When you say “I have a funny story” what qualities make it funny?

• What qualifies a funny story usually is an extended set up that mimics a regular story followed by an actual punchline that hits harder because of the “story form” that proceeds it. It’s just an excuse to do a joke set up that’s longer
 -Charlie
• Out of the ordinary

 

Funny story told out loud vs written

• Delivery, intonation is important for out loud
• When telling a story out loud, you get to use your physical body 
• The same things out loud aren’t necessarily funny written and vice versa
  • Ex: “It’s decorative gourd season motherfucker” works mostly just over text
  • Ex: Some John Mulaney jokes wouldn’t be funny written out
• Emojis
• Sometimes it’s funny for authors to write down what the narrator is doing. Use physical space

 

Narrative (not words) vs. discourse used to transmit narrative

• Cinderella story has been told a bunch of different ways. One narrative, many discourse.
• There’s something about how the story is being told that makes it funny

 

Theory: Comedy is about (1) an ordinary guy or gal (2) struggling against insurmountable odds (3) without many of the required skills and tools with which to win (4) yet never giving up hope

 

• Have to be ordinary but not so relatable you feel bad for them. Can’t be too emotionally invested because then it becomes painful 🙁  
• Navigating unfamiliar situations and trying to work your way through 
• Multiple character shows like the Office: 

 

Examples:

-John Mulaney stories

-Napoleon Dynamite

 

Counterexamples:

• Twitter — laughing at the jokes, not the character
• IASIP
• The thing we are actually laughing at is not necessarily the struggling character, there are other jokes
• Eric Andre show
• Rom coms? Who knows 

How much of what we laugh at is covered by this theory? A lot, but not everything

 

Can use theory to structure current pieces by thinking about how to frame them in terms of making an ordinary guy/gal struggle against insurmountable odds

 

1. Yale student admitted by mistake

-character essay about someone trying to play hard to get with admissions (meet cute element, i just ran into you)


2. The Little Mermaid 20 years later


3. NY Times article: “How McKinsey Has Helped Raise the Stature of Authoritarian Governments”


4. New product: Do-it-yourself circumcision kit


-one idea: infomercial, someone trying to sell product “dont let someone touch your baby’s penis”

-other idea: narrator tries to cut tip off penis for having sex with jewish woman — keeps messing up (cuts off too much or gets infected or doesn’t have the balls to do it) 

-form: 1950s mail ad of gadget

 

Three biggest weaknesses in student’s narrative essays

1. Surprise
   1. Hard time arranging events such that it’s surprising
2. Internal monologue 
   1. Disjunction between character thinking and doing, students focus too much on doing, not thinking
3. Themes
   1. Narratives typically have themes, students don’t
   2. What’s the central conflict, how do steaks in here in that conflict? 

 

Big Boy by Sedaris does all 3 of these