Local Authors > Robison E. Wells

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guitarbabe:
Oh, that's too bad. There is this awful flu going around though, so I understand BUT that means you missed Rob's thing. Maybe he can give you a recap. I'll give you the beginning part...he had a nail through his head and he was wearing these huge glasses...ha ha, he really was. Yeah, he took them off as soon as he could though.

So, uh, okay, I'll give a small recap anyway, Rob and Tamra talked about what made comedy funny and here's a few:

1-Close to home (something you can actually relate to)

2-the ridiculous (Seinfeld Style), though it can't be so ridiculous that you can't relate to it BUT the tiny things that irritate can actually make you giggle.

3-Taking the dramatic and making it light. I thought it was really interesting (and something I hadn't thought about before), but Rob pointed out that 'Life is Beautiful' is a comedy...a very sad comedy, but a comedy nonetheless. I remember laughing (and uh...crying) very hard while watching it. I suppose you could have someone tell the same story (say of a date gone wrong) and you can get a very different meaning out of each take, be it drama...or comedy, it's all in the take.

There, I hope that helps a little, and hope your tummy feels better, oh, will I resist, will I resist? No, I'm going to be cheesy...laughter is the best medicine, and I hope you feel better already (ack, I'm sure you probably feel worse)!

Fellfrosch:
Woody Allen has a movie called "Melinda and Melinda," which is the same story told twice: once as a comedy, and once as a tragedy. I haven't seen it, but it sounds fascinating and is high on my list.

House of Mustard:
Well, I don't think I'd call it a comedy, but it's a drama with a lot of very funny stuff in it.  The great thing about that movie is the reason that all the humor is in there: the father uses it to help his son cope with the horror of the holocaust -- and it does the same thing for the audience.  The movie does nothing to hide the reality of the concentration camp from us, and never sugarcoats anything, but we can deal with it because of the father's intense optimism.

My favorite line from the movie:

--- Quote ---
Son:  " No Jews or dogs allowed."  Why aren't Jews or dogs allowed to go in?
Father:  They just don't want Jews or dogs to go in.  Everybody does what they want to. There's a hardware store there.  They don't let Spanish people or horses into his store.  Further ahead, there's a drugstore.  I was with a Chinese friend of mine yesterday who had a kangaroo.   I said, " May we?'"' No, we don't want any Chinese or kangaroos here."   They don't like them. What can I tell you?
Son:  We let everybody into our bookshop.
Father:   No. From now on, we'll write it too.  - Is there anybody you don't like?
Son:  Spiders. What about you?
Father:  I don't like Visigoths. Starting tomorrow we'll write...  " No spiders and Visigoths allowed."  I'm sick and tired of these Visigoths.




--- End quote ---

Eric James Stone:
Some advice I've been given about writing humor is that if the situation is ridiculous, your characters need to take it seriously; but if the situation is serious, your characters need to make light of it.  Basically, your characters' response needs to be incongrous to the situation.

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