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Comedy script "must have's"

C

coffee

I'm always thinking of the fundamentals of things and got to thinking of comedy scripts!

So, what do you guys think are the "must have's"?

The first for me is a snappy lead character! Or perhaps a sappy one? lol
 
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For me, to get attached to a character, it's great if they can make fun of themselves (given the story of course works with that). Having a character that is able to laugh at himself/herself puts the audience at ease to laugh at the character as well.

Then again, some characters are just funny because of their ignorance to the situation on screen.
 
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Nothing much.

Just found this site trying to search google for...hmmm, I've already forgotten...I like it, I want some more of it....

Go Angels..... They lost yesterday :(

sparky
 
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Comedy is tricky. I would say it must have energy, unless it is dry wit (which is my favorite). It must analyse something, and it must be truthful. On a friend of mine's website http://www.myfirstcrush.com/videos.html there used to be a video about a nazi trying to fit in. It was absolutely hilarious. The nazi is VOing about how hard it is to fit into society, as he explores nature and admires the lake. He then walks down a street in full nazi garb to cheerful music, and a polite bob, VOing how people just don't understand him. Then a car drives by and some teen throws a popcan at him yelling "Go back to Africa, you stupid nazi!". It is udderly the funniest thing ever. In the end, the nazi is rolling in a field, loving the flowers in full military garb. Just the imagrey is hilarious to look at (unless the nazis are sensitve to you, in which case I apologize for bringing this up, and for my sense of humor being as dark and twisted as this is).

It's a good example of effective comedy, though. It asks a big "what if". What if a kind and gentle nazi just wanted to fit in? It's a far fetched idea, and a huge contrast. Contrast is a big one with me. It's getting silly that does it for me. Contrast is the difference between Joe Schmoe working at a desk in his office, to Jake Blake ("loose-canon" detective) having his latest stakeout at the local seniors residence. There have been a series of murders and he's there to protect the only witness... only the elderly woman he's protecting falls in love with him, and he must choose between his love of the elderly woman and his love of solving crimes. In the end, there will be a shootout in hallways filled with elderly people. It will star Dolph Lundgren as the crazy detective, Sue Johansen (local sex show host who is in her late 50's-early 60's and loves to wear "chin-attire" for demonstration).
Of course, the killer turns out to be her, and she was trying to get in the detective's pants just to throw him off, and point him towards Mr. Shiggle (played by a retarded Robert Duvall). Now there's s good one.

Whew. Long post.
 
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Spatula said:
Comedy is tricky. I would say it must have energy, unless it is dry wit (which is my favorite). It must analyse something, and it must be truthful. On a friend of mine's website http://www.myfirstcrush.com/videos.html there used to be a video about a nazi trying to fit in. It was absolutely hilarious. The nazi is VOing about how hard it is to fit into society, as he explores nature and admires the lake. He then walks down a street in full nazi garb to cheerful music, and a polite bob, VOing how people just don't understand him. Then a car drives by and some teen throws a popcan at him yelling "Go back to Africa, you stupid nazi!". It is udderly the funniest thing ever. In the end, the nazi is rolling in a field, loving the flowers in full military garb. Just the imagrey is hilarious to look at (unless the nazis are sensitve to you, in which case I apologize for bringing this up, and for my sense of humor being as dark and twisted as this is).

It's a good example of effective comedy, though. It asks a big "what if". What if a kind and gentle nazi just wanted to fit in? It's a far fetched idea, and a huge contrast. Contrast is a big one with me. It's getting silly that does it for me. Contrast is the difference between Joe Schmoe working at a desk in his office, to Jake Blake ("loose-canon" detective) having his latest stakeout at the local seniors residence. There have been a series of murders and he's there to protect the only witness... only the elderly woman he's protecting falls in love with him, and he must choose between his love of the elderly woman and his love of solving crimes. In the end, there will be a shootout in hallways filled with elderly people. It will star Dolph Lundgren as the crazy detective, Sue Johansen (local sex show host who is in her late 50's-early 60's and loves to wear "chin-attire" for demonstration).
Of course, the killer turns out to be her, and she was trying to get in the detective's pants just to throw him off, and point him towards Mr. Shiggle (played by a retarded Robert Duvall). Now there's s good one.

Whew. Long post.
Click to expand...


I'd actually watch something like that too! lol... going on his site now to look for it.
 
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A few pointers:

1) Comedy is repetition. Even the most mundane thing repated enough could be funny. If you have a character say "Great Scott!" three times throughout a movie, chances are by the third time, someone will be laughing.

2) The Best Comedy is found in everyday life. The opening scene in Office Space mocks the frustration we feel when stuck in a traffic jam. Most comedians nowadays point out little oddities of life and mock them.

3) The Second Best Comedy is grown in a field near Kennebunkport, Maine.

4) Comedy is repetition. Even the most mundane thing repated enough could be funny. If you have a character say "Great Scott!" three times throughout a movie, chances are by the third time, someone will be laughing.

5) Comedy is...
Avatar_21.gif
and
Avatar_19.gif


6) Sometimes Comedy comes from things that might be horrible in real life, but seeing them up on the screen makes you laugh (a guy getting kicked in the crotch so many times he poops himself - of course, this style of humor is not appreciated by art snobs like me).

7) Comedy is...
sparkalina said:
Go Angels..... They lost yesterday :(

sparky
Click to expand...
...rooting for the Los Angeles Angels of Annehiem (the name is even comedy) when you live in Texas. ;) Or maybe that's irony...wait, wait, I know...it's Ironic Comedy!

8) Comedy is repetition. Even the most mundane thing repated enough could be funny. If you have a character say "Great Scott!" three times throughout a movie, chances are by the third time, someone will be laughing.

Poke
 
Last edited:
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Poke said:
A few pointers:

1) Comedy is repetition. Even the most mundane thing repated enough could be funny. If you have a character say "Great Scott!" three times throughout a movie, chances are by the third time, someone will be laughing.

2) The Best Comedy is found in everyday life. The opening scene in Office Space mocks the frustration we feel when stuck in a traffic jam. Most comedians nowadays point out little oddities of life and mock them.

3) The Second Best Comedy is grown in a field near Kennebunkport, Maine.

4) Comedy is repetition. Even the most mundane thing repated enough could be funny. If you have a character say "Great Scott!" three times throughout a movie, chances are by the third time, someone will be laughing.

5) Comedy is...
Avatar_21.gif
and
Avatar_19.gif


6) Sometimes Comedy comes from things that might be horrible in real life, but seeing them up on the screen makes you laugh (a guy getting kicked in the crotch so many times he poops himself - of course, this style of humor is not appreciated by art snobs like me).

7) Comedy is...

...rooting for the Los Angeles Angels of Annehiem (the name is even comedy) when you live in Texas. ;) Or maybe that's irony...wait, wait, I know...it's Ironic Comedy!

8) Comedy is repetition. Even the most mundane thing repated enough could be funny. If you have a character say "Great Scott!" three times throughout a movie, chances are by the third time, someone will be laughing.

Poke
Click to expand...



How very true, thanks for your post. Funny how we see thing, forget about them and then someone re-introduces them to you again.
 
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Spatula said:
On a friend of mine's website http://www.myfirstcrush.com/videos.html there used to be a video about a nazi trying to fit in. It was absolutely hilarious. The nazi is VOing about how hard it is to fit into society...
Click to expand...

Wow...that idea is almost exactly like a Mr. Show skit. It's was about the Jewish Reparations, where every Jewish family was assigned a cloned Hitler as a personal slave, but the skit focused on the personal lives of the Hitlers, trying to fit in society, when they weren't being used or when their master dies. It was really funny.

To me, misleading is funny. Like when something completely opposite of what you expected to happen happens. I really hate it when there is this long set up for a joke when you can see the punch line a mile away. Even if the punch line is funny, if it's too obvious, it's most often not laugh-out-loud funny because the set up was weak, or it was too expected.

Along the same lines of repetition humor is the gag that never ends. I know The Family Guy has a lot of jokes that are just really long cuts that are only funny because they are long. Like one episode, Peter trips on the ground, and he's moaning in pain for a solid minute instead of a few seconds. The fall isn't funny, but the long cut makes it funny.

But for a script, I would say you need a good story first, then let the humor fall in its place. Unless your characters are soooo off the wall, like Napoleon Dynamite, you will need a good story first to propel your characters into funny situations. I think this is why the early Farrelly Bros. movies are funny(some of their newer ones, not so much), but their gross-out imitators are not.
 
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I believe that comedy is the most difficult form of screenwriting. It's easy to use the usual sex, violence, explosions, guns, blood, breasts and beasts tricks in today's poorly written movies. It's hard to get someone to belly laugh at the words and situations in your screenplay. And, you can get away with poor timing and presentation with violence and a shoot-em-up bang bang. You can't successfully get your audience to laugh without absolutely great timing and presentation. Even clumsy slapstick must have the timing and presentation. When I write a funny situation, I try to visualize how the actors will interact as to timing. A little pause here, a stumble there...whatever it takes to bring the humor out.


Will Bill
 
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contrast.

eg - Friends. Ross Gellar. The show revolved around him.
He is on the one side an academic and a serious one at that.
on the other side he is a child in competition with his sister and foolish when it comes to love.
two sides - contrast. the best character they had.
 
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