How to Write Comedy

When I started writing, I typed out all of Bob Hope's monologues, studied them, then put them away. Two weeks later I reviewed the front page of the newspaper, duplicating his style with new topics. When I met Bob Hope, he asked me to write some jokes for him. I wrote 300, and he used 10 in a show where he only told 30 jokes. The next day he called me and said, "I like your stuff. It looks like you've been writing for me all your life." I said, "Mr. Hope, I have, only you didn't know about it."

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Joke Books
• Spiral Notebooks
• Pens

1. Keep in mind that good stand-up comedy writers are neither anointed by God nor born into it; they just write a lot. All you need to do it is a pen and some paper.

2. Steal time; compose jokes in your head while you're stuck in traffic or shaving.

3. Write with a person in mind. Get into their pattern of speaking.

4. Duplicate the person's style, but use different topics or subject matter. Do this for many different performers.

5. Don't show anyone your work until you think it's terrific.

6. Research and analyze topics that interest you. Ask questions about your topic.

7. Understand that a joke occurs at the intersection of two ideas.

8. Connect ideas that go together or are wildly opposite.

9. Manipulate your audience. Take them down a particular road and then surprise them with something else.

10. Pull the rug out from under your audience. Employ good timing so that they don't step on the rug too early or get on it and then get off before you've had a chance to deliver the humor.

11. Respect your audience at the same time; they are your bread and butter.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't plagiarize other people's jokes.

on 6/30/2006 If you don't like the idea of launching yourself straight into stand up; write monologues instead. It is easier to write something funny if it's coming out of a totally ridiculous character! That way you can finally progress to stand up when you find the ridiculous part of you.

on 11/22/2005 As you walk through your day, bring a pad and pencil with you, and look for common things in our life that are ridiculous. Something that we all do, or say, or think, or happens to all of us, that doesn't make sense. Once you have this basis for an idea, expand the idea into a paragraph. And remember, every joke has at least one exaggeration. Anything can be joked about as long as there is one exaggeration. But stay away from religion! Write anything you think of down on your pad, even if it's not funny to you at the moment. You'll work on it later. Not everything will be funny. I wrote ten pages over the last month, then asked a friend who used to do stand-up successfully what he thought...Out of about 30 jokes, 2 had potential and were slightly funny. The rest were not that good to him. So a very small percentage will be good, just stick with them.

on 11/22/2005 Try to remember when you've been talking to a group of people and had them all laughing. Think about what you were talking about and how you said it; that's the best way to know your material is funny.

on 11/22/2005 Don't make the kind of jokes that are in kids' joke books. Recount funny experiences you've been through, and change it around to make it a bit funnier. People think that actual experiences are funnier. Then connect the experience with another joke.