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Now That's Funny!: The Art and Craft of Writing Comedy - Softcover

Desberg, Peter; Davis, Jeffrey

 
9780757004452: Now That's Funny!: The Art and Craft of Writing Comedy
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0757004458 ISBN 13: 9780757004452
Verlag: Square One, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

There is a feeling of pure delight that comes from laughing out loud while watching a hilarious movie or a TV show. Yet as funny as these lines may be, they are the work of people you will never see. The magic behind any comedy hit begins when an idea is hatched in the mind of a comedy writer and is then put down on paper. And while few of us are privy to this fascinating process, for writers Peter Desberg and Jeffrey Davis, the challenge of observing and understanding how comedy is born has culminated in a unique new book, Now That’s Funny! Desberg and Davis provide an intimate look into the minds of twenty-four of Hollywood’s funniest comedy writers, who have given us such shows as:

Saturday Night Live

Monk

Everybody Loves Raymond

The Simpsons

Frasier

Maude

Home Improvement

Valerie

Modern Family

Cheers

There’s Something about Mary

The Honeymooners

Suddenly Susan

Newhart

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Archie Bunker’s Place

The Tracey Ullman Show

Wings

Who’s The Boss?

and more

How do you get to see the creative wheels turn? The authors’ premise was simple: Using a Q and A format, they provided each writer with a story idea and let them run with it. Each of the writers was told there were no rules, no boundaries, and no limits! Because everyone started with the same concept, the authors could see how some writers jumped in and began creating, while others asked lots of questions; how some writers stuck closely to the premise, while others turned it on its head. What emerges is an entertaining look—illuminating and hilarious in turn—at the creative process behind hit TV shows and movies.

If you’re one of the millions who have enjoyed watching the work of comedy writers, here is an opportunity to go behind the scenes and see the madness unfold. Now that’s funny!

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jeffrey Davis is the Department Chair and Associate Professor of Film and TV Writing at Loyola Marymount University, as well as a professional comedy writer. He began his career writing jokes for Thicke of the Night. Among his situation comedy credits are Love Boat,House Calls withLynn Redgrave, Gimme a Break!, Diff’rent Strokes, and Night Court.  He has also written for such shows as America’s Funniest People, America’s Funniest Home Videos, and Bugs Bunny’s 50th Birthday, and has had film projects developed by Bette Midler’s All Girl Productions, among others. Mr. Davis has written documentaries for A&E, Discovery, and the National Geographic Channel, and has written a variety of corporate and informational videos. His plays have been produced in New York and Los Angeles. His most recently published play is Speed Dating. His one night of standup at the Comedy Store convinced him that he should stay permanently seated at his desk.

Peter Desberg, PhD, received his doctorate from the University of Southern California. He is a professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and also a licensed clinical psychologist. For over twenty five years, he has conducted seminars and workshops on controlling stage fright for business people, students, performers, athletes, job applicants, and others. Dr. Desberg is the author of sixteen published books and numerous articles. He and his family currently reside in the Los Angeles area.

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BEING THERE AS TOP COMEDY PROFESSIONALS CREATE

As veteran comedy writer Elliot Shoenman (Maude, Home Improvement) is retracing the cab ride his father took on the way to his suicide, he wonders how much his famously cheap old man tipped the cabbie.

Ken Daurio and his partner Cinco Paul are listening to notes on their film project Bubble Boy when the producer insists they lose the bubble after the first act. He wanted him out of the bubble at the end of Act I. The writers said, “The movie’s called…Bubble Boy. He’s a germ-a-phobe.” Ken turned to Cinco and said, “Are we changing the name of the movie to Boy?”

These stories illustrate just how different comedy writers are from the rest of us. They notice character quirks and conflicts they can turn into interesting and often off-kilter situations. If there’s no quirk or conflict, they think, “Yeah, but what if…?” Then they create one. How do they do it?

That’s the question Now That’s Funny! sets out to answer in twenty-four unconventional interviews.

WE’RE IN HOLLYWOOD, NOT FRANCE
In Paris, people line up and pay to see the works at the Picasso Museum. What would it be worth to you to have been in Picasso’s studio at Montmartre, sitting next to him on a bench, watching him as he created his paintings? Now, imagine if you could also have been in the studios of Monet, Renoir, Degas, Chagall, Cezanne, and Matisse—and you could have watched each of them as they painted. If that wasn’t enough, imagine if you could also choose the object or model that all of them were to paint. Think about all you’d learn, seeing commonalities, differences, and unfurled creativity as they hit each canvas.

Well, we’re not in France, but we are in Hollywood, and those painters are all dead anyway, but this book does something similar. It puts you in a seat at the table in the Writers’ Room to see how some of the best comedy writers apply their brush strokes to their computers or to others in the room. If you’re new to sitcoms, most shows have a gaggle of writers (around 10) who write each episode. Their process usually starts in the Writers’ Room as they brainstorm a story. Sometimes they sit at a large table coming up with ideas; other times, they work in smaller teams. Generally, some are specialists in story construction and others are great joke writers. Some go both ways.

When Hollywood writers like Dan O’Shannon (Modern Family and Frasier), Sherwood Schwartz (creator of Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch), and Phil Rosenthal (creator of Everybody Loves Raymond) are interviewed, they’re typically asked, “How do you create comedy?” But they’re really being asked, “How did you do it?”

There’s an old adage attributed variously to Euripides, Mark Twain, and George Bernard Shaw: “The autobiography is the highest form of fiction.” In other words, when artists discuss their creative process, what we learn is more likely to be inaccurate.

We tried something different. We took a left turn from the standard interview book. We asked twenty-four comedy writers to show us what they do. We gave each of them the same generic premise about a mother and her adult daughter and asked them to develop it any way they wanted. We told them there were no rules, no boundaries, and no limits. That was just as well; they wouldn’t have followed rules. They’re comedy writers, not accountants.

Try and picture what we put them through. Each writer walked in cold, was handed the same premise, and was asked to begin the development process. Talk about being put on the spot! Many of them said that the interview felt like a stress test. They had to create on the fly, knowing that their work would be compared to their peers in this book. Yet each one not only succeeded…they sparkled.

Encouraging them to play with and develop the premise results in memorable new stories as unique as each of the writers in this book, proving that there is no “one size fits all” way to create comedy. The writers jump in, ask questions, develop characters, create conflicts, pitch jokes, and make casting suggestions.

Some of the writers stay with the original premise, while others turn it on its head. Several of the writers choose to ignore the main characters and built minor characters into a prominent part of the story. Almost all of the writers mention they write from experience and they write what they know. Not surprisingly, several of the writers choose to take our Mother/Daughter main characters and turn their stories into Father/Son stories; that’s what they know best.

Some writers cast the roles with actors so they can visualize how the main characters might walk or speak. Some identify key people in their lives on whom they model their characters. Some create a story and then work the characters so they fit in comfortably.

In addition to the development process, you’ll also read rare Hollywood anecdotes that flow naturally from each of the interviews. Many of the writers told us they give the same rehearsed answers in most interviews, but here they revealed themselves in a way they have never done before. A few told us that they planned to use material they came up with from this interview in their own work.

And it all happens in real time.

The writers featured in Now That’s Funny! span the history of show business from the original Golden Age of Television, with legends like Sherwood Schwartz (creator of Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch) and Leonard Stern (co-creator of Get Smart and writer of The Honeymooners), to the generation who were influenced by them, represented by Peter Casey (co-creator of Wings and Frasier), Yvette Bowser (creator of Living Single), and Ed Decter (co-writer of There’s Something About Mary), to some of today’s hottest young movie and television writers, including Hank Nelken (co-writer of Saving Silverman) and Dan O’Shannon (Cheers, Frasier, Modern Family). In addition, many are also show creators, show runners, producers, and directors.

ARTING AND SCIENCING IN COMEDY WRITING
There’s an old saying: “Comedy writers are born, not made…that’s a good argument for birth control.” But it brings up an interesting question—can comedy writing be taught? We start with a core belief: You can’t teach talent. Almost every writer we interviewed agreed that the gift of comedy creation is not distributed evenly.

On the other side of the equation is the science of comedy, known in the industry as craft. We went to several conferences put on by the International Society of Humor Studies, where academics really do—wait for it—investigate the “science of comedy.” In the sessions, not one drop of actual humor was spilled.

On the other hand, a great deal is known about the craft of comedy writing, and the writers interviewed in this book share an abundance of it. As we begin our discussion of the craft of comedy writing, we thought we would open with a joke:

A couple is driving out in the country and as they pass a farm, they see a bunch of barnyard animals. The husband says, “Relatives of yours?”

She says, “Yes, they’re my in-laws.”

Here’s an alternate punchline to the same joke: “Yes, they’re my in-laws; just look at them.”

It might look...

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Verlag
Square One
Erscheinungsdatum
2017
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0757004458
ISBN 13 
9780757004452
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
384
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV
info@simonandschuster.nl

Herculesplein 96
Utrecht
3584 AA
Niederlande