They say you be funny.
Eh.
Teach me how.
Huh?
Teach me. Now.
So over the past year, I’ve been working with my graduate students on their humor writing. Ironically, I’ve never taken a course in humor. I think the harder I try to be funny, the worse it is. When I was younger, I was the serious sibling until we swapped places as we grew older. Tis be life.
You have to be quick. You have to be clever. You have to willing to fail with a joke. You can’t be “funny” if you play it safe. I don’t mean scandalous. But creativity in humor is a risk. Some people will get it, and others won’t. Be willing to find out.
Slice of life stories is real humor that lasts. I think about Larry David thinking he tipped the gardner twice or Jason Segel’s puzzled face at the touristy couple posed with their cutlery. Long lasting humor only comes from real life humor. The rest of the stuff is good for a laugh once and then, it fizzles.
Anyway, I was interviewed by Susan Mangiero (who is quite funny herself) for the University of Dayton blog about being funny. Life and humor are about experiences. So go have some. If you’re trying to write some humor, you can’t be funny sitting in front of a computer.
Click here for the interview:
MichaelPerrota.com 