Unbelievable Secret Behind 99% Of All Comedy - John Vorhaus

[@fiercemonkey1]

We seriously need the entire interview please

[@filmcourage]

This is a great one! Excited to share more!

[@FAKKER_rap]

Yas

[@KenChawkin]

Love that explanation of defeat of expectation. A masterful analysis of what can be funny.

[@ShivaLovesHalloween]

Comedy is the hardest thing to write in a movie script or a book because you have to think about what other people think is funny. That's why my safety genres are horror, thriller, and suspense.

[@MarkPeotter]

Try to reveal an honest cruelty about the lack of success in the character's attempt to be a hero. Expose the vulnerability of the person who cannot be the hero. If the reader can relate to the reason why the character cannot succeed, it is funny.

[@shakibomrani9830]

Such a wise man!

[@filmcourage]

You found a good one!

[@ShyamkrishnanNair]

Exactly! Comedy thrives on the mix of truth and pain-it shines a light on uncomfortable truths by offering a moment of relief through humor. I’ve noticed in my own experiences, sometimes the most impactful jokes are those that reflect something raw or painful, yet frame it in a way that gives us a new perspective. Humor often comes from conflict, whether internal or external, and when done right, it can be cathartic. The Sense of Humor Improvement Program by Habit10x helped me explore this dynamic, enhancing my understanding of how humor can make serious moments feel lighter. Embrace humor's complexity-it can be your secret weapon for deeper connection!

[@campbellpaul]

John Vorhaus is a legend! Great interview!

[@turntoyou]

Really appreciate his comments on conflict and pain. I find this to be very true. I have to be in immense pain to make changes. It's weird being the "cause" of conflict and suffering when writing. If our characters were real, could they understand the value in what we allowed or even caused to happen to them? How do we feel about God, or at least the concept of a god, in relation to our own sufferings? I find these thoughts fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Try being a GM (Game Master) for a Campaign... and get even ANYTHING "Good" out of it. As a GM, in practice, I don't "play God" because I even tell Him what to do inside the Game. I've been doing it for more than 30 years, so I've had LOTS of time to think about the whole concept. BUT as a GM, I'm there to create the entire world (universe), define systems for magic and science or not, set levels of technology for what's even available or possible... and not. THEN I get to the "nuts and bolts" of the adventure, where I develop the Villainy that the Players (my FRIENDS at the Table) are going to want to destroy or stop somehow. Most of the time, in SPITE of wanting my friends and their PC's to succeed, at the detriment of my best composed villains, henchmen, minions, and all... I'm there to challenge their Characters, deny them avenues of retreat and peace, steal away their happiness, and generally set them on dark roads with uncertain futures... full of torture, agony, despair, torments, and hardships. I'll cost them friends and allies, wreck their families, bleed them when they're already weak and raw... terrify them... and when they act outside of the heroic journey or resort to less than their stalwart calls and standards of valor, PUNISH them with consequences... Maybe that's what God's actually done with this universe. Set us upon a road with choices... We can be valorous and noble, or seething with ego and greedy, cowardly, and ulterior. That is always our choice... ...if you believe in that sort of thing... At the same time, I'm barely a human sized speck of life on a little ball of mud and rock, spinning around one of an infinite number of stars in a near-infinite number of galaxies. There are things I can see in the sky that I can barely manage to conceive of or explain to you... SO if there IS a God, a singularly ultimate power that created all the is... all that ever was... and all that ever shall be... ...WHAT THE HELL BUSINESS do I have thinking I could remotely understand Him? Her? It??? I like to think that there's an ultimate power... An energy of creation in spirit. It's the thing that powered the "Big Bang" and set everything in motion. I like to think that the universe as we know it happens because it can be NO OTHER WAY, and because there was such energy in spirit involved, life happened because it could be NO other way... WE evolved from that life, developing sentience and sapience, because with that ultimate power of spirit, it simply could be NO other way... We (then) might well have come about as human beings, or regardless of our form physically, so that the universe could take account of itself... could realize itself. Scientists still debate whether anything truly exists before it's been measured and the data logged... at least in quantum physics... SO maybe we really are the universe trying to realize itself, at least in part. ;o)

[@AndrewDChristie]

Thanks!

[@filmcourage]

Thank you so much Andrew! This interview with John is one of favorites from the past year. Love it when others find value in it!

[@queen2105]

Very informative and interesting interview. Please make more videos with John.

[@filmcourage]

Much more to come!

[@TheSimCaptain]

Yep.

[@UShistorymatters]

I rarely get taken aback by a KZbin video. I'm glad I clicked on it. I had never heard of this man until now. I want to hear more!

[@filmcourage]

Great to hear! John is fascinating. Here is our full interview - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZfYeWBtorKchsk We also have links to John's work in the info section.

[@laronwilliams801]

Really insightful stuff. Thanks for sharing!

[@paulettemusic]

He's such a good talker. I don't know if it'll make me a better artist, but he's such a good talker.

[@Tightrope_Comedy]

Bill Burr does a great job writing jokes about his wife and himself without getting too cruel

[@jonathanrivlin6248]

Check out his book, "The Comic Toolbox, How to be Funny Even When You're Not"

[@Reggie2000]

One word why I know he's wrong without watching this video. Absurdity. I write a ton of Absurdity comedy. And Absurdity comedy does not have to include cruelty at all. But obviously, many jokes can be had from someone being the butt of the joke.

[@ehvway]

Already watched +15 of your videos since my last reaction. My reaction this time is (again): your videos are gold! Love and respect for you guys!❤😎 And also the questions you ask are very good! When someone who is interviewed regularly and says "Good question!" , That is a big compliment!

[@iloveFreedom.]

The best comedy brings people together

[@thecuriousquest]

This is so helpful

[@rafaellewis1263]

His book ‘Creativity Rules!’ is my favorite book on writing and I’ve read a lot of em’.

[@filmcourage]

Nice!

[@acsaudiodramas]

A fantastic interview that helps writers to grow. I understand my own writing better now - with comedy being the element challenging the characters to grow. I have this character there and people might find it disturbing, that I throw comedy at her, since she isn't actually arrogant or a bad person but already suffering and hurt. BUT the character's fatal flaw is people pleasing. Her terrible fear of failing to please everyone got her into her lifelong misery in the first place and due to the comedic situations I put her into, she finally releases her surpressed anger. Sure, this will first lead to the next disaster in the story since that overflowing anger causes her to join the wrong side and fight the good guys, but it also will help the heroes to grow into better people and her in the end finally to learn reacting accordingly - not to try to please everyone all time at all costs and neither to hate and betray everyone. She never had the chance to learn natural behaviour, due to her unusual upbringing.

[@maureenharrison6170]

Really appreciate the lessons given here. Thanks

[@filmcourage]

You got it Maureen! Thanks for visiting!

[@filmcourage]

What do you think? Please post a comment below.

[@jcgorritti]

Beautiful lesson. Never before had I heard that "comedy is cruelty", even though my personal brand of humor is indeed cruel.

[@qwe1231]

"Phil Romuno"? Sounds like he accidentally conflated Phil Rosenthal and Ray Romano.

[@hopkad]

He certainly did SMH

[@MADDMOODY516]

I would say it's an acknowledgement of grace in pain. Or grace/truth found in an inherently grace-less/truth-less/confusing place. And or earth/the realm of duality.

[@nelisezpasce]

Here's a video featuring a genius, and John Vorhaus is also there!

[@davidsuperville7541]

comedy in tragedy: when I was in 10th grade, I was elated when an attractive 11th grade girl wanted to walk to class with me (we had AP Pysch together). We walked at a casual pace and she laughed at every witty comment I made. Suddenly, the laughter stopped and when I looked over, she had vanished. I was dumbfounded by her sudden disappearance. I then looked down and discovered her splayed out on the walkway. I immediately bent over and started picking up her books. I then reached out to grab her hand and help her back up. And that's when I looked over and saw that she had slipped on a banana peel! I laughed so hard I accidentally dropped all her books on her upper chest and dropped her back to the ground. .... we never walked to class together after that.

[@jinchoung]

- pain - cruelty - justice (it seems to me - the least form of it being just someone "getting knocked down a peg" - so it's funny when an arrogant president slips and falls, not as funny when homeless vet without legs does the same) - subversion of expectations - recognition of the absurd - seems like it should be in there too but it's probably related to justice except the target of the joke is life, humanity and the universe in general)

[@ekhorosejohnbosco9206]

Learnt much here

[@Hyplum]

Great info

[@ram2862]

True . Comedy is sadistic pleasure

[@SallyBunBun]

tried contacting John via his email, but there is no ‘send’ button….. he encourages budding writers to contact him too :(

[@cafricaglobal]

Hi @filmcourage , your Final Draft free 30 Days trial link is not working, please check and edit. Thank you.

[@filmcourage]

Thank you for letting us know!

[@yourcommander3412]

Diamonds are made under pressure.

[@ramonek9109]

Marge from accounting has it coming.

[@PodaTruth]

No wonder so mamy Gen z ers nowadasy hate comedy. Cuz we aint able to love the art we hate the part. It’s as if we can’t separate the entertainment from the suffering part, and we drive thin lines between jokes and insults. Offensive because we take it as such, funny valuable to those having the ability to separate joke and insult

[@PodaTruth]

Comedy is Teuth and Pain made me think

[@kyshtym]

i think as soon as you say "all comedy is X" you're headed down the wrong road.

[@NibblesTheGuinea]

Marge from accounting catching strays. Pray for her

[@AmateurVolcanologist]

They say to explain a joke is to ruin it. Yet the jokes seem broken ahead of time.

[@getstakerized]

Comedy = pain + time… That’s the common truism!

[@getstakerized]

Another truism: comedy is when an expectation is defeated or subverted

[@Shimamon27]

I know my comedy is probably not very relatable. Try to have it on my animations, because it's fun. Otherwise the whole animations would just be uncanny weird horror... The personal humor, while probably not working, lightens the mood a bit.

[@boreeeed]

Disagree, kramer is always funny when he does slapstick, and that is a low status becoming even more low status. There are more examples as well, like jim carrey's movies or fred armisen in the bubble ect.. So i highly Disagree.

[@activepieces]

First comment!

[@guillotineblade999]

Sounds like he read the Daoist classics.

[@getstakerized]

Another classic example: Lucy, Charlie Brown and the football… I find this completely unfunny, because it’s pure cruelty, it’s completely expected… and it doesn’t upset the power structure, if you will… If the joke is that Charlie Brown should know better, that’s just sad and ‘pathetic,’ in the literal sense… it just annoys me…

[@habungnob8575]

First comment ✌️

[@Destroyah5000]

Cool guy. He's unaffaid to deconstruct a joke for education's sake.

[@nh8444]

Pain makes us grow and learn from. Why do you think all these helicopter parented kids are growing into adults who can’t deal with comedy, let alone opinions they disagree with?

[@barrytyler]

I don’t laugh at someone slipping in a banana peel.

[@das.gegenmittel]

nah, there is a true point, but the philosophy part could be much more defined.

[@KelniusTV]

What do you get when you cross a sheep with a kangaroo? A woolly jumper. A small, dumb joke - but one that disproves this whole video... there's no cruelty or suffering in that joke.

[@rbloch66]

I beg to differ..... the pain of experiencing that joke was excrusciating.

[@elladharni8799]

no cruelty? Have you considered the sheep? And the kangoroo?

[@CynicalSnowflake]

@@elladharni8799 Don't forget the people who have to listen to that 'joke'.

[@verystablegenius4720]

too abstract and abstruse: this guy can claim any joke is truth and pain all he wants. it's like saying all life is carbon. yeah, so what?