What Is Comedy? What Writers Need To Know - Steve Kaplan

[@cjpreach]

"Drama helps us dream about what we could be, but Comedy helps us deal with who we are." Brilliant.

[@hope-cat4894]

Some modern comedies suffer from not knowing when to cut out a joke to save the tone of a scene or edit down a scene because they let the actors ad-lib for too long. I feel like that's an example of prioritizing being funny over writing a comedy. What interesting is comedic actors do pretty well as dramatic actors too.

[@kjmav10135]

This guy is talking about comedy in its classic sense, like Ancient Greek Classic sense. Where there’s a little bit deeper than just ha-ha gag funny. Like comedy has a sliver of human truth or the opportunity to self-reflect in it.

[@Lilliathi]

Yeah, but he's describing observational humor.

[@CoughitsKath]

before cars, there used to be so much horse crap in the city streets. trash and other waste too. and you can imagine that stepping it in might ruin your morning, and slipping in it might ruin your whole day. in old vaudeville slapstick routines, it was rude, not to mention smelly, to have actual horse dung on stage, so the banana peel was a widely understood shorthand for the "crappy" state of the streets, and character slipping in banana peel quickly became a slapstick staple

[@cobymarcum1442]

Thanks Film Courage for covering comedy. It seems that comedy isn’t considered “serious” or “skilled” filmmaking in some circles. If comedy films are so easy to make then where are all of the funny movies?

[@filmcourage]

Cheers Coby! Look forward to sharing more from this interview.

[@cobymarcum1442]

@@filmcourage Woo! 🎉 Awesome!

[@Neomatrixology]

Writing comedy or a lack thereof is probably the leading weakness in my game. I'll check out this book and circle back. Thank you for putting it on my radar Film-courage.

[@filmcourage]

More to come with Steve!

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

The worst thing one can write is bad comedy. You can laugh at bad action scenes, bad drama, bad horror, bad romance... But never at bad comedy...

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Germans call it "Schadenfreude" when we laugh at a friend's misfortune... AND ALL the way through hazing rituals, I've come to understand that through humiliation we (humans in general) see a relatable value in each other. The more humiliated a person is in front of a group, the more valued he or she becomes... people will stop and even go out of their way to at least offer some tenuous support and/or encouragement. Almost nobody follows a humiliating story with a slap or punch to your face. There may or may not be a laugh, and then some kind of encouragement is offered. The human condition is simple. It's a red-hot mess. It might be a beautiful red-hot mess, but beauty doesn't preclude you from being a red-hot mess. We're human when we're largely winging it, stumbling through life with about half a clue, and as frequently "failing forward" as finding our footing and making progress through some purity of confidence and competence. We like to pretend that we've "got a good bead on things" when we barely have a clue what the hell we're even doing... or trying to do. A perfectly original and flawless character, always capable and doing the right thing without exception... is a Mary Sue, and we have a particular term(s) for it and an ingrained disdain for them as well... WITH OUT QUESTION. Think about that. AND the next time someone suggests you "make them more likeable" or to "humanize" them, they mean "f*ck 'em up so they're more flawed"... That Character is dangerously close to "too perfect to get along with" and will likely be dubbed a Mary Sue or Gary Stu., AND the rest of us grown and mature adults on the planet are flawed, scared, and screwed up human beings who just keep trying our best with what we have. We don't always work it out for the best, but there's always tomorrow, and we just keep trying because the alternative is to horrible to think about. ...AND sometimes you laugh, because if you don't you're just going to cry. ;o)

[@afbm6890]

This is real talk 😂❤

[@BooksForever]

“Stand up fish” was gold.

[@tomlewis4748]

My favorite quote about humor is from David Sedaris (a very funny guy) who says 'Everything is funny-eventually'. Now, that's funny. It gets to the heart of what makes or breaks attempts at humor, which is timing, which is the most important aspect of being comic. Timing not right? Even something humorous will then not be perceived as funny. What Sedaris says in that quote is iitself funny, because the timing in how he presents it, works. There are two immediate tasks in beginning a story: 1) create as much curiosity as you can to get the reader/viewer engaged and trying to imagine or predict what will happen next. 2) get them to bond with the protagonist. If they care, they will stay for the movie or will not hurl your novel off their balcony like it was a discus. There are a few recommended ways to do that second thing. Create empathy, which is usually done by giving the protagonist a problem to deal with. Make the protagonist someone they can identify with. Make the protag admirable (which is where the 'save the cat' moment comes in). Those are the 3 primary ways. The fourth primary way is to use humor. But that's not nearly as easy to do (unless you are Steve Martin). You can actively pursue the other three, but there is true peril in pursuing humor. When your conscious goal is to be funny, the opposite usually happens instead, and what the reader/viewer gets instead of laughs, is the douche chills. My take on that is it's best not to consciously pursue it. But if it arises organically in the writing process, then embrace it, by all means, and think of that as a gift.

[@kenlieck7756]

That Sedaris quote brings to mind Patton Oswalt's observation that "Tragedy + Comedy = Time". Or as somebody once said, "Ehh, it's a living!" If you want to get clinical about it, French absurdist Alfred Jarry famously defined humor as "the uniting of opposites".However, I disagree with this assertion. A fat man dancing with a skinny woman *might* be funny, but then again it might not. More accurately, I say humor is the uniting of the *incongruous:* A fat man dancing with an enormous Toilet Duck? Now that, sir, is comedy gold! Back in my days as a student in Junior High School I had already begun experimenting with this hypothesis. One one particular occasion I recall instructing a rather pedestrian girl to speak aloud the first two random words that popped into her head and that the results would be "funny". Sporting a blank look of disbelief and derision she nonetheless reluctantly acquiesced, and a moment later she uttered first the word "shit" and then followed this approximately one second later with "finger". A very brief silence followed before she spoke the phrase "shit finger" once more *sotto voce* and then burst into a loud and uncontrollable fit of laughter[1]. If you are curious as to my professional qualifications in discussing this highly specialized subject matter, I received my doctorate[2] under learned scholar/funnyman Shelley Berman in 1983-84, worked as a consultant on the Arizona Bay Project at Austin's Sacred Cow Production Institute 1996-2003 continuing the work of the late Prof. William Melvin "Bill" Hicks and consulting on additional studies with SCP fellows J. Rogan, D. Stanhope and A. Jones, and was most recently assigned the honorific title of "Drunk History Fact Checker" in 2018 by Sean Patton and Marc Normand (collectively). I have also had papers published in the respected academic journals Crazy, Gadfly, and Modern Drunkard. -- KWL NOTES: (1) Researchers at several Ivy League universities (and one Midwestern Clown College) were later able to successfully duplicate these results in a controlled environment. (2) As in the common phrase "Doctorate hurts when I do this!"

[@comicsmisexplained]

I think we can all agree that the blind man’s dog slipping on a banana peel is the most funny

[@DusanPavlicek78]

Yes, I knew that's the best one the moment I heard it 😂

[@phattjohnson]

It's got 4 legs?! HOW!?! :P

[@RobertPenner]

It seems to have the most irony: the dog has one job, to watch out for and avoid hazards. Plus it should be much more stable, having 4 legs and being much closer to the ground. And working eyes.

[@thumper8684]

That last bit, that comedy is about hope for the future, is where movies fail us. Maybe we should get angry some of the time.

[@debbyliu3726]

The workshop sounds amazing! Where can I apply for it? Thanks!

[@stevekaplan1170]

You can register on our website--check out the links above.

[@chasehedges6775]

Comedy is making people amused or causing them to burst in to laughter.

[@stevekaplan1170]

@@LiveForShineyCards No, comedy wasn't killed. It may have been slapped in the face and punched in the gut, but comics and comic writers are still out there, telling their truth.

[@Xplora213]

@@LiveForShineyCards not really. The person offended is irrelevant. That’s been the biggest shift. Catering to everyone - despite it being impossible to do so.

[@entrepreneurialtv937]

We need full interview

[@stevekaplan1170]

I believe the plan is to drop additional clips every couple of weeks or so, followed eventually by the full interview

[@pauldeleonfilm]

Great info

[@filmcourage]

What is your definition of funny versus comic?

[@iam607]

Funny people present funny things. Comics can make ANYTHING funny

[@KCBCollier]

Funny is an unexpected moment that delights. Comedy uses those funny moments to reveal something that propriety usually hides from us in everyday life

[@jcgorritti]

Funny is involuntary (it just happens). Comic is always intentional (it's performed).

[@RobertPenner]

Kaplan is inventing new definitions, and overly narrowing them to line up with his preferences. The real world has many counterexamples to his incomplete concepts.

[@RobertPenner]

But Kaplan's summation of a punchline being surprising yet inevitable is accurate. It's the most useful information in this talk.

[@kenrickbautista6141]

Though not the best at telling jokes, I always wanted to create a comedy, even though I love to make serialized dramas.

[@MrHunterseeker]

00:03 "Well everybodies funny" False. Hanna Gadsby. Not funny.

[@andrewgraeme8429]

There are no secrets to comedy and being funny is not a skill anyone can learn. You are either funny or you are not funny. Most of us are somewhere between those two. As Jerry Lewis said, "There are at least 10,000 people in America who could play Hamlet and put on a great performance, but there are perhaps ten people in America who are genuinely funny!" If you want to understand what is funny, watch the film Funny Bones. "There are people who do funny and there are people who are funny - they have funny bones!" Steve Kaplan's books (which I have) try to teach people how to do funny. But like most sitcoms today, you can do funny all day, but to make people really laugh, you have to be funny.

[@stevekaplan1170]

First, thanks for getting the books! As I said in the books, funny is subjective. Jerry Seinfeld can make people really laugh, but you know, there are people who don't find him funny. And this whole thing about "you can't teach comedy" is a crock. You can't teach someone to be Mozart, but that doesn't stop music teachers from educating musicians. In my opinion, comedy is an art form, and just as you can teach musicians and painters, you can teach people the art of comedy writing and performing. (What do you think the people at Second City, The Groundlings, and UCB are doing?) And maybe Jerry Lewis is not the authority of who's funny and who's not. You know that he's said that women aren't funny. Sarah Silverman and Tina Fey might have something to say about that. Plus, having been in a production of Hamlet in my early years as an actor, I can tell you definitively that there are NOT 10,000 people in America who could play Hamlet and put on a good performance. There aren't 10,000 people who could memorize four hours plus of Shakespeare and recite it, let alone perform it adequately. But finally, thanks again for getting the books!!

[@andrewgraeme8429]

@@stevekaplan1170 Thank you for such a fulsome reply and I agree that Mr Lewis was not the best authority on what is and is not funny. He migrated from being funny as a young man to doing funny - just as his character does in 'Funny Bones'. Yes, your book 'The Hidden Tools of Comedy' does explain how to do funny - the mechanics of being funny - and comedy clubs across Planet Earth are filled with desperate young people doing funny and we, the audience, laugh politely because sitting there stoney-faced would be cruel! Cruel but honest! They know how to hit a punchline and they have mastered the rhythm of the joke - but too often they do not have funny bones. If they were not trying to be funny, we would soon tire of their company. Perhaps a person with funny bones is close to crying - the funny comes out to stop the crying. Anger? Sadness? Carlin and Prior - very angry and very funny! What is the difference? I've seen comedian Kenneth Williams (in life a very sad and lonely man) doing a one-man show in one of the smaller London theatres - all he did was walk on stage, sit in a chair, cross his legs, pout a little and look at the audience - and the audience was falling about with laughter. He didn't say anything. He didn't have to! This spidery little man just waited for them to calm down before he began to tell stories of his life - kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXelh3Z_jqdoj7s When a person with funny bones walks on stage or appears on screen, the mood changes. We feel safe. We want to be in their company. We know instinctively that even if they are not being deliberately funny, we would still listen to them because we like them!

[@stevekaplan1170]

​@@andrewgraeme8429 I forget who first said it, but it goes something like this: A comic says funny things; a comedian says things funny. But my books are mostly aimed at people writing and directing comedy. The majority of them are not performers with funny bones. Writers like like Judd Apatow, Larry David and Jeff Garlin flopped as stand-ups. Comedy is an art form with as many permutations as there are things to laugh at, and there are many people practicing their art with varying degrees of success. I wish them, and you, all the best in their various pursuits. There is one truth, though: every great comic sucked at some point in their career. So, at some point, they learned, or taught themselves, what they needed to know to succeed. And even that success is relative. How did Kenneth Williams get where he is? I suspect he wasn't born that way--he wasn't a hysterically funny toddler. But along the way, he must have learnedThere are people who swear by Woody Allen, and others who can't stand him. Same goes for Dave Chappelle, Ricky Gervais, Dane Cook, etc. Maybe being funny isn't a skill that can be learned, but comedy--writing, directing, and even performing--is.

[@currentphonograph7487]

Now Banana up the tail pipe is funny

[@cobymarcum1442]

Bad jokes are enjoyable, like stepping on a Lego.

[@James_Bowie]

A stand up fish. 😄

[@Narco42]

Mel Brooks is legend.

[@nickybjammin7629]

❤ The police academy movies are epic. I can tell someone something it can be tragic or it can be funny. Most of my life is filled with calamity sort of an ironic comedy LOL. Physical comedies pretty hilarious though, like the three stooges episode where the lady kept barking at curly until he lets her dance with him. She was awesome too back when females used there eyes and facial expressions. O man Mouse Hunt!! That’s an epic comedy! The two brothers that’s comedy/calamity and the panting of their dad in the painting that changes facial expressions throughout the movie basically approving and disapproving of his son’s decisions LOL. Thay just don’t make em like that anymore. Remember in police academy when Mahoney hid the hooker in the podium, and he was stuck in there with her and then commadent Lessard looks back just in time to see Mahoney’s head pop out of the podium and look around and he thinks Mahoney gave him a BJ 🤣 and then wrecks his golf cart comes in the office and says… what do you intend to do about Mahoney? and they ask what’s he done this time? And all he can say is….. he did a very, very, very bad thing! 😂 but they end the movie with the roles reversed so the audience isn’t left hanging (commant Lessard figured it out and does the same thing to Mahone during his speech, ending the movie with a zipper noise and a smile from the Commadont😂) Epic 💯🙌🏼 🎶I wonna be somebody 🎶 for first time something feels right 🎶 killer soundtrack too.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Writers are a tad too busy PREACHING and belittling everyone to bother being funny just now. It's not a dead art, and I doubt comedy will die... BUT just now, there seems to be no available bandwidth without politics or some agenda being forced to the surface, and that simply precludes anything from being funny. ;o)

[@nickybjammin7629]

@@gnarthdarkanen7464 I feel ya I haven’t had any preach at me yet LOL but dude you should check out more guest on this show. There’s people on here that get it and that take time to keep themselves balanced about it you can’t stop other peoples liberties and yea it’s wildly twisted but we gotta keep pursuing life and liberty Brotha 💯🇺🇸🗽 Check out a gentleman by the name of Chris Gore. He is very passionate about movies and storytelling. He’s from the time you know what I’m sayin. When every movie was Epic 🙌🏼 he’s also a good example on how to stay balanced so to speak it’s a big market out there probably a lot more players too…everybody wanted In and now it’s here…now regular people are busting their ass’s making their dreams, even people with the imagination we’re not some fond of 🤣 cause that’s all it really is at the end of the day. You gotta get out there see who you fit in with. Either way make sure it’s good people even if they don’t know any better just make sure they got a good heart.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

@@nickybjammin7629 I've been bouncing back and forth between "other sh*t to do just now" and trying to catch up with Film Courage... It's one of the most eclectic and relatively calm interview shows on YT... That's really what I like about it. Karen (gal behind the camera) will ask a question and then actually sit still and LET the other person talk. Almost nobody can sit still like that, letting the conversation go organically. AND yeah, I've seen Gore. He's generally got his head on straight, and speaks his mind. In some ways (maybe by genre?) the market's getting saturated and overly competitive... In others, it's wide open with customers BEGGING for fresh material. I'm figuring a few things out... It may get me somewhere and may not... ONLY time will tell. In any case, I not only try to surround myself with decent people I can fit in with, but I avoid the temptation to "hate-watch" anything. If I don't like something, I don't click... I don't stick around the channel (on TV) and I don't let my attention help their marketing... I'm so glad my parents taught me to BE the master of my tech' rather than the other way around. ;o)

[@Ami-dk9pl]

The funniest would be a gorilla stepping and slipping on a banana!

[@stevekaplan1170]

Absolutely! I wish I had thought of that!

[@Shwavybaby]

I didnt laugh once this whole vid😳

[@stevekaplan1170]

Now, that's funny! (Also, it wasn't a stand-up routine. Sorry you didn't get a lot out of it.)

[@jacobstaten2366]

I hate movies that are advertised as or have a comedy feel but aren't very funny. It's better to have a serious movie that has jokes. Also fire and forget instead of harking on a joke 'Family Guy's style.