How Comedy Works

Comedy writing is sometimes compared to songwriting: in music, every note is important; in comedy, every word, even every syllable can be critical.

There are lots of classes about writing funny; this one is about what funny is – its mechanics, its principles. And while comedy people certainly vary in their ability to articulate those principles, they all take them seriously and refer to them constantly (“Call-back’s too soon”; “Set-up’s got too many words”).

This talk has no direct instruction but rather takes a deep dive into the comedy principles which are, in fact, the basic principles of every art form: tension and resolution, pattern disruption, misdirection, and surprise. And we’ll see how these principles achieve their effects by looking at examples ranging from Buster Keaton to Richard Pryor to Amy Schumer.

This Live Zoom Webinar Runs: Thu, August 31 2023, 01:00 pm – 04:00 pm PDT

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

The roles of persona, contrast, and timing
How single letters can make a line funny, or not
How showing less can result in more
Why comedy and logic are bitter enemies
Why punchlines can be bad
The thin line separating comedy and tragedy
Why your body is hilarious
The secret life of jokes

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Writers at all levels
Comedy writers
Drama writers, because while the class is about comedy it shows how comedy principles not only apply to but can actually enhance drama

Learn from an expert instructor!

David Misch is an author (“Funny: The Book,” “A Beginner’s Guide To Corruption”), screenwriter (“Mork & Mindy,” “Saturday Night Live,” “The Muppets Take Manhattan”), teacher (his own courses on comedy at USC and musical satire at UCLA) and lecturer (Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Lucasfilm, Yale, the Smithsonian, Oxford, University of Sydney, Raindance Film Festival (London), Austin Film Festival, American Film Institute, Second City, Actors Studio). More at davidmisch.com.