Being funny just seems to come naturally to some people.
We all know the class clowns, office jokers, and court jesters that make us laugh.
We know our favorite TV sitcoms and comedies that crack us up.
And we serious writers may be thinking to ourselves, “I could never be that funny. I could never be that clever.” And maybe we're right.
But what if we could be funny in our own way? What would it take to find our own humor voices?
Anyone Can Be Funny
Anyone can cause a reader to snicker and leave an audience in stitches. And every writer should take the time to learn humor writing, because it's the difference between flat writing and dynamic communication.
There's a reason why most public speakers open up their talks with a joke. When you get people laughing, you make a connection with your audience.
Same goes for writing.
Three Tricks for Humor Writing
So what does it take for people like you and me — normal folks, we are — to be funny? Try these three tricks:
1. State the obvious.
Think Jerry Seinfeld or Brian Regan. What's something so absurdly evident that no one's seemed to notice? Talk about that.
For example, my friend Bryan Allain shares this: “When you think about it, a spoon is really just a tiny bowl with a handle.”
2. Be subtle.
A well-told joke is understated. It allows the audience to fill in the blanks. It makes them feel like you're letting them in on a secret. The trick to this kind of humor is to not over-explain the punchline.
As an example, take this conversation between a man and God I read in one of Brennan Manning's books:
Man: “God, is it true that a thousand years is like a minute to you?”
God: “Yes, that's true.”
Man: “And is it true that a million dollars is like a penny to you?”
God: “Yes, that's also true.”
Man: “God?”
God: “Yes, son?”
Man: “Can I have a penny?”
God: “Sure. It'll just take a minute.”
Another excellent example is Tina Fey. There's nothing explicitly hilarious about her comedy — be it on 30 Rock, SNL, or the big screen — but her subtle silliness causes you to crack up every time.
If you can't explain what makes it funny, then you know it's good.
3. Surprise your audience.
Professional comedian Ken Davis once told me the secret to being funny: Set up a scene for your audience and then pull the rug out from under them.
Spend 90% of your story convincing the listener you're going in one direction, and then spend the last 10% going in a completely different one.
It's all about the set-up.
The trick to all of this, of course, is to not try being funny. As with anything, in order for humor to seem effortless, it requires a lot of practice.
I recently heard that Chris Rock spends five nights a week, doing standup at small clubs, bombing every single show. He uses these small audiences to test out his material and fail fast, so he can create something great for the big weekend show.
PRACTICE
So let's give this a try, shall we? Practice humor writing for fifteen minutes.
Pick something obvious, subtle, or surprising (just pick one) and write a little rant on it. Don't try to be funny or over-explain your joke. Let your audience make the connections. You can be deadpan or over-the-top; — whatever suits your fancy.
Write it and share it in the comments, and we'll help each other get better.
Man, being funny sounds like hard work. I’ll stick to witty and clever.
that’s funny.
Very insightful article. I’ve never been the class clown, but I think I’ve found my “humor voice,” as you put it. But I often wonder if most people don’t get it. I once posted on Facebook, “Is it wrong to offer to do one of my telemarketer’s math homework if he sells a lot of ad programs?” And my own mother though I was serious…
I heard Steve Martin say that humor was setting up tension and then releasing it – another interesting thing to consider.
My problem with humor is that I have to write humor in a way that is not how I would use humor conversationally. I have a ridiculously dry sense of humor in person, but it’s the delivery that’s key. In the written word, the delivery seems to fall flat. But perhaps is something worth experimenting with.
love that.
Loren – I am a total fan of deadpan humor (probably because I am the person who has to point out to someone why I am laughing at my own funny). It may come across in your writing more than you think.
There is another mom at my kids’ school and for the first three years I knew her, I thought she hated me. Then she friended me on facebook and I realized she has the driest sense of humor EVER, I just had to read it before I got it.
So don’t give up hope. And there also might be an element at play where your readers simply have to get to know you a bit more in your writing and then they are rolling on the floor every time they read you!
Another thing Steve Martin said – to be funny, he put tomatoes in his shoes. That way he felt funny.
Was on one of his old comedy albums (back in the days of vinyl).
I am the same way!
Commenting on posts that are about writing funny are totally making me sweat. I feel like if I comment and it isn’t funny, it’ll appear I’m not listening. Ha! Stop messing with my mind!
This is probably the goofiest thing I’ve ever posted… Katie
I didn’t mean for it to happen this way. I just sort of did.
With the chocolate deliciousness clutched precariously between my thumb and forefinger, I inserted them into the glass tunnel. My knuckles caught. I drank too much white bathwater. I willed my fingers to grow but nothing happened.
Well, something happened and I’m still not exactly sure what.
All I know is there was a brown chunk floating in a sea of white.
I did the most logical thing I knew to do: I Tweeted.
Joe saved the day by suggesting a small bowl with a handle. It worked perfectly as a rescuing device for the sunburned bather in the land I could not travel. Not even by lifting the glass to my lips and inhaling.
I don’t mind sugary milk and soggy cookies. It’s the extra dishes that I hate. The horror!
Well… here’s another try at funny from an unfunny —
It’s obvious that when you want to marry a girl, you should first look at her mother. A fruit before it’s ripe is just so full of promise. And nothing is sweeter than one just right. But — have you considered the rest of your life when that sweet little bite of a thing is ripening to fullness and then beyond?
My girlfriend’s mother had the most beautiful white skin and straight back when I met her. My wife’s mother still has the most beautiful white skin and straight back. How she keeps the skin white and the back straight is a different matter though – spending 110% of her time indoors so the sun doesn’t get her; in front of the television her back against the massage chair.
The back’s not bent because she doesn’t do too much exercise these days. Certainly nothing that involves bending and lifting. Everything’s too heavy my wife’s mother says. It’s that top-heaviness you know, she manages to say archly to my father-in-law. My wife’s mother’s got big boobs and little ankles you see. So charming I thought, so hot, when I saw them on my wife. So yes, when she gets to a certain age, my wife’s going to need support too – support arches that prevent the feet from sagging, and support bras on the top side, and a helluva lot of support for a housemaid if genes transmit that way too. I’m just praying now that she doesn’t spend the rest of her time vegging out like MIL.
There’s an advantage, my dad said yesterday when I was complaining about this all. Your MIL doesn’t nag, and she doesn’t ask you to pick up your cigarette stubs and remind you to recycle your beer cans.
Did I tell you? If you’re a guy and thinking of marrying, you ought to look at your true-love’s dad too. Mine’s two hundred pounds and five foot three; and has this bad habit of leaving his beer cans all over the house and using them as ashtrays – a perfect slob’s slob.
I made sure I introduced Dad to my wife before I proposed. Blinded by that cubic zirconia I flashed in front of her, she said yes anyway.
“Caveat emptor!” I’m saving that up to tell her… if in case she turns out like my mom, and nags.
Is it just me or was there very little humor in this post about humor…? I mean, really. Couldn’t follow their own advice. What kind of blog is this? Where’s my hat and scarf? I’m leaving… just… not before I comment. I mean, what kind of person would I be if I didn’t leave a snide comment on a light-hearted piece of high literature as we have here? That’d just be… Unamerican! I didn’t even El Oh El even once while reading this junk…
Just kidding. Love this post. Humor and derision are not an amateur’s cocktail. Shooting for the comical connection takes practice, and practice makes perfect, but rarely is; like Jr. High girls’ makeup.
Some seriously funny posts so far. Lot’s of claims to dry humor in there. I’d like to shoot for wet humor eventually, but I’m afraid I’ll get stuck at the semi-moist-used-sponge stage on the way. Just hope it’s not the one used for cleaning the bathroom…
Thank you and goodnight.
(Practicing funny/whimsical writing for 15 minutes at 2:20AM)
Our downstairs neighbors are pot smokers, and maybe more. I know because during the summer or an unusually and unseasonably hot night when we slide our old rattling windows open, their smoke drifts up into our home, infesting and invading my room that I paid $12.99 at Target to inhabit with the scent “happiness.” It’s not that I don’t like pot smokers. I don’t really know any, actually. But these neighbors are loud. It’s 2:20AM right now and they decided to start a burst of a conversation. Good thing I’m still awake. The annoying thing about having pot smokers as neighbors is A) they mumble a lot so it’s hard to eavesdrop on their conversation and B) well there really isn’t a B. I just wish I could hear their conversations. That might make this story about them even more interesting because then I would be inside their conversation, which I’m clearly curious about. So instead, I’ll just pretend.
I think they are probably talking about girls. How cute they are. How much they wish they had one. How the one that last left them was totally wrong. Probably the same things we all talk about, except that on our end up here, it’s more about guys and dating and wondering what the point of it all might be. I hypothesize about whether the pot smokers envy our parties. We have people over a fair amount. One of our friends has this habit of coming over and then slamming his feet down on the carpet. I don’t think he realizes he does it, but it’s pretty hilarious and he does it whether it’s morning late at night. I wonder if the pot smokers have pieces from their ceiling fall into their ashtrays when that happens. I’m not sure they have ashtrays, actually. If they did, I wonder if they ever clean them. I’ve never had my own ashtray but I’ve seen ones that have so much tar and soot in them that even washing them with dish soap and scalding hot water can’t touch the blackness that resides within them. Imagine that in your lungs. That’s just gross. Today I found out that this woman has lung cancer and she’s never smoked a day in her life. Is it because she lives in Los Angeles? Is it because her parents smoked around her? Is it because she too lives above pot smokers? I have all three of those risk factors. I don’t think I have lung cancer, but the thought has now crossed my mind.
So one thing I do know: the pot smokers have scantily clad women at their house sometimes. I saw a few of them out on their balcony one night late when I was coming home from something. They were squeezed into shiny metallic dresses and too much eyeliner while strange music wafted around them and out over our parking garage. I think someone was smoking hookah. It smelled like incense that is so strong it brings tears to your eyes. I tried hookah once. My lungs hurt for two days and I was worried I’d lose my voice. Swallowing was difficult and I thought I had a sore throat coming on.
In any case, the pot smokers have finally toned it down. Their loud conversation has become an intermittent hum. I can probably sleep through this. Maybe next time they get boisterous, I’ll get a glass from my cupboard and try to listen through the floor. It might be fun to find out what they really talk about when they are high since I’ve never actually been high myself. At least it would make for a funny blog…
yo
yo i feel like such a loser right typoing this shit. being funny is about having a good sence of humor. and if ur normal guy that laughs at obviously funny shit that shit ill resinate off u. trust yo sence if humor. funny shit is funny. people can see that. namsayin being funny aint about crackin witty ass jokes 24 7. u can be silly funny. or just fun.
My humor is more dry than the Atacama desert in Peru!
Good one!
I write in three genres, Humor being my favored. I see humor this way: Just look around you to see and hear what other people are doing. Humor is the truth exaggerated, sometimes with a small twist.
I’ve heard numerous people say “I’d give anything if only ……” So, I took that simple, common line and turned it into “I’d give my right arm to ambidextrous!”
Probably my favorite of the lines I’ve come up with is, “Oh yeah, my apartment’s very easy to find … it’s the one that looks like all the others!” I used both of those in my first humor book and have received lots of good feedback on them.
Good luck to everyone with their writing!
(Humor Writing Practice) I don’t know if it is funny.
I’m awkward when it comes to talking. That is something that is a certain fact. I try
to cut conversations short or avoid them whole-heartedly so no one will pick up
on my nervous vibes. When I get stumped on what to say next, I stop talking,
sometimes mid-sentence, and just walk away. As for the moments when that isn’t
an option, I smile and look at them in the eyes so that they can feel my
potential friendship.
Even when it comes to the select few friends I have on campus, it’s tough not to be awkward. When I see them, I wave at them in a goodbye type of way as if I have somewhere else to go. When we hang, we watch movies and shows. When the show ends, it’s probably best I leave right away before they try to commit me to a “friendly” talkback.
Living at home gives me time to practice in my bathroom mirror the conversation starters and topics for the next day. The only probably is that one topic leads to another or sometimes you get a wildcard speaker that changes the freaking subject. I give myself drills if that happens. I do mock conversations with myself, but I had to stop doing it in public. The last time I got caught, I had to lie and say I was practicing for a play. It was a good save. Then I zipped up my fly and ran out of the bathroom. If I stayed, things could’ve ended awkward.
Awkwardness is hilarious in itself.
People who are seemingly the most socially graceful often times don’t know how to react to someone else’s awkwardness, which makes them feel awkward themselves.
That’s a powerful thing you have!…
The ability to subconsciously dictate other people’s internal emotions.
Use your awkwardness to your advantage, and realize that everyone else feels it inside themselves too. Your awkwardness is a visible representation of the internal egoic struggle.
Or maybe I’m totally wrong and everyone is actually super confident and naturally hilarious.
EDITED
(Humor Writing Practice) I don’t know if it is funny.
I’m awkward when it comes to talking. That is something that is a certain fact. I try
to cut conversations short or avoid them whole-heartedly so no one will pick up
on my nervous vibes. When I get stumped on what to say next, I stop talking,
sometimes mid-sentence, and just walk away. As for the moments when that isn’t
an option, I smile and look at them in the eyes so that they can feel my
potential friendship.
Even when it comes to the select few friends I have on campus, it’s tough not to be awkward. When I see them, I wave at them in a goodbye type of way as if I have somewhere else to go. When we hang, we watch movies and shows. When the show ends, it’s probably best I leave right away before they try to commit me to a “friendly” talkback.
Living at home gives me time to practice in my bathroom mirror the conversation starters and topics for the next day. The only problem is that one topic leads to another. Sometimes you get a wildcard speaker that changes the subject. I give myself drills just in case that happens. I used to do mock conversations with myself, but I had to stop doing it in public. The last time I got caught, I had to lie and say I was practicing for a play. It was a good save. Then I zipped up my fly and ran out of the bathroom. If I stayed, things could’ve ended awkward.
My father recently admitted he was , it was more of surprise a to my mother than me
I never know what to say in front of my friend now it use to be fine and I had that small group of close and reliable friends now there lots of people I’m friends with but I’m like the third will because I’m socially awkward it’s only happened recently and Ive lost my closest friend coz of how clingy I was and now my longest friend is gradually going away. They are nice to me an al but I just get left out and I want to build back up my confidence. At the moment I have my family and my mum is very helpful and tells me not to be like that and try’s building my confidence but when I’m with my family I don’t care what anyone thinks and they laugh at me and that.
My little sister told me once “you’re not standup funny, you’re situationally funny.” As much as I admire some people’s ability to rapid fire jokes, I still think I’d prefer to possess the latter.
I’m a child at heart, just like my father. I laugh at almost anything that seems ridiculous or out of place. An extra plump hedge trimming job on a small shrub is enough to keep me giggling all day. I think one the main reasons comedians like Jim Carey and Will Ferrel are so funny is because they seem to maintain that childlike wonder while dancing through very relatable adult subject matter.
I feel the funniest individuals are those who remind the rest of us to stop, and acknowledge the absurdity of the elephant in the room….
Because how could an elephant even fit through a doorway!?
You know I wanted to look up how to be funny before, and this does help don’t get me wrong…but my ADHD brain can’t help but think of how much Quiff and Quief sound so much a like. I’m sorry what’s this past about again.