Question for comedy writers

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  • Question for comedy writers

    Do you laugh out loud when you write?

    This is my first foray into broad-based comedy and I have some scenes that leave me laughing, literally to the point of tears and stomach pain, every time I read them. Is this normal? Should I be more distant from the material?

  • #2
    I would take it as a good sign but not to the point of falling in love with any of it - rewrites can be a bitch when you've fallen in love with your own words.

    I laugh out loud at the comedy I'm working on in some places just because some of the characters are wholly based on personalities I've met on the internet - and they've never failed to supply me with plenty of material.

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    • #3
      Ding ding ding!!

      :hat

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      • #4
        I don't know about the laughing out loud aspect, but it does segue into a very common mistake screenwriters make when writing comedies. It is becoming a slave to a joke or a comedic scene. When you've got a funny joke or scene, it's really hard to cut it out when it doesn't push the story. But you have to do it. If you don't, you will go to great lengths to smash it in somehwere and at best you'll have a useless scene or an uncharacteristic piece of dialogue for a particular character. At worst you'll inadvertantly cause a major structural flaw in your story.

        You can actually list off a ton of these bastard scenes in successful comedies (the orgasm scene in "When Harry Met Sally" is probably the most famous), but in those instances the stories recover quickly and move on. But when writing a spec, it's important to be wary of it because you can easily derail your story while trying to make a scene "fit". Unfortunately, I know this from painful experience.

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        • #5
          But assuming they're organic to the story, shouldn't one be laughing at his/her funny scenes?

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          • #6
            I laugh all the time, it's usually just a chuckle though... If you are really tearing up or having stomach pain, you might be too in love with your own stuff. No one is THAT funny.

            I don't think I would ever cut a funny line or scene though, even if it didn't advance the story.

            I'm not talking about a witty line or a clever comeback. I'm talking about a genuine belly laugh. They're too hard to come by.

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            • #7
              I've done comedy back when I wrote with a writing partner, and we would laught for days on end over our stuff. Even now when I look back at that script I can't help but to laugh all the way through it, yet I don't think it's good enough to ever be sold.

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              • #8
                But assuming they're organic to the story, shouldn't one be laughing at his/her funny scenes?
                I honestly can't say whether it's a good thing or not. It likely depends on the person. Bill Murray never laughs at his jokes, yet the man is pretty damn funny.

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                • #9
                  Nothing wrong with laughing at your material but as the others warned, don't fall too much in love. If you've ever spent any time in a writer's room you know how jokes die a painful death.

                  I think it was Larry Gelbart who referred to the comedy rewrite process as "killing babies."

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                  • #10
                    In Vol 7 of the Beatles eight volume documentary it is stated that during the White Album sessions, the Fab Four would end each song with a wild, furious jam session. Feeling creative and confident, the band let the tape roll. Upon returning to the studio the next morning they listened to the tape and could not believe how horrible they were. The results -- you guessed it -- were due to heavy marijuana use.

                    I think that's the euphoria we feel when we write something the least bit amusing. But it has to have substance and logic to have lasting power after the fifth or twentieth draft or the morning after.

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                    • #11
                      I doubt that they're that funny to anyone else. Even the funniest scripts, Dumb and Dumber, Caddyshack, they don't make you react that way.

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                      • #12
                        i laugh at mine all the time; problem is, they're not comedies.

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                        • #13
                          When we read our comedies, often we laugh out loud. Other times many of the jokes have lost all surprise value for us so we no longer laugh. We can no longer tell if it's funny or not. Then we laugh out loud again if we read the script after a long absence.

                          The very best jokes--the ones that always get a big laugh when anybody reads the script -- do tend to get us every time. Certain perfect jokes seem to lead to laughs as inevitably as chopping onions leads to tears.

                          But it doesn't matter so much whether your material makes you laugh or cry. It only matters if it has the intended affect on other people.

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                          • #14
                            Have friends, family members, and coworkers read your script and see how they react to the jokes. If the majority of them react the same as you, then you have something funny. I laugh out loud when I re-read my comedy script and found that everyone else did as well. Make sure you pick out people who may have a different sense of humor.

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                            • #15
                              If you don't, you will go to great lengths to smash it in somehwere and at best you'll have a useless scene or an uncharacteristic piece of dialogue for a particular character. At worst you'll inadvertantly cause a major structural flaw in your story.

                              You can actually list off a ton of these bastard scenes in successful comedies (the orgasm scene in "When Harry Met Sally" is probably the most famous)
                              You gotta be joking! That was a great scene, revealing character for both Harry and Sally. Any chick that fakes an orgasm in the middle of a restaurant is Aces in my book. I fell in love with Meg Ryan right there.

                              edit: Also, to answer the original question: "Do you laugh out loud when you write?"

                              I chuckle quite often. But I think Gary Larson said it best in one of his books. It was something like "I don't often laugh at my own work, I'm a little too close to the joke."

                              But whether I find something funny or not in my own work, is totally immaterial to...anything. It's certainly a good sign, I guess.

                              I had one person read my script and one of his comments back to me was, "I read your script on the way into work this morning. I felt like a total idiot laughing all the way on the bus." That's a better sign, that's what I aspire to.

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