Comedy Writing Skills – 5 Important Understandings

This guide sorts out the key points of comedy creation from 5 aspects. First, writing a comedy situation means writing a comedy character in the situation, and the embarrassment of the character should be highlighted. Second, writing about comic characters means writing about the character’s comic character. High-level comedy characters expose their character shortcomings in specific situations. Third, the essence of the relationship between the environment and the characters is that the environment requires the characters to change themselves, but the characters refuse to change. Fourth, the actions of comic characters must originate from their internal motivations and cannot be comedy for the sake of comedy. Fifth, comedy can mock individuals as well as groups.

Edited at 2023-12-04 12:23:33

PlotWizard

Recent works View more works>>

Comedy Writing Skills – 5 Important Understandings

PlotWizard

Recent works View more works>>

Recommended to you
Outline

59 high-scoring comedies
- 38
MM

Several important knowledge about comedy

1. Writing comedy situations is ultimately about writing comedy characters in situations.

The focus of comedy creation is to throw comic characters into dilemmas

When the audience laughs, their eyes are fixed on the comic character in distress

All the foreshadowing and environment creation are to serve the embarrassment of the comedy characters.

Situation comedy is ultimately a comedy of characters

Instead of writing about comedy situations, it’s better to write about comedy characters.

Creators must always pay attention to how to portray comedy characters from the beginning to the end, from the macro to the details, from the theme to the actors' words and deeds.

2. Writing comic characters is ultimately about writing comic characters.

Senior comedy characters do not have to be inferior to the audience in appearance and intelligence, and even if they are not present in normal times, their character shortcomings will be exposed.

Put the characters into a specific situation, and the character's shortcomings will be exposed in the conflict with the environment.

The character appears ridiculous because his character is suppressed and tortured by the environment

3. The essence of the relationship between environment and comedy characters is: transformation and resistance to transformation

The environment requires comic characters to change their personalities and cognitions in order to win

The new environment requires comic characters to put aside their stubbornness and integrate into groups that give them energy.

Destiny will give him victory, but only if he changes himself

Comedy characters resolutely resist environmental transformation

Never reflect and resolutely resist environmental requirements

The struggle between the environment and the characters must be heated up

Their struggle is an irreconcilable confrontation of "ideas against ideas"

4. The performance of a comedian comes from the heart of the comic character and is not a deliberate performance.

Comedy characters act from intrinsic motivations

People usually do not make unnecessary extra actions in their daily lives

Always achieve goals in the least labor-intensive way

There is an internal logic to the actions of comic characters

It derives from the character's habits, personality, and inner motivations

The actor must interpret the character's own beliefs, even if the beliefs are wrong and ridiculous

Doing comedy actions for the sake of comedy is the most failed way to perform comedy

5. Comedy can mock individuals as well as groups.

The fundamental reason why comedy is ridiculous lies in the mismatch between the subjectivity and objectivity of the characters.

The individual appears uncoordinated in the group

The majority group that holds the truth will laugh at the isolated individual

But it doesn’t mean that the individual being laughed at is necessarily wrong.

Therefore, comedy can also be used to mock groups, political correctness, authority, etc.