Laughing Out Loud Read online

  • Five television series or shows that made you laugh the most as you were growing up. Jerry Seinfeld has said that he was well into his show when he realized he was working very close to the style and letter of Abbott and Costello's TV shows he had loved as a kid (Flaherty, 24).

  • A page on the cartoons you used to read and those you read now. You don't have to write out why these connected with you, but look at your list and begin to see some patterns.

  • A list of books that were funny and you couldn't put down.

  • Now a page or more on those teachers and/or authority figures in your childhood and development who made you laugh.

  • Finally, put a spotlight on yourself-not your writing, but you as a person growing up. Some pages on favorite or forgotten memories called to mind in which you were funny or were the butt of someone else's joke (sick or hilarious or both!).

  • Near the back, some pages for comic self-reflections. Were comedy and laughter a defense mechanism for you or a true festive celebration?

  • Now for a finale, write your own comic tombstone. I'm serious. Every group I've tried this with has laughed nervously and then gotten into a hilarious mood, using the "few choice words" as a way to give a final take on a lifetime. After all, isn't that what we are all faced with eventually? Here are a few samples from several workshops I've conducted:

  (Dr. Seuss, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish)

  A paraphrase of Charlie Brown coming off the pitcher's mound quite dejected: "How can we lose when we're so sincere?"

  An arrow pointing to the tombstone alongside mine, and these words: "I'm with Stupid!"

  "IT'S A TAKE!"

  A Comic Writing Environment

  No, I don't mean a laugh track playing in the background twenty-four hours a day, the comic equivalent of New Age tapes of ocean waves, whales mating, or loons looning. But what can you do to and with your workplace to make it a, well, happier and funnier place? As I write this I'm on a Greek island with a number of humorous photos tacked up on the walls, along with quotations of which I am particularly fond. Music counts for me too: there is a stack of CDs that I find get the romantic and the anarchistic in me going, including those of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Yugoslav gypsy music, and more. And NO TELEPHONE.

  That's what works for me. What about you? Note and confession: The happiest work environment that I have come across in my travels, aside from an animation studio for children in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, was the office of President Havel of the Czech Republic. By means I am not free to reveal, I was able to see his office in the "Castle" in Prague one day, and to smile and even laugh at the tasteful but definitely offbeat modern furniture, white walls with playful dashes of color or modern art, all adding up to a statement that matters of state need not be boring or too serious.

  Partners and Comic Sounding Boards

  Screenwriting is always a group activity even if you are writing individual drafts by yourself: once completed, everyone else is going to have a shot at trying to make it funnier, "punch it up," add their two cents.

  But writing comedy particularly lends itself to working with a partner, or at least having those you really trust and enjoy for their humor going over your material, giving feedback, listening with full attention. Comedy is often such a delicate muse that we can profit from a partner's immediate feedback. There is more to it even than the question, Is it funny? Two minds can sharpen humor, push an absurd situation or character, get on a "roll" with a scene, suggest that one detail that will bring the house down for sure.

  Herschel Weingrod has written all of his scripts, including Twins, Trading Places, Kindergarten Cop, and Space lam, with his partner, Timothy Harris. According to Weingrod, the reason he has been so pleased to write with a partner for over twenty years is the following:

  There's nothing better than writing a screenplay with a partner ... if. .. you basically see the world in the same way ... i.e., you find the same things funny, the same things tragic, the same things ironic ... and, most importantly ... that you both agree never to count. By this I mean, I cannot randomly open a screenplay written by Timothy Harris and myself, read a scene, and proclaim, "Ah, that's my line, that's my scene, that's my description." We leave that outside the door. We have what we call the moment of truth-when we've both written our own versions of the same scene-I hand him mine, he hands me his-we read our respective versions-the moment of truth is when we drop our attachment to what we've written individually and decide collectively what works best for the project. It could be all of his scene, all of my scene, some of his, some of mine ... whatever the outcome, nobody is keeping score.

  (Personal interview, November 6, 1997)

  Especially in American television, if you do wind up on a show, you will automatically have a lot of "comic sounding boards" from the rest of the team in meeting after meeting.

  And while e-mailing your comedy to friends might get you swift replies from all over the globe, even more so than drama, the reading of a comic script out loud is so important. Turn off the phone, open the wine or Snapple and cheese and crackers, and start reading, sharing the remarks, the laughter, the changes. Part of what will happen in such a process is your increased feeling for (and appreciation of) TIMING and PACE.

  Comic Story Circles

  Story circles take us back to prehistoric times sitting around the fire in villages or caves. But I am being more specific in speaking about story circles used by professional storytellers such as my friend Adella Adella the Story Teller in New Orleans.

  The suggestion is that you form a group of kindred souls-writers or nonwriters, it really doesn't matter. What counts is that you all care about the Comic Muse! That stated, the rules are pretty simple:

  1. Choose a topic for that evening or session. Let's use one I've tried often, for instance: relate an experience that was embarrassing at the time it happened but that became funny or hilarious as it was told and retold.

  2. Actually sit in a circle so everyone can see each other clearly. No triangles or rectangles or squares allowed.

  3. Have someone designated as the group leader. The main functions of the leader (who could be a different person each time) are simply to enforce the rules and to lead a discussion of "what happened" afterwards.

  4. Choose who goes first. That person determines which direction the stories will go in. Then the stories flow with no commentary or feedback remarks from anyone until all stories are told. You must go in order in the direction chosen. But you have the right to say "pass" and then, when the circle is completed, you may add your story at that point. Or you can completely bow out and not tell a story, but you must stay a part of the group, listening to the others and joining the discussion afterwards.

  5. Try not to choose one story and stick with it come hell or high water. That is, let yourself be influenced by what you hear, so that what you finally choose as your tale may be a last-minute inspiration based on the last comic tale told. This point obviously helps keep the circle creative, fresh, and dynamic.

  After all stories are told, the leader leads a discussion of the reactions folks have to what they heard. This final part is absolutely critical to putting the whole experience in focus.

  The number of humor-related topics is, of course, endless. Besides the topic mentioned above, I've used with happy results the following (yes, there is some overlap with the items listed under Comic Profiles): your favorite comic film and why; your favorite comedian and why; an off-color joke you like; what comic tombstone do you wish; and stories about clashes of sex and love. Or you could start a story and let the next person continue it, and so on till the last person adds the "comic ending." In fact, many of the comic exercises listed in the next section lend themselves well to the story circle.

  The key to the circle is the democracy of having no judgmental feedback while the circle is circling. Storytelling is storytelling; discussion of the stories is what comes afterwards. All writers and seminar participants
I've tried it with in script workshop environments have listed the story circle as one of the most effective "tools" they've picked up!

  A Dozen Comedy-Centered Exercises

  [ 11 Practice random acts of kindness.

  That's the bumper sticker I'm sure we've all seen. But think for a moment how you might actually go about initiating such carnivalesque generosity of spirit. A dozen long-stemmed red roses with a sweet card to your worst enemy? Well, maybe not, since that could easily be taken as some kind of sick joke. But consider an unexpected invitation to dinner for a friend you haven't seen in so long because you've been "too busy." Or what about surprising the kids by taking a day off, taking them out of school and heading for the beach or a movie or a walk in the mountains. Or taking an extra half-hour now and then to pick up the phone rather than e-mail and actually talk to friends or relatives you haven't talked to in months or years. I recently decided to just call some old friends in distant locations I had not heard from or talked to in over a year. The payoff was immediate: I smiled all day as happy memories of the past floated in and out of my mind. Or, a very easy one for the freeway or for driving around town: let that guy or gal cut in front of you with a gracious sweep of the hand and a smile (why have we all become such nervous mean-spirited drivers?!). You get the idea!

  [21 Surprise yourself from time to time.

  A close cousin of #1, but not the same. This exercise is meant not so much for your writing as for the sheer pleasure of life. Are we talking about that vacation you promised yourself but didn't take? Or is this one an invitation to simply lighten up, figure out how to dump a lot of your worries, cut through difficult relationships with some humor, or perhaps just practice being happier in general with yourself. I once entertained a very "serious" woman film director from Kazakhstan at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It was her first time in the United States. We had a screening of her very moving film, and then carnival began full force. She immediately transformed into a party gal, grabbing beads at parades and guzzling wine with the best of them. "But I thought you were a very serious person," I said between parades. "Oh, no," she said in charming broken English, "I am really very crazy inside!"

  [31 Comic observation: Spend an hour from time to time in the neighborhood park or the mall or playground and simply watch and listen.

  This all comes under the heading of sharpening your powers of comic observation. Don't take notes. Just be there and soak it all in. In fact, you might want to repeat this with different "target audiences" in mind. Try the playground to see what kids talk about today and how they interact as they play. Or that McDonald's or Wendy's where the old folk gather each morning to chat: what do they talk about? What's going on in their lives?

  Or the mall. Catch teen talk, or the upwardly mobile in a rush. How do they dress? What delicious contradictions make you laugh? You choose where and when, but be purposeful and totally focused on catching details, snatches of dialogue, those actions that define character. For instance, I recently got a huge kick out of noticing who rents those four-seater pedal-bike carriages at Santa Barbara beach. There were young, carefree couples being silly and actually trying to ram each other, nervous Japanese trying for speed and not taking in the view, very young kids who just couldn't get the hang of it, and an elderly couple looking as dignified as all get out. And dialogue? In New Orleans, just sitting on my front steps has for years allowed me to tap into a wealth of African American rap, hiphop, street jive and down-home swearing.

  Yes, do take notes afterwards. Snatches you remember, points you might use later. But don't worry during this exercise about shaping or organizing these sitand-listen sessions.

  [4] The humor of real life: Keep a file of pieces from your daily paper that might work their way into future comic writings.

  In front of me is a 1997 Associated Press piece by Evan Perez about a grandmother in Florida who slowed down at a highway off-ramp. Two brothers with guns who were fleeing the highway patrol jumped into her brand-new BMW convertible. A hundred miles and several hours later, the police caught up with them, and while she ducked under the seat, the brothers shot it out with the law. The results: one brother killed, the other wounded but captured. The grandmother survived scared but fine. How did she put up with her captivity? "She said she used her sense of humor-joking about who'd play their parts in the TV movie-to calm the men, who were wanted on bank robbery and kidnapping charges in South Carolina. . ." (12). Comedy saved the day. As she said, "I was playing mother to them, friend to them, comic to them. I knew the only chance for me to be let go was to keep them happy."

  Take it from there. What did she tell them? Write some of the dialogue. Who was she? How did this "accident" change her life? What if it's told from the point of view of the brother who lived? A monologue of his thoughts in prison? And you can think of many other angles or possible rough exercises to riff off for such a piece.

  Certainly this single story offers a wealth of possibilities for a whole script. Keeping such a folder of clippings teaches you well that truism that life is stranger than fiction, and that often what looks like a sure thing from the papers would only work if tamed or trimmed.

  [51 Comic character study: Make at least a half-hour interview on video with someone you consider to be humorous-but do not let the other person know you are recording for "comic" reasons!

  Nothing would kill the comic faster than making your subject aware of your comic purposes. He or she will start to perform, mug, or simply become selfconscious. But the whole idea here is to carry on a conversation or interview-you dream up the reason and the topic-and enjoy it later, to better figure out what that person does that works so well in terms of humor. Not that you would "copy" this person and his or her speech and actions directly, but the influence may be there. Again, such an exercise is not making fun of anyone. Rather, it helps better understand character and how gesture, voice, and speech are related to laughter. While teaching a screenwriting seminar at Cal State Long Beach one summer, I had a most eager group of students who wound up at Venice Beach with a video camera and came back with some hilarious footage of con artists, street (or should I say beach?) musicians, and fire eaters. The tape taught us all a lot about comedy, improv, and showmanship. More enlightening still, however, are interviews with non-entertainers. And it is even better if the subject is someone you do not know well, so the "interview" will be fresh.

  [61 Comic foreground/background: Write a scene in which two people talk seriously while six motor scooters going by in the background provide a comic touch when played against the foreground.

  Often comedy can come from something that simple: the difference between foreground and background, as one action "comments" on the other. You decide who the two people are and what they are talking about. A couple breaking up, perhaps? And why not have each scooter driven by someone carrying something different. What if one is a pizza delivery guy, another a priest, a third a babe, a fourth a policewoman, and so on. And push the exercise. Have each person on a scooter carry some object that clashes with our image of them. Finally, do not allow the couple to see these characters at all.

  [7] Comedy-documentary: What famous "departed" person could you have an actor or actress friend pretend to be? While you videotape, have them walk around town or campus talking to people about subjects that relate to that person.

  Yes, this exercise takes a little work and it is definitely playing off of Z. Zel- nik's "comic documentary," Tito for the Second Time among the Serbs, which we will discuss in chapter 8.

  Here you are working with an actor or actress and, if you are not a video person, a camera-operating friend too. Your job is to help prepare the actor for this half-improv, half-planned exercise. First there is the fun of choosing your famous figure. We in the U.S. really don't have a single individual as well known and central to our culture as Tito was (and perhaps still is!) to the Yugoslavs. In New Orleans, I would love to give this exercise a shot with Louis Armstrong returning. But you decide.
Hint: depending on where you live, this one might be grounds for funding from local arts or humanities councils or other groups. Wouldn't a Kentucky arts council be interested in a comic documentary about Daniel Boone showing up on the streets of Lexington again? Or what about Mark Twain strolling through the mall in St. Louis? Why not Elvis making a glorious return to Memphis? Your imagination is the only limit!

  [8] Ensemble comedy: Imagine four to eight guys or gals who gather at one cafe every morning for a good hour and capture some of the comic banter of the group on any particular morning.

  This is a scene /dialogue exercise which could well grow out of #3. You might also wish to take a look at Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose (1984), which is built around old stand-up comedians meeting daily at a New York deli. As I worked on this book in a Greek mountain village on the island of Kea, I would start each morning with dark bitter Greek coffee in the village square, together with anywhere from five to twenty-two local men, including the former mayor, several taxi drivers, Nicos the bus driver, and several young fellows. I was, first of all, impressed with the great sense of humor that exploded each day. But most of all, I enjoyed catching on to the group dynamics and how any one topic that got introduced would be picked up around the group, looked at one way and then another, and "capped" by someone at some magical point as another topic cropped up. Thus it was a good practice for me to write a few pages about how they got from the price of land per acre on the island to Greek-Turkish politics and on to passionate talk about the Greek basketball or soccer teams. Think how such a gathering might work for a television comedy series, with each episode focusing on a different character or a different comic problem, or an ensemble feature comedy a la Mediterraneo.

  [9] Visual comedy: In one page, write a complete comic scene with no dialogue.

  This exercise keeps us focused on our need for visual humor! How easy it is to simply have our characters crack jokes and spout humorous monologues and voiceovers and witty dialogue. But can you tell a comic story with no dialogue? This exercise may well send you back to look at chapter 4 and rerun Keaton, Chaplin, Jacques Tati, and others. Few exercises force you more clearly to think about comedy beyond that immediate crutch, dialogue.