SWA #1

The first chapter of Comedy Writing Secrets explains to the reader how to become a successful comedic writer. It dismisses the belief that being funny is a trait that some people are born with and others just have to live without. Rather people can be taught humor writing and with practice the skill can be polished to near perfection. The skill of being able to write humor can be used in nearly any profession, from teaching to being the President of the United States. According to the book every president elected since Franklin Roosevelt have had humorists as members of their speech writing teams. In order to write successful humor readers are informed that they must make use of three elements: Material (which must be appropriate according to one’s audience), Audience (which must “complement the material and presentation style of the performer”) and Performer (which must present the appropriate material to the right audience in a way that doesn’t offend, but causes laughter), this technique is referred to as MAP.
Prior to reading Comedy Writing Secrets I thought that this was going to be yet another textbook that English professors assign to their classes full of facts, facts and more facts. Once I got the book and saw the bright yellow cover (complimented by a falling stick figure) I started to wonder if maybe the authors were trying to trick you into thinking that you were going to be reading something that was actually somewhat interesting. The book has proven to be not only informative but entertaining as well. The most informative section has been MAP. I didn’t know that so much thought had to be put into performing comedy, but apparently unless the comedian thinks about what he is going to perform prior to presenting his material he may have to deal with either a silent crowd or an angry one. By knowing what type of audience to expect the performer is better equipped to know what will and what will not be a successful routine. My favorite example that the book gave made perfect sense: you wouldn’t tell a group of older people (retirees) a joke that included numerous sexual innuendos along with a large helping of swear words that would make a sailor proud.
One question that came to mind after reading this section was: “What if the performer’s audience is a mix of all genders, races, ethnicities and ages? What common ground could that performer find that would entertain everyone in the audience and not offend too many people?”