The Art of Comedy WritingJust as a distinctive literary voice or style is marked by the ease with which it can be parodied, so too can specific aspects of humor be unique. Playwrights, television writers, novelists, cartoonists, and film scriptwriters use many special technical devices to create humor. Just as dramatic writers and novelists use specific devices to craft their work, creators of humorous materials—from the ancient Greeks to today’s stand-up comics—have continued to use certain techniques in order to generate humor. In The Art of Comedy Writing, Arthur Asa Berger argues that there are a relatively limited number of techniques—forty-five in all—that humorists employ. Elaborating upon his prior, in-depth study of humor, An Anatomy of Humor, in which Berger provides a content analysis of humor in all forms—joke books, plays, comic books, novels, short stories, comic verse, and essays—The Art of Comedy Writing goes further. Berger groups each technique into four basic categories: humor involving identity such as burlesque, caricature, mimicry, and stereotype; humor involving logic such as analogy, comparison, and reversal; humor involving language such as puns, wordplay, sarcasm, and satire; and finally, chase, slapstick, and speed, or humor involving action. Berger claims that if you want to know how writers or comedians create humor study and analysis of their humorous works can be immensely insightful. This book is a unique analytical offering for those interested in humor. It provides writers and critics with a sizable repertoire of techniques for use in their own future comic creations. As such, this book will be of interest to people inspired by humor and the creative process—professionals in the comedy field and students of creative writing, comedy, literary humor, communications, broadcast/media, and the humanities. |
From inside the book
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Page 2
... scene to scene in some cases. On Comic Techniques Just as there are different styles one can adopt in writing, there are also a number of techniques one can use in generating humor in texts. I have developed atypology of techniques of ...
... scene to scene in some cases. On Comic Techniques Just as there are different styles one can adopt in writing, there are also a number of techniques one can use in generating humor in texts. I have developed atypology of techniques of ...
Page 4
... scene in a text. But I have found, in working with students in classroom exercises, that it is generally possible to decide which technique is dominant and which techniques are secondary in jokes and other texts. 5. These techniques ...
... scene in a text. But I have found, in working with students in classroom exercises, that it is generally possible to decide which technique is dominant and which techniques are secondary in jokes and other texts. 5. These techniques ...
Page 5
... Scene 25. Insults 40. Scale, Size 11. Coincidence 26. Irony 41. Slapstick 12. Comparison 27. Literalness 42. Speed 13. Definition 28. Mimicry 43. Stereotypes 14. Disappointment 29. Mistakes 44. Theme/Variation 15. Eccentricity 30 ...
... Scene 25. Insults 40. Scale, Size 11. Coincidence 26. Irony 41. Slapstick 12. Comparison 27. Literalness 42. Speed 13. Definition 28. Mimicry 43. Stereotypes 14. Disappointment 29. Mistakes 44. Theme/Variation 15. Eccentricity 30 ...
Page 6
... scene where the doorbell rings, but when one of the characters, Mrs. Smith, goes to answer it, there's nobody there. The third time this happens she refuses to answer the door. [The doorbell rings again.] Mr. Smith: Goodness, someone is ...
... scene where the doorbell rings, but when one of the characters, Mrs. Smith, goes to answer it, there's nobody there. The third time this happens she refuses to answer the door. [The doorbell rings again.] Mr. Smith: Goodness, someone is ...
Page 7
... scene in which Henry Carr, the lead character, gives a very long speech describing Joyce, Lenin, and Tzara— the three characters who, by chance, are all together in Switzerland and are using the same library. In his description of Tzara ...
... scene in which Henry Carr, the lead character, gives a very long speech describing Joyce, Lenin, and Tzara— the three characters who, by chance, are all together in Switzerland and are using the same library. In his description of Tzara ...
Contents
1 | |
Miles Gloriosus | 51 |
Twelfth Night | 65 |
The School for Scandal | 83 |
The Bald Soprano | 97 |
Beyond Devices | 111 |
A General Bibliography of Humor | 119 |
Name Index | 123 |
Subject Index | 125 |
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Common terms and phrases
absurdity Alazon ALGERNON Artotrogus audience Bald Soprano Bobby Watson BRACKNELL brother captain CARR cascades of cacas Cecily Cesario characters Charles CLOWN cockatoos create humor dada dada dada discrepant awareness doorbell rings eiron Eugene Ionesco exaggeration example Fabian Falstaff Feste fool forty-five techniques Glycera gossip GWEN Gwendolyn identity ignorance impersonation insults involves Ionesco Jack joke Joseph Surface JOYCE Lady Sneerwell Lady Teazle language laughter letter logic Malvolio Maria married MARTIN Miles Gloriosus mistake Mosca Olivia Orsino Palaestrio parody PERIP Periplectomenus Philocomasium Plautus play playwrights plot pretending PYRGO Pyrgopolinices reveal ridiculous satire says SCEL Sceledrus scene School for Scandal servant Shakespeare Sheridan’s The School Sir Andrew Sir Oliver Sir Toby Sir Topas SMITH social someone stereotypes Stoppard Stoppard’s Travesties style suggest talking techniques of humor tells thee there’s things thou Tristan Tzara Twelfth Night TZARA Unmasking Viola Volpone what’s wife woman wordplay words