2014 okwi humor writing
TRANSCRIPT
Heather Davis
www.Minivan-Momma.com
www.slideshare.net/MinivanMomma2
Make yourself laugh first
What’s the funniest movie you’ve ever seen?
What’s the funniest TV show?
What’s the funniest book?
Comic?
Person?
Joke?
Find your tribe
When you know what makes you laugh, you’ll know
how to be funny
People who like your writing style will also like your
humor if you’re true to yourself
Funny is relatable
A realistic hook
Easily imagined
Friends & Seinfeld were popular & successful
because of this … Keep this point in mind—we’ll
come back to it.
How does funny work?
Try these devices to find your funny
Hyperbole:
a huge exaggeration
Hyperbole
Rachel and Ross have accidently locked baby Emma in the apartment. Rachel is lamenting the fact that they are locked outside.
“You haven’t cooked since 1996.”
“You left the water running, window open, the baby and bird are locked in a desperate fight in the middle of the whirlpool,” says Ross. Rachel responds, “Boy are you going to be sorry if that really happens.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jScRgUSc8UA
Understatement:
making a point smaller or more trivial than it is
Understatement
Describe a messy car with an understatement
Pun:
Play on words
Puns by Steven Wright
My girlfriend asked me if I slept good. I told her I made a few mistakes.
I bought some batteries. They were not included.
It’s wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.
I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while, I was a suspect.
Dialogue:
Conversation between one or more characters
Dialogue—finish this!
Absurdity:
being wildly unreasonable
Absurdity
Chicken Boobs in Subway…
http://www.minivan-momma.com/2011/01/eating-
fresh-or-getting-fresh.html
Repetition:
reoccurrence
Soup Nazi in Seinfeld.
Say it with me:
NO SOUP FOR YOU!
Physical Humor:
clownish exploitation of movement
Physical Humor – Describe
one
Kramer from Seinfeld Ross from Friends