helitzer's comedy writing secrets


Summary of Helitzer: Comedy Writing Secrets
[för det mesta har jag följt kapitelindelningen]


3 R:S OF HUMOR:


Humor, to get:

RESPECT
1) legitimately achieve outstanding accomplishment
2) criticize somebody
3) unconventional


REMEMBERED


REWARDS





MAP FOR SUCCESS:
consistency & targeted material

Material + Audience + Performer (M A P)

character


IMAGINATION
What if...?
Observational humor


JOKE FORMULAS


1)	Double Entendres; the play on words that include cliché reformations and
	take offs
2)	Reverses that tricks the audience by a switch in point-of-view
3)	Triples that build tension and are the framework for an exaggerated finale
4)	Incongruity that pairs two logical but unconventional ideas
5)	Stupidity that encourages the audience to feel superior to silly thoughts
	or actions
6)	Paired phrases that utilize the rhythm of antonyms, homonyms and synonyms
7)	Physical abuse (slapstick) that caters our delight at someone else's misfo
	rune


WHY WE LAUGH (from Patricia Keith-Spiegel)
different theories
[olika nivåer! cf min egen nivellerings-filosofi]


1) Surprise
cover our feeling of embarresment, from
a) unintentionally said or done something foolish
b) being tricked
(by misdirection a/o incongruity)


2) Superiority
reassures the insecure
2 way to feel superior
a) accomplish work that achieves public aclaim
b) publicity critize the accomplishments of other

individuals humor is generally directed upwards against more authoritative
figures
groups humor generally direts downward toward groups that don't conform to our
social, religious, national, or sexual mores


3) Biological
stimulate, relax and restore a feeling of well being
laugther is a substitute for an assault
attempt to vent our hostility when physical aggression is not practical - and
that's superiority


4) Incongruity
of speech, action or character revelation
(stress clashing ideas or perceptions)
In Candid Camera people trying to maintain dignity in bizarre circumstances
and the audience know all the facts - and that's superiority


5) Ambivalence
similar to incongruity in its dependence on incompatible experiences but
stresses conflicting emotions love/hate realtionships in families
son/mother (Jewish)
covers up our guilt feeling or our foolish errors, an atempt to maintain dignity
Selt-depriciating humor is just an device to set the audience at ease, so you
can be in control - and that's superiority


6) Release
embarresment
laughter is a plannes event, a voluntary reduction of stress triggered by a
conscious effort to unlock life's tensions and inhibitions
fortified by group approval, a shared group experience


7) Configurational
disjointedness falls into place
sudden insight of having solved a mystery
instantiously filling in missing material
we want the world know that we are smart - and that's superiority


8) Psychoanalytical
Freud


THE ANATOMY OF HUMOR
THREES-formula:

Target
Hostility
Realism
Exaggeration
Emotion
Surprise


TARGET
Humor is criticism, directed at a specified target
targeting reaffirms one group's ideas, mannerisms, and prejudices
a) myself (self-depreciating humor)
b) celebrities
c) places
d) things
e) ideas


HOSTILITY
help eradicate many of the hostile feeling in our daily life
1) sexual frustrations
2) intrusion of authority into our private lifes
3) financial concerns
4) family problems
5) angst and our feelings of powerlessness in the wake of technology
6) (and largest) our insecurity about our own physichal characteristics,
whichs triggers prejudice and taunts against minorities


REALISM AND EXAGGERATION
Humor includes both realism and exaggeration (a good paradox), this creates
surprise
1) state some commonly acceptable problem, frequently with a cliché
2) in the last word or two change the expected ending to a surprise
(Leacock:) "Humor results from the contrast between a thing as it is and ought
to be, and a thing smashed out of shape, as it not ought to be."
The public is willing to suspend disbelief and skepticism.
likely/unlikely


EMOTION AND SURPRISE
There must be a build up od anticipation in the audience
"In stand-up, a funny man does material, not a man doing funny material. The
personality, the character, not the joke, is primary." (W. Allen)


Five techniques for maximizing emotion:
1) The pregnant pause
2) Asking a question and letting the audience get involved
3) Do you remember ... (etc)
4) How many here ...
5) triples
6) a joke on the way to a joke
7) working the audience (ie gå ut till publiken)

surprise is held to the last instant


PLAY ON WORDS (POW)
CLICHÉS: predictability
(def: a cliché is a phrase so predictable you can finish it after you've heard
the first few words)
FIVE BASIC TECH's:


1)	Double Entendre: an ambiguous word or phrase that allows for a double in
	terpretation of words, images and associations - the second of which is
	generally spicy.
2)	The Simple Truth: the opposite of the double entendre. It takes the explicit
        meaning of a key word in an idiom and interprates it literally.
3)	Reforming alters either the word order of the cliché or the spelling of one
	or two words by adding or deleting letters, in effect substituting a homonym
        or a word that rhymes.
4)	The Take Off first offers the acceptible interpretation of the cliché followed
        by a realistic but highly exaggerated commentary, frequently a double
	entendre.
5)	Association utilize combinations of clichés or titles by relating different
	subjects.


DOUBLE ENTENDRE:
(ex Abbot & Costello's "Who's on first?") [Men den är väl inte spicy?]
The words
"It"
"In"
Clichés from one activity can apply to another (several dregees of transitions)
The misunderstanding most foreigners have with English
It's often easy to telegraph a D.E.
Irony:
Sarcastic statements that generally mean (to insiders) the exact opposite of
what's been expressed. Is often the result of associating an absurd double entendre
eith a hostile product.
Oral Misunderstanding:
The audience fell superior at expence of characters misunderstanding.
The Usage Blunder:
misstakes, often by children
Malaprops:
twisted language innocently spoken by a dolt.
Oxymorons:
contradiction in terms


THE SIMPLE TRUTH:
a) think like a child
b) childish riddle
(Här pratar Helitzer om missförstånd om olika nivåer i språket, "citat-humor",
Jag kan säga "jjjjjj" ....)
c) innocence if children
We are linguistic specialists concered with the logic of words.
Basic rule:
the first part or first sentence is a cliché; the second part (the punch line)
is an unexpected interpretation that's realistically literal.
topppers
research material and statistics
THE NON SEQUITOR: (technically not a cliché)
an illogical statement which i shumorous because of the juxtaposition between
the two elements.


REFORMING:
3 ways to reform clichés:
1) alter or transpose the words and create a new related thought
2) replacing one or two letters in a key word of a cliché in order to achieve
a surprise turn of the phrase
3) with a homonym, a similar sounding word with a double entendre interpretation
ORAL CLICHÉS:
split reforming: separate two words from one
adding, deleting, or separate prefixes
using suffixes as homonyms
PRINT CLICHÉS:
paired words

Three prerequisities:
1) The Take-off cannot be obvious - it most be a surprise
2) It must be, at, least, mildly outrageous
3) The original cliché or title must be immediatly familiar to the audience.


THE TAKE OFF:
The most traditional of all humor techs. It compunds the elements of "audacious
realism" by completing the cliché with a bizarre reference.

2 way to start:
a) The cliché first, then the take-off
(bl a for humorous aphorism) It isn't neccesary to use the whole cliché
b) The cliché last
as with pun, make audience groan

The importance of holding the surprise phrasing to the last possible moment
cannot be overemphasized.

Humor is written backwards!!!!

You can put more than one clichés in a sentence.


ASSOCIATION:
"Teaming". Humor's variation of metaphor.
Combine two simple elements that are logical but impossible.
1) Association of a cliché with a celebrity name whose fame is a reult of
physical or mental repudation.
2) Association is the teaming of two clichés. This tech produce incongrous
humor, and is the backbone of improvisation.
3) Association is the teaming of verbs or adverbs with nouns. (Tom Swifties)


BRAINSTORMING IN POWS

Don't censor yourself!


REVERSES
some def's:
"adding a contradictory tag line to the opening line of a cliché."
"a situation in which the 'outs'take over from the 'ins'"
"some combine it with the old switcheroo, a concept which takes a standard
humor bit a switches the characters and the setting to fit the existing situation"
"a reverse is changing the point of view of a clich'e 180 degrees"
The object is to catch the audience off guard because we cover our embaressment
with laighter. Surprise comes from a basic change of direction - a
reverse of habitaul thinking or activity. (Misdirection)

Favorite tech for delivering a insult or surprise (compliments)

The tech is to offer a solution that is both logical and diametrically opposite
of what is expected.
Only one reverse is permissible in any one story or script. Two is pushing and
three and more so conditions the readers to anticipate the reverse that the
surprise is telegraphed!
[Detta innebär att alla reverses räknas! Från en absurd setting bör det alltså
inte komma en vridning "tillbaka", eller en annan vridning. Om jag förstår
detta rätt bör man alltså använda en annan teknik för att upplösa en "tidig"
reverse?!]
[Men kommer inte tre-talet in här någonstans? Tretalet har en likhet med
strange attractor i Kaos? Skriv om Kaos-Humor!]

Telegraphing the joke

An anecdote is a tall tale told as a small story with a sudden climax. With
the setup, we mean to confuse the audience. So we include just enough information
to encourage them to proceed automatically in the direction we'll reverse
at the end.

For deflecting insults

The basic reverse of students and teachers is a favorite subject.
To a humorist, guilt feelings are fertile ground for comedy. (Shared ambivalent
hostility and surprise)


TRIPLES

"The holy trilogy"

William Lang: A triple is one of the most perfect formats for the joke, because
there are only three parts to most comedic bits.
Humor's PAP-test:
P = Preparation (the situation setup)
A = Anticipation (TRIPLE!)
P = Punch line (story payoff)

Do's and don'ts:
1) Never tell more than 3 jokes about one subject at any one time.
2) Don't spend more than 3 minutes on any one theme.
3) 3 themes of about 3 minutes each are optimum for a ten minute stand-up monolog
4) 3 minutes is the best length for a skit
5) Don't use more than 3 voices in a radio skit or commercial

The triple reverse

A Joke on the Way to a Joke. (Toppers)


PAIRED ELEMENTS


1) Paired phrases
2) Paired sentences
3) Paired words
4) Paired statistics
[5) Paired ideas]


PAIRED PHRASES
These must be parallell - equal in grammatical structure and rhythm.
Audience is more stimulated by the turn of the phrase than by its logic. Homonyms
gets laughs even the they don't make much sense.

Audience participation is an excellent tech for increasing appreciation. The
audience laughs and applause its own perspicacity. Therefore it is not necessecary
to write both parts of the paired phrase if the second part is obvious.
You can flatter the audience by letting them complete it themselves.


PAIRED SENTENCES
Two paired phrases, but used in two different sentences, generally by two
different people.


PAIRED WORDS
a) synonyms
different words with similar meanings
1) The simplets tech is a cliché that focuses on a key word, which is replaces
by a synonym.
2) The key words have similar meanings, but a least one of them must be highly
exaggerated.


b) homonyms
same sound but are spelled differently


c) antonyms
opposite words are the simplest form of reverse
The first key word starts you in one direction; the antonym flips you inte
opposite.
1) opposite words (good/bad, right/wrong, good/lousy)
2) prefix reverses the first word (o-/intressant, o-/tålig, etc)
3) a rhyme with homonym characteristics
Antonym doubles:
Humor, like music, is more interesting when used in harmony like chords.
Antonym triples:


d) groupings
A group of two or more words loosely associated with a particular activity or
profession.


PAIRED STATISTICS (numbers)
sequence qualities
1) going up
2) going down
3) repeated
the only rule is that the sequence be logical and rhythmic


FUNNY WORDS
'k'is funny