2014 okwi humor writing

Heather Davis

www.Minivan-Momma.com

Minivan.Momma.2@gmail.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