How Do You Do Funny?

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  • #46
    Re: How Do You Do Funny?

    Originally posted by Julysses View Post
    I've heard the same stories about Will Ferrel... they're fvcking comedians... you're supposed to be in on the joke, not be the joke

    Chevy was friends with Doug Kenny and the two of them kinda changed comedies in the late 70s-80s

    not sure the Pierce character represented Chevy at all, I think he might be right in believing that he could write better jokes than what Harmon wrote for him.

    Sometimes you have to trust the actor and give them something to play with in a role... the show was super vanilla and hard to think it would be anymore edgy than an EP of Glee
    I feel like you may be getting a bit more defensive of Chevy than necessary. I know much more to the story than I'm going into, but you can believe he's a consumate professional if you'd like.

    Here's the thing. A few of our movie heroes are total jackasses. And I have inside info on a few of them.

    Bruce Willis is terrible. He's a jerk on set, and he's secretly suffering from dementia, so he never actually learns his lines. He has someone off set read his lines to him through an earpiece as he delivers them.

    James Cameron is also terrible. He's actually so bad, that a disgruntled crew member on Titanic hilariously spiked the soup for that day's lunch with LSD to spite him, and they had to cancel the shoot for the day because everyone was tripping balls.

    On the flip side, Ryan Reynolds is cool. He bought me an ice cream sandwich with giant cookies. Ken Marino is cool too. He fed me a pistachio canoli. Zachary Quinto is also fun to eat pizza with.

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    • #47
      Re: How Do You Do Funny?

      Originally posted by Prezzy View Post
      And I have inside info on a few of them.
      Do you work on set? what do you do?

      I've worked on a lot of sets and heard complaints... crew is crew and talent is talent... if they came over and started touching the camera I would get pissed, but if they are just acting out... IDK, I'm hourly and it's up the producers to fire them.

      we are all human and things happen, if someone has problems as a crew we should rally around them and help them, not tear them down.

      Case in point, if Cameron goes down, they don't shoot that day... if a producer heard about a crew member hurting another crew member, they would be blacklisted... being on set can be super dangerous and you have to trust people with your life.
      Ricky Slade: Listen to me, I intentionally make this gun look that way because I am smart.

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      • #48
        Re: How Do You Do Funny?

        Originally posted by Prezzy View Post
        Ken Marino is cool too.
        did you work on Party Down series with him?
        Ricky Slade: Listen to me, I intentionally make this gun look that way because I am smart.

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        • #49
          Re: How Do You Do Funny?

          Originally posted by Bono View Post
          I don't agree with that exact idea but what I agree with is some things just sound funnier. Like if your character said I was just hit by a car. What kind of car?

          Buck or Mazda. Neither sound funny to me.

          To me a good joke on that would be "a fast one."

          But if you're talking about a specific car pick one that sounds funny just hearing it. The easy joke is a Hummer. It's played out, but 10 years ago that's funnier than Buick.

          And more specific is funnier to me. Buick LaCrosse is funnier than Buick to me. Not much funnier, but slightly.
          It's cool if you disagree, but I wouldn't take the example I provided that literally.

          The main idea behind the concept I put forth is not that a word itself is funnier in the context of the idea behind a joke, but that certain word sounds can allow for a more comedic delivery by an actor or comedian, which is also worth considering.

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          • #50
            Re: How Do You Do Funny?

            Originally posted by Prezzy View Post
            It's cool if you disagree, but I wouldn't take the example I provided that literally.

            The main idea behind the concept I put forth is not that a word itself is funnier in the context of the idea behind a joke, but that certain word sounds can allow for a more comedic delivery by an actor or comedian, which is also worth considering.
            I wasn't. Just tyring to add to the masterclass in comedy thread I thought we were doing?

            Also everyone knows Chevy, Bruce and Cameron are *******s. I never heard a good story about them. But I love their work. And that's fine by me.

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            • #51
              Re: How Do You Do Funny?

              Originally posted by Julysses View Post
              Do you work on set? what do you do?

              I've worked on a lot of sets and heard complaints... crew is crew and talent is talent... if they came over and started touching the camera I would get pissed, but if they are just acting out... IDK, I'm hourly and it's up the producers to fire them.

              we are all human and things happen, if someone has problems as a crew we should rally around them and help them, not tear them down.

              Case in point, if Cameron goes down, they don't shoot that day... if a producer heard about a crew member hurting another crew member, they would be blacklisted... being on set can be super dangerous and you have to trust people with your life.
              I'm mainly electric and sound. And yes, I agree safety is paramount as I've encountered my share of scares on set. Broken MEWP's, falling truss, and the like. I don't think anyone who works on set doesn't share that sentiment, and if they don't, they haven't received proper training.

              I hope that crew member was blacklisted, but considering no one seriously was hurt as far as I know, many elements to that story still appeal to my dark sense of humor. Like, the colossal overreaction of the crew member for starters.

              I think our difference here though is you're more laid back and optimistic and try to see the good in people, while I'm much more cynical and believe that some people are just jerks because they're jerks. And that's fine, I can respect that.

              I did not meet Ken Marino on Party Down. My encounter with him was more recent.

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              • #52
                Re: How Do You Do Funny?

                Originally posted by Bono View Post
                I wasn't. Just tyring to add to the masterclass in comedy thread I thought we were doing?
                Totally. I actually liked your addition and agreed with the ideas you put forth. I just thought we may have been looking at the same thing from different angles as well, which was kind of the point of the thread anyway.

                Don't mind me. I think I just preemptively say it's cool if there is disagreement, because I don't like to give the perception that I'm saying I'm right, you're wrong on matters of style and opinion when I say something that might be perceived as contradictory.

                If you haven't noticed, I say weird things from time to time.

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                • #53
                  Re: How Do You Do Funny?

                  Sound guys are usually the funniest... they get to hear all the stuff the talent does when lav'd... has to be hell but also entertaining at times.

                  one time I was working on this one show and we had all the talent lined up for interviews, multi-cam OTFs and these birds kept buzzing all of us, seagulls, or pigeons looking for food. One of the talent, one of the guys the others didn't like, all of the sudden says, 'I got it', real loud and blast one of the bird as it's swooping...

                  well, the sound guy, who knows everyone in post-production, told post and they got him the video, now in slow-motion, of the dude smacking this bird right out of the air... and long story short everyone on the crew now liked the guy and played the video like 24/7 for a few days, total stupid entertainment. He had his redemption arc....
                  Ricky Slade: Listen to me, I intentionally make this gun look that way because I am smart.

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                  • #54
                    Re: How Do You Do Funny?

                    Haha. That's actually really funny. I'd love to see that footage. Yeah, the best part about having a crazy job is having some crazy stories to tell every now and them.

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                    • #55
                      Re: How Do You Do Funny?

                      One of the things that you'll see in most sitcom scripts, good ones, are reactions written into the dialogue and action lines. Reactions are key to cueing the audience to laugh. Here's a short video on Reactions. If you give it a look the Young Frankenstein clip is shown twice and it's not really necessary. You can skip ahead to the 6:20 mark if you don't feel like watching it again.

                      Reactions are also important in standup comedy. Good comics will react to their act-outs when they come out of them, sometimes verbally and sometimes non-verbally.

                      Originally posted by Bono View Post
                      So how do I funny? I cry about all the great ideas I have and jokes that are killed by reps as they tell me it won't sell. And then I have to write a joke that's funny but not as funny as I can make it because they want it to be more Apatow than Caddyshack.
                      I don't know that I would trust a rep to be the arbiter of good comedy. However there has been a move away from broad comedy in film. The Farrelly brothers have even seemed to move away from the broad stuff. They did The Green Book a couple of years ago, but are still doing some comedy on TV.

                      Apatow advocates for behavioral comedy over banter. Yes, another lecture on comedy.

                      HTH,

                      .
                      Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

                      -Steve Trautmann
                      3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

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                      • #56
                        Re: How Do You Do Funny?

                        A lot of comedy arises from a character trying to handle circumstances he is not equipped to manage.

                        I don't remember where I heard this - probably more than one place - but I always have it in mind when I'm writing/plotting comedy.

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                        • #57
                          Re: How Do You Do Funny?

                          Originally posted by KitchonaSteve View Post
                          One of the things that you'll see in most sitcom scripts, good ones, are reactions written into the dialogue and action lines. Reactions are key to cueing the audience to laugh. Here's a short video on Reactions. If you give it a look the Young Frankenstein clip is shown twice and it's not really necessary. You can skip ahead to the 6:20 mark if you don't feel like watching it again.

                          Reactions are also important in standup comedy. Good comics will react to their act-outs when they come out of them, sometimes verbally and sometimes non-verbally.


                          I don't know that I would trust a rep to be the arbiter of good comedy. However there has been a move away from broad comedy in film. The Farrelly brothers have even seemed to move away from the broad stuff. They did The Green Book a couple of years ago, but are still doing some comedy on TV.

                          Apatow advocates for behavioral comedy over banter. Yes, another lecture on comedy.

                          HTH,

                          .
                          But when you hear grounded vs broad comedy from many industry reps and pros writers and execs it's not just an opinion. This is different than choosing what is funny. I'm talking about the types of funny they make into movies now. And if you have a rep you trust and their goal is to get your script sold -- sometimes you have to lose jokes you love because you're not Adam Sandler. That makes sense to me.

                          I hate it to be clear. But it's part of playing the comedy feature spec to sell game.

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                          • #58
                            Re: How Do You Do Funny?

                            I think you peeps are hinting around sub-genre writing and knowing your audience, in doing both, writing scenes/characters motivation that stays within that stylistic approach.

                            having an understanding of the literal elements of the sub-genre will add cohesion to the story and allow audiences to expect certain tropes... i.e. is writing Behavior comedy good writing, sure if you are Judd Apatow... which is a version of Mel Brooks comedy... which probably is taken from Billy Wylder

                            what stories are consistent with a modern take on Apatow's comedy? Maybe a Deadpool? maybe a Rick and Morty?
                            Ricky Slade: Listen to me, I intentionally make this gun look that way because I am smart.

                            Comment


                            • #59
                              Re: How Do You Do Funny?

                              Originally posted by Bono View Post
                              But when you hear grounded vs broad comedy from many industry reps and pros writers and execs it's not just an opinion. This is different than choosing what is funny. I'm talking about the types of funny they make into movies now. And if you have a rep you trust and their goal is to get your script sold -- sometimes you have to lose jokes you love because you're not Adam Sandler. That makes sense to me.

                              I hate it to be clear. But it's part of playing the comedy feature spec to sell game.
                              I guess my question is what is the threshold these days for when a joke or concept becomes too broad? I thought I had a grasp on that, but now I'm questioning myself.

                              My impression was if it ventured into the silly, over the top, and implausible like "Anchorman", it was broad. But if it was something that may be ridiculous, but still retained semblance of real life , like "Horrible Bosses", it was still considered to be grounded.

                              Is Apatow's style of normal people with normal problems currently the only the standard for grounded with reps now?

                              Edit: Now that I think of it, "Horrible Bosses" was probably pretty broad too. I feel like I need to rewatch some stuff.
                              Last edited by Prezzy; 07-27-2020, 06:43 PM.

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                              • #60
                                Re: How Do You Do Funny?

                                It's hard -- not an expert. But it seems to be most stuff that sells on spec from unsold writers is grounded vs broad. Reps push for that. Most of the broad stuff we see get made is because Sandler wanted to do it or someone with power wanted to do it... so it's confusing for us looking in. So if a big time producer has an idea and it's an assignment and Jason Bateman agrees to star then the movie can get made. But if you wrote Horrible Bosses on spec that's a lot harder to sell than 40 Year Old Virgin. It just is.

                                So the key to me is to think of a grounded concept (say bachelor party) and then make it The Hangover. So it's a grounded idea -- but the movie is insane still.

                                But it's much harder to sell a Happy Gilmore idea. Or Anchorman unsellable as a spec probably. Needed the talent attached. I mean that make sense.

                                So I don't know a lot, but this is just what I've learned since 2007 since I got my first big rep and this is just what I experinced.

                                But i still say -- write what you want. Before you lose the passion. However, if you have 5 ideas and 1 of them is more grounded please write that.

                                I like Apatow stuff. And Superbad. A lot of my comedy loves are jsut things that are more over the top and they just don't make today.

                                But a movie like Vacation is exactly the type of movie they still like to make.

                                If it feels like it's a situation that has happened to people in the audience -- it will be more marketable.

                                And I have no idea where a movie like Ghostbusters would fall. Because for such a weird premise I find it very grounded in reality -- even though it's about ghosts. Becuase to me it's about 3 guys starting a business.

                                Here's a test if you think of a comedy idea and you can only see Adam Sandler in it -- proabably tough to sell it in 2020.

                                So the key for me is to find a simple premise that is relatable and then bring your sense of humor to it.

                                I keep hearing I'm writing a lot of random jokes and I hear execs don't like random jokes. Family Guy esque jokes. That's more TV. But those jokes are ones I grew up on watching TV and 80s/90s movies. I guess times just change.

                                You've seen it. It's almost like think of a drama that has enough comedy in it to be called a comedy.

                                Or just pretrend you didn't know any of this and write from the heart.

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