Exciting news! This week we're cancelling our normal broadcasting to bring you a series about humor writing. I've roped some of the funniest writers and bloggers I know into teaching us all how to make people laugh with our writing. It's going to be awesome!
Today's lesson comes from Paul Angone, author and blogger at All Groan Up (puns—humor lesson numero uno), where he writes about the joys and miseries of being part of Gen Y. If you want to get to know him better (I do), follow him on Twitter (@PaulAngone) or like All Groan Up on Facebook. Take it away, Paul!
I can't force funny. Like trying to trim the nails of an alley cat, every time I try and make funny do exactly as I say, I get clawed.
When I write, my core goal is not to be funny; my goal is to tell the truth in an entertaining way. If that happens by way of funny, then hot damn! Call me a blend of Owen Wilson and Conan O'Brien in blog form. I won't stop you.
Even though I try not to force funny, when analyzing my writing process, I definitely employ some strategies (daresay, commandments) to allow funny the space to breathe—if it in fact wishes to come to life.
My Four Commandments to Writing Funny
1. Thou Shalt Not Worry About Offending
First and most important, if you're overly concerned about what others will think, don't try your hand at funny. Senses of humor are like living room couches: everyone has a different opinion on what should be sitting in the middle of the room.
Sure, stay true to your voice and integrity. Don't write purely to shock. But you're going to receive those emails from your classmate in 7th grade, who you haven't talked to since, writing to tell you that your line about escaping R.E.A.S (Rapidly Expanding Ass Syndrome) was morally offensive. It's going to happen.
I struggle mightily with this commandment, as I have this nagging issue that I want everyone to like me. But is my commitment to telling truth in an entertaining way or is it to the web-lurkers who only throw grenades, then hide?
2. Thou Shalt Pay Attention to the Mundane
Jerry Seinfield wasn't funny because he could do impersonations, or was overly animated or creative. He was funny because he told the truth about the mundane. He touched on those taboo simple subjects that we all experience but don't realize. Tapping into shared experiences is important when writing, but even more so when writing humor. Because you'll always get a bigger laugh when people are thinking, gosh that's so freaking true.
3. Thou Shalt Take Clichés to Extremes
My wife suggested to me that I write an article about staying healthy while working in an office. Well, we've all read that article a thousand times before. So I decided to take that cliche article and write Eight Creative Ways to Lose Weight in the Cubicle where I encouraged readers to engage in Butt-Clinch Pick-Up-Pens and King of the Cubicle.
Or when there was report after report about the Occupy Movement marching on streets all over the nation, I wrote Occupy Marches on Sesame Street—twentysomething angst taking on the puppets who lied to them first.
Taking cliches to the extreme is the bedrock to satire.
4. Thou Shalt Use Metaphors and Similes Like the Bubonic Plague
(First, see Commandments 1 and 3.)
Metaphors and similes are to funny as Hugh Grant is to romantic comedy.
Instead of writing, “he ran really fast,” why not write, “he ran like a 14-year-old who just walked in on his parents doing the horizontal hula dance”?
Very rarely does a creative simile or metaphor make something less funny.
What other strategies do you use when writing humor?
PRACTICE
Let's practice the fourth commandment. Take one of these three samples below, turn it into a funny metaphor or simile, and post it into the comments.
She was as sick as…
He was taller than…
She relaxed like…
Funniest one, as voted by the readers, will win 100% legit blog-cred.
Hyperbole: It’s THE. BEST. THING. EVER!
I might have stolen that from a Tshirt.
But I’m part Armenian, and my father’s family rule is “Never ruin a good story with the facts.”
Now my mother is full-blooded German, and her family rule is to tell the truth, the whole truth, the documentable-with-photographs-and-videotapes truth, or you’ll end up some place God can not possibly help you. (Besides, according to her grace-filled family wisdom, He only helps those who help themselves until they’re no longer fogging a mirror.)
Listening to my parents relate an incident was a comedy form all its own:
Daddy: “Last Thursday…”
Mother: “HARvey, it was Wednesday…”
Daddy: “We stopped by Safeway to pick up some corn…”
Mother: (sighs) “Albertsons…for stewed tomatoes…”
Daddy: (increases volume and gestures) “When who do you think we ran into?”
Mother: (rolls eyes) “How are they supposed to know? They weren’t there. And we didn’t run into anyone. Now they’re going to start a rumor that we were in a car accident…”
“Never ruin a good story with the facts.” That’s the BEST. PHRASE. EVER!!!! :).
Thanks Cheri
Agreed! That was funny with the stage directions inside of the parenthesis too.
For the longest time I thought ‘hyperbole’ was pronounced “hyper-bowl.’ I was disappointed to discover that the true meaning had nothing to do with a locally owned chain of mediocre neon-lit bowling alleys throughout the Mahoning valley. Disappointed.
I used to think that too, Lee! I’m glad to know I’m not the only one.
Hilarious! I’m a twitter follower too! Thanks for this inspiring and funny post.
Thanks Holly! We all need a little kick-in-the-inspiration on a Monday, that’s for sure
She was as sick as a teetotaller who’s just downed a bottle of the hard stuff.
He was taller than Goliath’s tall cousin.
She relaxed like a wet towal thrown down in a heap.
Ha! Nice work Robert. I like Goliath’s tall cousin. Great instant picture
Alliteration = good for humor. 🙂 Case in point: “the horizontal hula.” There’s something about the way words sound that can be inherently funny.
So true Laura and “funny” you pointed that line out as I actually had it written differently, but changed it last minute. A simple tweak of one word takes a simple phrase and turns it into word-magic
“He was taller than a cockroach at the bug ball,
which needless to say, wasn’t very tall at all.”
Crap I made it rhyme. xD
And Cheri, I’ve just officially decided, your parents are awesome. ^_^ Three thumbs up.
And I’m in awe: a metaphor within a couplet!
Agreed. So cool.
Ashley, despite its rhyming fruitiness it’s still cute as all out. And I agree with you about Cheri’s parents. What a hoot. I actually did laugh out loud again!
Alliteration is a favorite of mine, for sure. I also love to use self-deprecating pokes when telling an embarrassing story – i.e. “Adventures of the Kitchen-Illiterate” on Paul’s blog. 🙂 I’m not a humorist by any stretch of the imagination but I am a storyteller by verbal nature – and the rules generally translate across platforms! Stellar post, Paul!
Thanks Megan. Great point. Anytime personal stories can be used and tied into a collective narrative — that’s good writing, no matter what the angle.
Great thoughts, I’ve found that it is extremely difficult to translate wit to the page. Funny turns of phrase are easier verbally than they are written, and it really makes you appreciate people like Twain and C.S. Lewis who could do it almost effortlessly. It is important to realize that it took your whole life to be able to be witty in conversation, so it will take just as long to learn how to do it in writing. Thanks for sharing!
She was as sick as a mother at a shotgun wedding.
He was taller than Yao Ming in stilettos.
She relaxed like a sloth on its off-day.
***
I also thing really BAD similes are funny. In light of that:
She was as sick as a politician who’d just woken up in his hotel room with a woman in his bed–a woman who wasn’t his wife–only to find that he’d missed his wife’s text from 30 minutes ago saying “Hey, I’m stopping by your hotel room in thirty-one minutes.”
He was taller than K2, which isn’t the highest mountain in the world, but it’s still up there.
She relaxed like a bee who’d just stung a small boy and realized it was going to die because it lost its stinger in the boy and with it a part of its digestive tract so in light of imminent death it decided to just lay low for a few hours.
That’s really good.
Wouldn’t that be–As sick as a soon-to-be-HUSBAND at a shotgun wedding?
Haha… Had me LOL-ing a few times there. That’s similes on steroids! Nicely done Kristi.
You’re good!
Hi there Paul, thank you for posting here.
This is so not my forte … but, hey! its a site for practice. Here goes –
She was as sick as Charlie had been after he’d come out of surgery after they took out his balls, all woozy and shaky legged with his side vision blinded by that enormous no-scratch collar. But hey, wasn’t this what she always wanted? To be a real girl!
He was taller than her ten year old brother, that was all; a spunky little bantam spoiling for a fight.
She relaxed like his noodle deflated after it was done, all her stand up and go gone after she’d spat the truth out at him.
Those are really great, especially poor Charlie with his no-scratch collar.
Not your forté? I don’t know about that, Audrey. I loved this, “He was taller than her ten year old brother, that was all; a spunky little bantam spoiling for a fight.” The voice, the words, the metaphor. Awesome.
She relaxed like Obama’s campaign director after another gaffe from Romney.
gah…I thought I hit an erase button.
Ha! I thought it was pretty good, Jen. You want me to delete it for you?
She relaxed like Obama’s campaign director after another Romney verbal gaffe.
Ha. Nicely played Jen.
No, you can’t force funny– and for me, as a pregnancy writer, you REALLY can’t. There’s just nothing funny about pushing a… okay, you get it. Anyway, great post.
Ha. Thanks Erin. And from a new dad who’s recently experienced the “joys” of childbirth, I really thank you.
Thanks for the tips Paul! I did laugh out loud on the metaphor for running fast, you’ll be happy to know.
My strategies for writing funny? Avoid at all costs! Really. This is why I’m so glad Joe has put up a post like this because I have found comedic moments to be really hard, nigh on impossible, to write. Every time I ‘try’ I fail. I love it when an otherwise serious book has moments that make me laugh. It’s the funny bits that make me fall in love with a book even more. The only times I’ve managed it have been when they’ve happened more or less by accident.
Anyway thanks for some guidelines….here goes;
She was as sick as an octopus washed up on the beach
She relaxed like she was dancing (sitting down) when no one’s watching
You see, I still can’t do it!
Thanks Yvette. Failing repeatedly is definitely key to being funny.
Paul…even in your reply you made me LOL! Man, you’ve got it down. I take it you must have failed on an epic scale 🙂
Ha! For sure. I’ve failed on a few epic scales and then thousands of small ones. But the funniest stories usually involve some of our greatest “failures”
This was really hard to do and it didn’t come out very well either.
he was a sick as Norman Bates and almost as attractive.
He was taller than twenty skyscrapers piled on on top of another and just as stable.
She relaxed like the mice will when cats become extinct, which is to say too much, because there are still snakes.
I liked the last one a lot!
Your similes are as dumb as the IBM computer who beat the grandmaster at chess, which is to say they aren’t.
I think writing comedy is the hardest writing to accomplish. I spent my day trying to come up with a funny simile or metaphor for the practice…as sick as. I couldn’t come up with anything, so now I’m sitting here as sick as…..like I said, I couldn’t come up with anything.
I know I can’t stand tall if I can’t find anything to write about in this practice, so I’m just going to sit her and relax while I read everyone else’s posts.
“He was taller than a paperclip. There wasn’t much to say about him.”
*cheesey rim shot* Oh golly. Can I try again?
“She was taller than a girl in the second row of a Justin Beiber concert.”
Hey, I tried.
Haha. Fifth Commandment about Writing Funny — you can’t worry too much about not being funny. Happens to me all the time
Thanks. lol
~ She was sick as a Sea Gull croaking with a fish bone stuck in it’s gullet.
~ He was taller in his thoughts and the way he articulated them than all the third rate politicians sitting in the audience.
~ She relaxed like a tomcat who had danced all night on a hot tin roof.
I decided to try out your commandments and wrote a blog about the Wet season in North Queensland applying your principles – had an absolute ball writing it.
She was sick as crocodile with a bad case of indigestion from eating everything on offer on the farm and the veranda
He was taller in his own mind than the biggest, roundest elephant he had seen on the David Attenborough Documentary last Saturday
Awesome. I loved the post, June.
“Have you ever been so wet that your bones need wringing out and you’re sure that you can hear the water wriggling around in there like a case of rather nasty worms, whilst you sleep?”
No, but I don’t want to be either!
Brilliant.
Injecting funny to your story is hard (at least for me).
I agree that you cannot force being funny because it’ll just end up the opposite. I think this is applicable to the other stuff as well whether it be comedy or horror or romance. I think it’s best if it flows naturally because readers will know if something’s forced or not.
Great points JB. These “commandments” definitely cross pollinate with other genres.
She was as sic as quoted typo.
Cheesy and nerdy at the same time!
Here goes:
She was as sick as a 16-year-old the morning after her first keg party with a purse full of vomit she didn’t remembering making.
He was taller than Rush Limbaugh’s ego was big. In fact he was so tall I was sure the simple act of standing had to give him nosebleeds.
She relaxed like a coed with a negative pregnancy test.
Hehe, I like funny, but I have trouble with it. Though I do try on occasion.
For example…
‘ahem’
He was taller than a giraffe in a top hat, balanced precariously on the spike of the empire state building.
A giraffe in a top hat. Great image.
It is hard to write funny. I can usually pull it off when I’m talking to people, but writing funny is a whole different story. But in the spirit of this blog, I thought I’d give it a try and practice!
She was as sick as Grand Pappy Joe was after he found out the hamburger he just ate was made with kangaroo meat.
He was taller than the seven dwarfs stacked one on top of the other.
She relaxed like a giant tortoise cooling off in the shade.
Ew. Kangaroo meat.
hahhah! rofl!! yours were great!! 7 dwarfs put on the top of the other.. hahaha
She was as sick as a cat gagging on its own hairballs.
He was taller than a father holding his first-born child for the first time.
She relaxed like a man taking a crap after taking a box of laxatives.
I love this! My husband is hilarious. It’s next to impossible for him to say or write anything without sticking something funny in it. And when he’s in a crowd, he’s like Bill Murray in the center of the sanitarium in What About Bob.
Still, I might as well try.
She was as sick as a mom who’d just tried her kid’s homemade breakfast in bed.
He was taller than an elf in sequined platform heels dancing on Stonehenge.
She relaxed like soggy toast.
He was taller than Michael Phelps standing on a podium. In 2008.
Nice.
[how’r these???]
She was as sick as my uncle Ben after having spent 3 hours on the pot.
He was taller than the Olsen Twins put together.
She relaxed like a sloth on pills.
I have read so many sites and blogs that doesn’t care about these four rules. I’m planning to put up my dental office marketing site and I will surely include and remember these four rules.
Funny just happens to me at weird times. Probably due to my fluctuating moods. One day I’ll write like E.A. Poe and the next like Douglas Adams.
She was as sick as a rhinoceros on a roller coaster.
He was taller than a midget on a unicycle.
She relaxed like an erection at a circumcision clinic.
She was as sick as the day before her colonoscopy, when her diet consisted of three large doses of oral purgative followed by a rectal suppository nightcap.
She relaxed like the way a roofie victim does in the back of the slam van.
She was as sick as a baby after a bad burp… He was taller then Gulliver…She was as relaxed as a cat in a bathtub full of water.
She was as sick as… a corn kernel in your puke that is itself puking
He was taller than… a giraffe with weights on his feet that got his head stuck in a spaceship headed to mars
She relaxed like… the man who almost got caught having sex with a goat
He was taller then a tale that lacked truth or scale
Rhymes too!
It’s strange, I can only make it work in my mind if it rhymes! 😉
Aha, I see you already used the “tale” example … Im one step behind as usual
As sick as a bucket of spew with manflu.
He’s taller than the tales on a late night infomercial.
As relaxed as a bottle of Valium after a massage.
She was sicka den [sic] what aint not a lot
She relaxed like a burger on a bed of creamy cheese
I think I can improve that a little: She relaxed like a burger on a bed of creamy cheese, tucked in by her lettuce leaf, dreaming of sesame seed.
He was taller than….
Bruno on cocaine.
She was a sick as a woman with a half eaten apple who finds the worm hole on the other side.
He was taller than a short horse in an apple orchard.
She relaxed like a school teacher at the end of May.
What strategies do I use when writing humor? Here’s one I use for writing topical monologue jokes: link an association of the joke topic to something that the association suggests in pop culture. I call that Punch Line Maker #2. It gives you jokes like this:
“A Michigan zoo is selling the manure of exotic animals. Zoo officials say they got the idea after watching ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians.’”
I’ve written for David Letterman and Jay Leno and won four Emmys. To learn more about my Punch Line Maximizers read my new book, “Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV.” Here’s the link to it on Amazon:
http://amzn.to/1psbwlW
She was as sick as a dog at the vet.
…sick as a 6-week pregnant woman in a hot dog eating contest.
Hey, the 4 commandments (Paul Angone) is pitch perfect. My free throw: she’s as sick as white shoes after Labor Day.
She was as sick as a pregnant woman who’d just eaten an ipecac-glazed donut.
He was as tall as an ostrich on stilts.
She relaxed like a hobo on the Big Rock Candy Mountain.
Absolutely engaging! Humor can catch audience without fail even when we’re trying to communicate a gravely serious message. For example, Alexander Pope used to spice up trivial subject matters of life with grandeur and pomp of an epic. His popularity rested in his unique capability of not “Worrying About Offending”.
Humor is irresistible.
She was as sick as… the puddle lickin’ poodle at a retirement home without Adult Diapers.
He was taller than… the balls on a midget… but shorter than most poodles.
She relaxed like… the asshole on a retired male prostitute.
She was as sick as… the puddle lickin poodle at a retirement home without Adult Diapers.
He was taller than… the balls on a midget… but shorter than most poodles.
She relaxed like… the asshole on a retired male prostitute.
How about suggesting evil deeds to unsuspecting micro-vilians? 😀
I find the improbable acts of vigilantism quite, quite tickling 😉 A recent example:
http://audreyw.soup.io/#nojs
She was as sick as a Mexican after 5 de Mayo
He was taller than 2 midgets walking on stilts
She relaxed like prostitute after a last call
How does one join this community of writers and post weekly progress?
She was as sick as sour milk.
He was taller than a dictator’s ego.
She relaxed like a windless spinnaker.
She was as sick as the Plague served with a large dollop of Salmonella
At least he was taller than everyone in the first grade…then again he was the teacher
She relaxed like a drowning victim
She was as sick as a drunk needy girlfriend…
He was taller than a midgets dream…
She relaxed like, butter melting on a hot toast…
Great article.
She was as sick as Dahmer after eating his first slice of human flesh
He was tall; taller than most door frames…which inevitably led to him cracking his forehead every now and again (some say, this is how his ego got to be so big in the first place).
She relaxed like a college student who just remembered the paper assigned 3 months ago is due tomorrow.
Thanks great article. However, I overthought the practice activity and now I’m not even sure what “funny” is anymore lol. I think I’ve become as unfunny as a feminist at a poetry slam competition.
She relaxed like an emu which buries its head in the sand and thinks the danger is out
He was taller than a nail hit several times on the head but refusing to embed any further.
She was as sick as an African hairless after a root canal.
He was taller than the Eiffel tower, and he wasn’t even French, but he did eat a lot of French fries and French toast, which his mother always told him would make him grow up big and strong, as long as he didn’t drink coffee, which would stunt his growth.
She relaxed like a jellyfish on sand.
He was taller then the first girls to hit puberty in 8th grade.
She was as sick as a lax bro’s rips.
He was taller than a mother’s new hairdo that she got from Shirley the hairdresser because “she says it makes me look ten years younger”
She relaxed like a boyfriend who’s girlfriend just asked who was calling him at 10pm on a Wednesday but it was actually really his mother this time.
Thanks Joe for providing awesome and useful article. This will help me in writing article for my funny blog http://www.funnycapital.com .
Thanks once again..
She was as sick as a lab rat after a full Estee Lauder make over and 12 hr stint on the rat wheel.
He was taller than Lou Reed on acid.
She was as relaxed as Satan on Trump’s inaugeration day.
I only got one.
She was as sick as a dolphin. Ok, I know that’s not funny, but the problem is the dog when to the VET and got better after the VET prescribe the dog with Panadols and bed rest.
I think it’s funny. If you do two, that makes three of us.
She relaxed like a pair of old Levi’s with an elastic waistband.
She was as sick as her mother was 20 years before her, kneeling over the toilet looking at an unwanted pregnancy stick
He was taller than average, bravo ol’ chap you’re more normal than male pattern baldness spread with a little bit of self depreication
She relaxed like your mother did when I told her you fucked off
He was taller then me, but I was still strapped in seat 23c
She was as sick as a slop bucket
She relaxed like a terrier in a thunder-storm