I am a total nerd when it comes to discussions about how to write something funny. It’s such an intriguing puzzle, trying to come up with the best ways to write really awesome humor. I really feel like I’m horrible at it. I kind of fumble my way through. That’s why it was so great to have Kris Straub grace my studio for even a brief amount of time. He floors me in his ability to pull humor from the ether. When you stumble across someone who can really just brilliantly do something profoundly funny, and it knocks you off guard, it’s this wonderful moment of “man, why didn’t I think of that?”
Which is why I found the Norm MacDonald roast of Bob Saget so brilliant. You gotta watch this, and pay close attention to how the other comedians react. It takes a while for the audience to catch on, but the comedians get what he’s doing right away.
I get so excited about listening to people talk about how to write something funny. I wish there was more of it out there. I highly recommend the Patton Oswalt comedy-tour documentary “The Comedians of Comedy”, as well as “Comedian” with Jerry Seinfeld (just for the segment with Colin Quinn). The Aristocrats is also really great. My favorite is probably an episode of “This American Life” that lets us listen in on the writing staff of “The Onion.”
Anybody else know any good books or sources of this kind of behind the scenes stuff?
