Humor Writing Toolbox 1/29/20

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    1. Burkas and Birkins vs. Dear Guy Who Just Made My Burrito
      1. Cutting Essays
      2. Generic vs. Specific
      3. “Realness” of the piece
      4. Getting into the head of the thing being ridiculed
      5. Personal Attack vs. Object or group
        1. Possibly more insulting to insult just the Burrito guy vs. the entire cast and plot of Sex and the City 2
      6. Stakes: Feminism vs. Burrito 
      7. Does it all depend on your own sense of what “cutting” means?
        1. Anger vs. cutting
        2. High or low humor (punching up vs. down)
      8. Tipping point where you’re laughing at the narrator not the subject
        1. Redirection of ridicule might come back to narrator; may keep piece moving
    2. Ebert Reviews
      1. Reminds us of authority of the speaker
      2. Makes and unexpected connection/comparison
      3. It looks as if [unexpected, insane combination]
      4. We all know….
      5. Start bad, go worse
      6. Slow build
      7. Broadens the stakes
      8. Pretend compliment inessential things
      9. Worry for audience/consumer
      10. Finds some metric for zero, then goes below it (ie bottom of the barrel
      11. Direct focus to more peripheral element
      12. Question actors/participants’ judgement
      13. Comparison
      14. Understatement
      15. Have to try to be this bad
      16. Tone of disappointment
      17. Say back the facts out of context
      18. Say things that seems like exaggerations but aren’t
      19. Compliment things that aren’t achievements
      20. Go surreal
      21. So bad I can’t do my job
      22. “Flashy phrase” gives you authority to ridicule

 

 

  2. Rakoff, on Rent
    1. Option of writing yourself into the review
    2. Personal story alongside critique then ties it together
    3. Cutting at the assumptions, not just the surface
    4. Flat, short declarations as first lines often are very effective
    5. X has done Y
  3. Mad Dog Time should…
    1. Too graphic is distracting from the humor you’re trying to get across
    2. Need to lay the groundwork for an intense punchline

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