How to Write Funny: Your Serious, Step-By-Step Blueprint For Creating Incredibly, Irresistibly, Successfully Hilarious Writing

by Scott Dikkers

Wordplay can take any number of forms: revealing double or triple meanings (entendre); making up new words; puns; word switches; the repetition of words; playing with the sounds of words.

Funny-Writing Tip #12: Play It Straight Mark Twain said it best: “The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact

that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it.” Don’t wink at the audience. Don’t be cute. Don’t laugh along with your jokes. When you appear convincingly unaware that you’re trying to be amusing, when you use verisimilitude to remain true to a “straight person” voice—regardless how ridiculous and humorous the ideas you’re presenting—this is what we call “playing it straight.” The contrast you create between your sober delivery and your hilarious material adds an important layer of Irony to your humor.

In prose writing, Wordplay is especially useful in titles, headlines

The difference between a groaner and a sophisticated, genuinely funny Wordplay joke is often as simple as that: a groaner is Wordplay without Subtext, a successful joke is Wordplay with Subtext, especially astute Subtext. Another important guideline to keep in mind when using Wordplay is Funny-Writing Tip #12 (“Play It Straight”). More than any other Funny Filter, Wordplay risks exposing the writer’s effort to be overly clever or cute, which readers will perceive as a wink. This effort becomes far more obvious when there is poor Subtext or none at all.

Like Shock, good Wordplay is often no more than a garnish on humor writing. As the main thrust of the writing (again, unless used in service of good Subtext), Wordplay can feel too lightweight to generate sizable laughs.

WHAT IT IS: Playing with words in ways beyond their standard definitions. HOW TO USE IT: Only with good Subtext.

REFERENCE

Reference is perhaps the most useful of all the Funny Filters, even more so than the ubiquitous Character. Reference is at the core of almost all humor. Most of the other Funny Filters, for example, employ a Refere...

A Reference is a relatable observation. Readers have seen, heard or otherwise experienced the thing being referenced. It makes them say, “Oh, yeah, I’ve experienced that—and I didn’t...

The more unique and relevant the Reference, the more sophisticated it will be perceived to be, and the more the audience will enjoy it. The less unique or relevant the Ref...

Reference is closely related to Observational Humor, which is the observing and pointing out of the little things in everyday life that you have in common with your audience, especially things...

And that’s what tickles the funny bone with Reference—it bonds writer and reader, or performer and audience. When their shared experience is revealed, especially one that audiences feel like they’re hearing for the first time, the audience connects with the comedy writer on a

deeper level. They feel like the writer has a secret insight into their everyday life, which they find delightful.

Jerry Seinfeld is probably the best-known master of Reference humor. “Did you ever notice how there’s always one sock missing when you do the laundry?” These kinds of mundane observations about everyday life are the foundation of his comedy, and they are all Reference. The Reference is how he starts a bit, but he ...

A grade-C Reference is the “callback.”

“callback.” You’re simply calling back that joke. This is very easy to do, but it’s also a huge hit with audiences. Most stand-up routines end with a callback, usually one with some escalation, and it’s a guaranteed laugh—that’s why they finish with it.

Slightly more sophisticated is the grade-B Reference, which points out things that are at the forefront of everyone’s mind: the latest story in the 24-hour news cycle, for example, or other current event or cultural touchstone.

Slightly more sophisticated but still grade B (we’ll call this grade B+) is a Reference to more obscure cultural tidbits that we’ve all experienced—modes of speech or ways of being that have become more prevalent recently.

Grade-A Reference, the most sophisticated kind, is any universal observation about everyday life that’s yet to be pointed out in exactly the same way—a new thought about the way things are, or something that’s wrong with the human condition.

If it points out a shared weakness or

human foible, something that the writer wants to change, it taps the core of all great Subtext a...

You find Reference by observing life and writing down anything you notice that you think other people might understand or relate to. There are so many things that you can share with your audience that make good Reference humor. You just have to take notice.

REFERENCE SUMMARY: WHAT IT IS: Referring to something that readers will recognize from their own lives. HOW TO USE IT: Come up with unique observations—everything from day-to-day life to broad issues about society, culture or life, and do so in a way that you don’t believe anyone has done before. It might be helpful to use Jerry Seinfeld’s famous “Did you ever notice…?” or “What’s the deal with...?” intros (in your mind only, not on the page—these are now stand-up clichés) to get into the right mindset to come up with References that will connect with readers.

MADCAP

This is where you loosen up and get silly. Very silly. Take your readers to Loonyland, where slaphappy, cartoonish things happen, and characters become unabashedly clownish. Madcap is “seemingly” random because while the audience may perceive Madcap jokes as crazy,

random, silly things, you, the writer, know you’re conveying powerful Subtext. This is the only way Madcap works in Satire. Even In Formulaic Humor, Subtext is critical for Madcap to be entertaining in any sustained way. Without Subtext, you have silliness for silliness’s sake. If it’s just pie-in-the-face antics with nothing intelligent going on beneath the surface, most in your audience will get bored quickly.

This is the beauty of Madcap. It’s not only a Funny Filter that can help make any joke funny; it can serve to symbolize your Subtext, making a joke even funnier. Many times, the Subtext in a joke that uses primarily Madcap is “[Such and

such] is absurd,” or “[Such and such] is ridiculous,” or “[Such and such] is crazy.” The choice of Madcap as a Funny Filter communicates this kind of Subtext beautifully.

MADCAP SUMMARY: WHAT IT IS: Silly slapstick, inherently goofy items, non sequiturs, wacky words. HOW TO USE IT: Make sure it serves (and even symbolizes) your Subtext. It works as the main thrust of a joke, but also as a garnish.

PARODY

Parody is making fun of another entertainment or inf...

With Parody, you accomplish two things. First, as with the other Funny Filters, you elucidate whatever Subtext you want. Second, you provide

a kind of second Subtext, which is your opinion of whatever it is you’re parodying. For maximum comic effect with Parody, the medium becomes the message.

How do you write Parody in a single line or joke? Think of other writing that’s a similar size: a fortune cookie, a horoscope, a weather forecast, a newspaper headline or a tweet. There are so many.

PARODY SUMMARY: WHAT IT IS: Aping another entertainment or information product, format or specific presentation. HOW TO USE IT: Use verisimilitude. Make your Parody look or sound as much like the real thing as possible.

ANALOGY

Analogy is the comparing of two different things and finding their similarities. The two things should be very different (opposites are especially good), and you must find many similarities. It’s finding these connections between the two thi...

Analogy, like Parody, is slightly more complex than the other Funny Filters. It provides another “hidden secret”...

Subtext, the hidden secret in Analogy is the half of your Analogy ...

When you compare two things in an Analogy, you only want to reveal overtly one of the two things to the reader. The other is only alluded to, and readers are invited to add two and two to think of it on their own, thanks to your clues. This is a hidden nugget that’s easier to discover than Subtext—it has to be discovered more quickly—but it’s hidden all the same. If you mentio...

the two primary hidden messages in Animal Farm: (1) “these animals represent the Russian Revolution”—that’s the secret half of the Analogy.

And (2) “power corrupts”—that’s the Subtext. This layering of hidden messages is one of the keys to engaging writing.

The Onion uses Analogy a lot. Congress is compared to a schoolyard, classroom or garage band. Romantic relationships are compared to workplace relationships. The list goes on and on. Analogy does not always have to be complex. It can be extremely simple and still be effective.

Whether it’s executed in a complex, long-form work like a novel, or a simple one-line joke, Analogy must always be used the same way: the two things being compared must be very different; one of them must be revealed literally while the other must be kept secret; and you must make the reader aware of as many points of comparison as possible between the two. Each instance that calls to mind the hidden side of the Analogy creates a joke in your writing.

The currency in an Analogy joke is how many clues you can provide that link the two halves of the Analogy. This is where the laughs are.

“Mind if I smoke?” No, do you mind if I fart? It’s one of my habits. Yeah, they’ve got a special section for me on airplanes now. I quit once for a year, you know, but I gained a lot of weight. It’s hard to quit. After sex I really have the urge to light one up. The two things being analogized are Smoking and Farting. Farting is overt, Smoking is hidden. Note how in a shorter joke, the hidden half of the Analogy is sometimes established overtly in the beginning but then never mentioned again. Once he establishes the subject of smoking at the top, Martin only alludes to tropes of smoking afterwards: special section on airplanes, lighting up after sex, trying to quit, etc. He doesn’t say “smoking” again. He only uses these common associations with smoking but applies them to farting. This is a technique called “mapping,” and it’s how Analogy works.