Present a unique premise by:

• Asking an humorous “what if” question that puts two incongrous things next to each other:
• • • e.g. Wilmore’s “Letters to the NAACP” asks the question, “What if a black person tried to convince the NAACP to call black people “chocolate” people?” (juxtaposing the formal and informal) and Martin’s “Picasso Promoting Lady with a Fan” asks, “What if Picasso had to promote his latest work on TV?” (juxtaposing high art and low entertainment)

• Imagining a character who lives in this absurd world:
• • e.g. Wilmore’s “NAACP” narrator establishes in the First Letter why he believes black people should be called “chocolate people,” and then in the Second Letter, he lives in this world (at least in his own mind), as he talks about putting “chocolate” on his driver’s license and taxes
  • e.g. in “Snake Fight,” we assume the world of the piece is one in which enough people are asking about the snake fights that uptight academics have to write down the frequently asked questions. 

Utilize form by:

• Finding a unique form to use then set up jokes with it:
• • • Examples of unique forms: entertainment interview (“Picasso”), email (“NAACP”), FAQ (“Snake Fight”), a birth plan contract (“Jamie and Jeff’s Birth Plan”)
    • In “Snake Fight,” Burns sets up his FAQ-style questions and answers, both of quick have potential to act as the punchline.
    • In “I Want to Make Love to You Like in the Movies,” Gondelman sets up his form of a long-winded smooth talk speech or sort of sext, and then uses this to set up “what’s not going to happen” jokes, with very specific details (e.g. very realistic and honest account of a really disappointing hook-up). He’s able to start jokes with either of his two incongruous topics (realistic awkward sex and cinematic sex) and then end with the other.

• Breaking the form itself:
• • e.g. “Picasso” breaks the form for the line about “femininity” and realistic decisions he made for the painting (it’s a serious high answer about art history, low response of “Uh huh” which returns to the form of the interview)
  • e.g. “Birth Plan” asks lots of absurd questions uncharacteristic of a normal birth plan, perhaps to make a commentary or to exaggerate some of the needs on the list

Use narrative to organize your piece by:

• Setting up a beginning, middle, and end:
• • • e.g. the rom-com style set-up of “In the Movies” goes through a seductive beginning, a middle with specific examples of sex in real life vs movies, and an ending about the future of the relationship 
• Escalating the stakes or tone:
• • e.g. “Snake Fight” (despite being a list of questions) escalates in the stakes of the questions being asked; throughout “NAACP,” Wilmore’s suggestion transitions into an obsession over this idea

Strengthen the humor’s texture (‘the humorous flesh’) by:

• Using contractions and/or brevity in sentences:
  • e.g. Gondelman’s “In the Movies” uses (or doesn’t use) contractions and brief sentences to make funny, simple lines such as “That’s how I want to make love to you.” or “I have seen the movies.”

• End sentences on the punchline: 
  • e.g. Davies’ “Birth Plan” ends a lot of sentences with random, absurd, incongruous words/nouns/etc, such as “We would like mood lighting, like on Virgin America.” or “In lieu of a traditional hospital gown, Jamie would prefer to be dressed like Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer.”

~ Marty and Veena