no longer that funny.

Have you ever watched Mrs Brown's Boys? The biggest grossing UK comedy and it's full of stereotype.

Tapping into the bit that people identify with rather than the bit they would be offended with usually works well. There are negative stereotypes that should be avoided but there are other stereotypes that are that way for a reason.

Often I start out with the basic stereotype but then a story will round them out. Even with something like Mrs Brown's Boys that happens and they become less stereotypical as the story goes on.

SampleGuy said:

I never saw that show, the cartoon series of The Boondocks are full of black stereotypes, which makes it funny as hell. I guess they work by stating the issue of racist black stereotypes in a humorous way.

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Worth checking out on YouTube.

She's the archetypal Working Class Irish Matriarch with a family full of stereotypes. But it's written and stars an Irish man from that background.

I've never found stereotypes to be funny to be honest. Usually just offensive.

I agree, Booklover199.

Ah, I see our OP in this thread turned out to be a sockpuppet. Somehow, I'm not surprised.