Writing Funny Part 3

(This is a third post in a six-part series on being funny in novels. To start at the beginning go here.)

When we talk about being funny, whether we're talking about onstage or in print, we often speak in terms of "jokes." But to really understand what is happening under the hood, it's helpful to expand our definition of what a joke is.

Most people think of jokes as an obvious set-up/punchline structure: "A guy walks into a bar..."

But when we watch skilled comedians at work, we notice that what they're doing doesn't feel like jokes to us. We are not really aware of a set-up, and when the punchline hits us, we usually don't think of it as a punchline at all...we just know we've heard something funny and we laugh.

If you re-run Dwayne's clips a few times and pay close attention to what he's doing, you'll notice that he doesn't follow the set-up/punchline pattern in the same way an amateur might use. There's no clear part where he says "A guy walks into a bar..." and then follows it with a single punchline.

This is because Dwayne uses a series of punchlines for each set-up, and each punchline builds on the previous one. If you watch the clip and note the times that people laugh, you will also notice that some of the lines get milder laughs and some of them get harder laughs.

In a very real sense, Dwayne is constantly providing the audience with opportunities to laugh.

In an optimal situation, where the audience is sharp and paying attention, Dwayne will get laughs with each opportunity he presents. In less optimal situations (for example, if the audience is too buzzed, or the club conditions are distracting, or the previous comic threw off the chemistry in the room), the audience might miss some of the opportunities to laugh. But since there are plenty of funny things being said, a few missed punchlines won't be missed by the audience. Dwayne has embedded so many punchlines in what he's doing that it won't even register with the audience that they were supposed to laugh.

And this is the lesson that novelists can take from skilled comedians: As long as the opportunity to laugh fits naturally in the flow of what you're doing, there's no harm done if the reader doesn't "get" it.

Or to put it another way: Bury the joke.

• If you write something funny, don't telegraph the fact that it's supposed to be funny. Don't underline or emphasize it in a way that says "this is funny."
• Never deviate from the story or the character in order to get a laugh. If the funny thing you've come up with doesn't fit naturally into the flow of what's happening, toss it out.
• Make sure that everything you write has a storytelling purpose above and beyond being funny, so if it doesn't strike the reader as funny, they won't even notice that an attempt was made.

In the next post, I'll introduce you to the Magic Snow Globe, and we'll look at how it applies to being funny in print.