Category Archives: Screenwriting

I used several great books to develop my comedy writing skills. I’ve been using this column to teach you bits and pieces from each of these, along with a mix of my own techniques, but if you want a more in-depth look, here’s what I recommend: The Comedy Writing Workbook, by Gene Perret I absolutely adore this book, and if you can get only one book on comedy writing, I’d make it this one. It covers a variety of techniques with detailed examples and exercises for you to try. If you can’t find it, though, you can make do with …

In the world of fiction, copying passages from other stories and trying to publish them as your own is plagarism. In the world of comedy, it’s just another way to write. Of course, I don’t want you totally ripping off good one-liners verbatim. Instead, the best way to use other people’s jokes is as a starting point for your own original humor. Remember that jokes start with a setup and end with a punchline. The trick to using other jokes is to change the setup or the punchline to create a fundamentally similar line. This way you can preserve part …

Humor’s on a different level than other forms of writing when it comes to readability. In fiction you can afford to be elaborate, but humor needs to fire right out of the gate or it’ll flop. That being said, it’s all too easy to pass over unneccessary words that make a joke weaker. How do you catch these? Simple. Just read it out loud and use your head. I’ve mentioned before that written and spoken humor flows differently, and what constitutes “unneccessary words” in either of these mediums is different. Spoken humor needs to get to the point while written …

One of the best parts about humor writing is that it’s a perfectly acceptable way to make fun of people. When you just call someone a moronic, womanizing jerk, that’s mean. When you compare someone’s love life to a McDonald’s takeout lane, that’s witty. Of course, you have to be careful of whom you mock. Using a joke like that against a celebrity or a politician is fine, since they’re acceptable public targets. But busting out the “takeout lane love” routine at a friend’s party could land you in a world of hot water. How far should you go? Let’s …