The Simple Formula for Witty Dialogue

Wit! You can't describe it but you know wit when you see it. It's coming up with the perfect quip at the right moment, but how does one master the art of being witty? As Humphrey Bogart said in "The Barefoot Contessa", there's more to talking than just words (that's a paradox).
What do William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Billy Wilder, Peter Greenaway, Groucho Marx and you two hours too late have in common? We'll go through some of the wittiest movies ever written like "Ridicule", "All About Eve", "The Thin Man", "His Girl Friday", "Casablanca", "The Belly of an Architect", "The Lion in Winter", "Closer", "Kind Hearts and Coronets" and "Sweet Smell of Success" to find out.
This video essay will reveal the simple formula that can make you a master of wordplay, repartee, paradox, quipping or what you will. I know you're already a master of double entendre.
00:00 Ridicule
00:57 Wit
01:50 Wordplay
02:58 Double entendre
03:38 "Misinterpretation"
04:09 Thinking Wit
06:11 Sweet Smell of Success
07:00 Specificity
08:30 Esprit d'escalier
#videoessay #dialogue #screenwriting #cinema #screenwritingtips #film #witty
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[@floydffrogfloydffrog7453]

"If I called you a wit I'd be half right" I'm not sure who said this first but it's particularly appropriate here (because it's a witticism using the word "wit", not the sentiment itself).

[@BOBMAN1980]

"Dammmit. I keep getting my skis stuck in these fucking weeds!" "How do you know they're FUCKING weeds?" "Because there'll be more of them in the springtime." True story, abbreviated.

[@curtisnixon5313]

At the start of the movie 'Blind Flight' Brian Keenan writes on the blackboard in his English language classroom: "the Englishman is funny, he makes me laugh. The Irishman is witty, he makes me think." Always stuck with me.

[@AWinkAndASmile]

One reason that I enjoy your videos is your own mastery of wit: "Now, go and wit away." A clever use of catachresis.

[@postmodernrecycler]

Somehow you uncanned 3000 years of philosophy and 100 years of film in 10 minutes. That is wit. RIDICULE ends with the Englishman, "Screw wit. We have humour." Your analysis teaches and delights.

[@Moviewise]

Thank you, as ever, for the comment, Postmodern Recycler!

[@deborahrose8621]

Such charming wit!

[@AxelQC]

"Ridicule" is a fantastic film. I highly recommend.

[@harrycahill2140]

Great! Now we can all be Coen brothers and Tarantino after watching this video.

[@N_Loco_Parenthesis]

Nice witticism of your own (04:54), punning on "the wit" and the image of DeWitt.

[@abrahemsamander3967]

I’ve wanted a video like this for a long time.

[@mayorofohio]

this is such a great channel i’m so glad i found it

[@Moviewise]

And I’m glad you’re here, Mister Mayor

[@grindelston5968]

Massively underrated, I think your channel will be big someday

[@lunarmodule6419]

And he makes more points for referecing non-american movies - older at that

[@LukeRanieri]

Wonderful! and George Costanza at the end was pure poetry

[@totallyfrozen]

We’ve all felt it

[@ronmackinnon9374]

'The jerk store called, and they're out of you!!' 'But George...they don't *have* jerk stores.'

[@ronmackinnon9374]

I completely agree that 'Sweet Smell of Success' has some of the best dialogue ever written. 👍 (Edit:) BTW (for anyone who doesn't know), the screenplay for that film was co-written by the New York playwright Clifford Odets, who was the basis for the title character from the Coen brothers' 'Barton Fink.'

[@Jukeboksi]

If everybody is speaking metaphorically, then it becomes witty to state the obvious. Without a baseline or a foundation there can hardly be any wit to be had.

[@sleepinggorilla]

I once had an hour long debate about wit, humor, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We were walking home from the movie and I was trying to explain that “wit is humorous, and not all humor is witty.”

[@southlondon86]

The 1990 film?

[@multipass113]

Such an enjoyable video. I still struggle to define wit but often it’s dialogues that make me simultaneously chuckle and feel smart. I feel that way every time I watch a Lubitsch and the most recent example I can think of is FRASIER.

[@acriticwithoutacause8983]

learned a lot as always. I hope your videos will make the audience smarter & smarter. One day they will start demanding better script over the silly popcorn movies that make millions.

[@Moviewise]

Hope springs eternal, my friend

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

I loved ridicule (the movie) and was delighted to see it (as well as Ninotchka my favorite)

[@Zed-fq3lj]

This video is pure joy! 🤩

[@RavensOsFan89]

Wonderful video essay Movie wise.

[@Moviewise]

Thank you for watching, Ryan

[@Selrisitai]

For years I've been saying, from the perspective of a novelist, that specificity lends authority and wit, which can in turn create humor. I'd always use the example of someone cutting you off while you're driving along, and saying, "This car cut me off!" versus saying, "This yellow Prius cut me off!" For some reason, just being specific about it being a yellow Prius makes the phrase far more interesting, which isn't saying much. Your example of the fifty-yard dash is far better in every way. Still, it's good to know that I've been ahead of the curve all this time, though I kind of wouldn't mind a video on this topic that goes into even more depth. I feel like there's really something here that I could learn from. This reminds me of the figures of rhetoric. They weren't invented, they were _observed._ People would probably just intuit them, but once they were written down, defined, others could intentionally use them, learn them, develop them with understanding. Polyptoton, synechdoche, alliteration, the list of course goes on and on.

[@jayallman]

See also "There's a spider in your bathroom the size of a Buick." (Annie Hall). It's the specificity of "Buick" that makes it funny.

[@LordBaktor]

I think slower than the average person so I've fallen prey of being witty a tad to late more times than I can count. And I can count pretty far up.

[@animelvr99]

you would be the champion of the counting bee lol

[@CarlOttersen]

I absolutely loved Ridicule!

[@angelonintendo]

What's the name of "fool me once, shame on you, you fool me... you can't get fooled again"

[@ronmackinnon9374]

Aphasia.

[@BradleySmithYoutube]

Excellent video

[@erinaltstadt4234]

Thank you

[@edithweil1647]

Brian Dennehy?!? That was unexpected.

[@ronmackinnon9374]

To play the lead in 'Belly of an Architect,' he had the girth they were looking for.

[@spinneyavant]

0:58 you cannot describe it, but you knoWIT when you see it sorry

[@Clubsandwichchav]

Thx for this video.

[@ronmackinnon9374]

No need to sound apologetic about discussing the film 'Ridicule.' I'm one of those who saw it when it had its US release. I'll always remember the part where the protagonist realizes he's been double-crossed and gets up from the table, and as he's walking away, someone puts him down by saying, 'You can always judge a man by the company he keeps!' And he comes right back with: 'Not at all - Judas Iscariot kept excellent company.'

[@liltick102]

0:43 Wellll, Considering that Kubrick was praised for his candlelight in Barry Lyndon.. This is heavily on par... Now idk how they made this versus his method, or if this was the same... Either way, looks pretty good to me. That pan in reminds me of 2020’s stuff a lil, but it feels genuine.

[@VideotecaNaturista]

A Gigi D'Agostino reference? Ha!

[@southlondon86]

Sir you are doing God’s work.

[@MrWinstonSmith]

I liked this

[@ronmackinnon9374]

(5:36) From 'The Barefoot Contessa.'

[@lunarmodule6419]

Fun and... witty thx

[@TheArdipithecus]

Werde ich be witty in 10 minutes or nein?

[@liltick102]

1:27 what film is this? “If I were you I wouldn’t pay it” .. Gonna use that lmao

[@Moviewise]

A Night at the Opera (Sam Wood, 1935) I use that joke so often it’s become second nature to me when the bill arrives.

[@liltick102]

@@Moviewise I’m still in the opening scene, but man oh man I love this so much already.

[@philipobrien7155]

Why do we only think of better retorts later?

[@fhujf]

While our conscious mind quickly moves on to other topics, our unconscius keeps plugging away without us being aware of it. When finally comes up with something worthy, up it pops into our conscious with with the response that makes us wish time travel was possible. It's the same mechanic of mind that makes you suddenly remember where you'd put that item which you failed to find an hour earlier.

[@Saturn2888]

Where should I start when watching Woody Allen? I got intrigued by one of your videos, but I don't know where to begin :/.

[@anonygent]

Hannah and Her Sisters is considered the masterpiece, but really you can start anywhere. You can even watch some of his early standup... "They have these cruises now where you can pick the kind of women you want to meet. So I signed up for a tramp steamer."

[@ronmackinnon9374]

@@anonygent 'It turns out it's against the law in New York state to be driving with a live moose strapped to the back of your truck, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.'

[@PiggyVanHausen]

What's the song at 6:18? I definitely heard it before and it's killing me

[@Moviewise]

It's called The Moon Drops. A nice, dark, jazzy tune I thought went well with Sweet Smell of Success

[@PiggyVanHausen]

@@Moviewise thanks so much! I would also like to take the opportunity and thank you for your content. It's certainly the best content about filmmaking there is on youtube. You are unabashedly honest and very knowledgeable. While I do disagree on some of your takes, you still have very good reasons to think that way and are very substantiated in your opinions. Massive respect to you and your work, please keep it coming.

[@Moviewise]

And thank you for the kind words!

[@riadanc]

Would be grateful if anyone would say which movie is depicted around 3:30 "a drink at 5 o'clock in the morning"?

[@Moviewise]

The Reluctant Debutante (Vincente Minnelli, 1958)

[@riadanc]

Thank you! I've been enjoying your videos, and learning what absent techniques lead to so many new movies feeling unsatisfying and bland. An added bonus is being introduced to older films of quality I was unfamiliar with.@@Moviewise

[@bfkc111]

I think everyone is just too ashamed to admit that Shakespeare's wordplays on "lie" are the worst thing they ever heard. (Not saying it's all as bad as that. E.g. the psychological and existential writing in Macbeth does not get any better.)

[@krustyknight2943]

Why do you sound like Duffman? 😅

[@biancastephanie8830]

I’ve been struggling writing witty dialogue and trying to make it sound cheesy 😭

[@brandontownsend6955]

It’s called a treppen witz in German.

[@roundninja]

I feel like there are KZbin comments wittier than most of these lines. I mean, not most KZbin comments, certainly not this KZbin comment, but still a surprising amount of them.

[@johnczuill1344]

You don't understand Oscar Wilde at all. The closer you look the better he gets. In fact I don't think you understand wit. His ironies are not only trenchant, they structure whole poems, plays and essays. I think you've missed the point completely.

[@anonygent]

I think he understood perfectly. Oscar Wilde's wit is of the urbane but essentially meaningless type that leaves you still hungry. It's clever but vapid.