How to Use Daily Life Experiences to Inspire Your Comedy Writing?


by Laura S James - Date: 2010-06-11 - Word Count: 871 Share This!

Many writers and comedians write their own material because they have a sense of humor that is unique. It may be a warped sense of humor, but they have the ability to see humor in many situations that most people would never dream of. To do this, they often focus on the small trivialities of life that many people simply accept and never think about.

For instance, take one of those little packs of silica gel that come in your shoes, in your new stereo, or in any number of other goods. Read the label; it says DO NOT EAT! Did you ever think that the company had sent you a nice little snack? Would anyone? That can be used to create a humorous sketch of some kind.

Writers and comedians may take an ordinary event and exaggerate it out of all proportion. They may take the ending of an ordinary scene and twist it into something surprising - and of course, humorous.

Country life can be used to create any amount of humor. How ordinary is it to take a wheelbarrow of weeds from the garden down to the chicken run. While you are there it is natural to gather the eggs. All this is quite normal - so far. But take it a step further and find only one egg. Then try and carry the egg back and push the wheelbarrow as well. It can't be done, so you put the egg in the wheelbarrow. Then someone comes along and sees you pushing a wheelbarrow with one egg in it. The punch line could be any number of weird and wonderful comments.

It helps if you have a sense of the absurd and/or hang out with others who do. Some people find something to laugh at in every situation. If you have little children, your life should abound in humorous situations and comments. Children get the names of things wrong, or they get the pronunciations wrong, and it can all add up to great hilarity in the family. With a bit of exaggeration, or a twist here and there, you can write it into a comedy script.

Humor can spring out at you while just sitting in the mall, watching the crowds stroll by. You might see a young man waiting for his love (or his mum) in front of the jeweler's window. Nothing funny in that, unless the store is also advertising earrings - as hot studs.

There are countless situations that you can make funny once you start to look out for them. At least when you write your own material you can't be accused of stealing someone else's work.

How to Decide if You Have the Skills as a Comedian and Comedy Writer

The life of a comedian is not necessarily easy. While those on the outside of the industry see someone on stage that makes them laugh, there is much more to it than that. You need to practice all the time to get your routine down to a fine art. Then, since most entertainment occurs at night, you have to stay up half the night to entertain your audience. If you are a night owl, then you won't find this a problem, but if you're a lark - a person who wakens early in the morning, then it could pose a problem.

And there will be rejection, especially when you first start out. Very often audiences get drunk as the night wears on and then they may start to heckle you. Be prepared for a few rotten eggs or tomatoes. It may not come to that these days; more likely it will be boos, jeers and catcalls. The only thing to do is treat the hecklers with even more humor. If nothing works, then retire gracefully rather than getting angry which will do no good at all.

Traveling is another thing that most comedians must do to both further their careers and get gigs. If you don't have a lot of different routines, you can hardly expect to play at the same pub every night. So you'll be traveling all over your home city and then maybe to other cities. This will mean uprooting the family - if you have one. Or - more often - leaving them behind

Many comedians tour the country doing gigs booked by their agent, if they have one. They are apart from their families, and they have to pay for accommodations and food whether they are successful or not. Even if the club they play at puts them up, there is still the cost of travel and food.

Another problem may be the times of the week that entertainment usually occurs. That is, on the weekends. That's when most workers have the time off, but you'll have to work. This could be hard for your family and if you have children, you'll miss being with them over the weekend, when they are free from school pressures.

And when the school puts on presentation nights or concerts in the night, you won't be able to attend them - a great disappointment to your children. So being a comedian is not all roses; you work very hard, travel a lot and get not much sleep. You'll surely be doing it all for the love of it, rather than any other reason.


Learn how to become a writer today. Visit Laura's website, http://www.FastCashFreelance.com and learn about writing from home to earn money working online from home.n
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