To be able to put a smile on someone's face is worth a lot, to make him or her laugh is even better and has been proved to be scientifically good for you. So how do you go about doing it!! There are no hard and fast rules of comedy and often someone who breaks conventions writes the most original comedy. There is an insatiable market for scripts but there are not enough good writers to go round. Producers are desperately trying to find writers they can work with and commission with confidence.
Well the easiest way is to dress up like a clown and fall over comically in the streets, wet people with a fake water squirter flower (a bit dangerous- can be take either way!), ride a bike that is way too small and do all the stuff that clowns do!!! Don't you think that it is too much effort just for the simplest thing??? Well let's take the easier way out, write our own comedy!!!
Writing comedy is regarded as the most difficult form of writing there is. That's because comedy is a personal thing - what makes one-person laugh wouldn't raise a smile in someone else. Anyone can be funny occasionally, but to be consistently humorous can sometimes prove to be a very disheartening task indeed. Yet if you have the knack and willpower, it can be a most productive trade. You will be contributing to a market that is continually searching for fresh material and ever on the lookout for new writers.
Sure it might not be easy but we have the steps to take to make the best show from writing to performing. There are many forms of jokes that fall into different categories and these are:
If you have ever watched comedy shows take notes of what sort of stuff makes you laugh, and see what of the categories above that they fall under. You'll notice that most jokes fall under several categories.
Clarity and simplicity is the two necessary ingredients in comedy, as you must have the audience's undivided attention. If they ever struggle over stuff that you have put to them, they lose concentration and the comedy disappears.
Where do jokes come from, I hear you ask?? Well, it is a good question and has an extremely long answer. A joke basically consists of two ideas that relate to a point. Remember a few of your favourite one-liners and you will realise that there are two thoughts there.
In forming the joke, your mind begins with one idea, then generates and appraises other ideas for a humorous connection with the original. When it strikes that witty combination, the joke pops out of your head.
There are thousands of phrases that lend themselves to the simple truth construction. The basic rule is that the first part or first sentence is a cliché. The second part (the punch line) is an unexpected interpretation that's realistically literal.
If you cannot think of new jokes try altering a few that already exist. Take the idea of a joke then reassign it to another issue or venue so that it won't be familiar as the same joke. It's a perfectly acceptable way of coming up with new material. It also provides different views and tangents of where you could spring other ideas.
When you have adequate amount of gags you routine them. Put them in some sort of order so that the continuity flows, therefore getting you easily from one gag to another. There's nothing more tedious than reading or listening to a collection of incoherent one-liners. Writing gag routines is hard work. It's a hard slog but it is made easier if the comedian has a recognizable style, a definable character. Every comedian has his/her own style and you must adapt your material to suit - not the other way round.
If you are a comedian that doesn't have a distinctive style then create one. Anything that makes your comic different from others will help to create his/her own character and style.