The Write Stuff

July 2018

The Unfunny Truth

By Alan Crawford,
Impact Editor

House Speaker Paul Ryan “averts his gaze so often from Trump’s mayhem that he is likely to get a stiff neck.”

That line, which the writer obviously intended to be funny, isn’t really funny at all. It’s from Dana Milbank, The Washington Post’s resident satirist, and if that’s the best the Post can produce, most people would be well advised not to try their hand at joke writing.

There’s a reason Jimmy Fallon employs an entire staff to do nothing but write his monologues. “Dying is easy,” the great British stage actor Edmund Kean allegedly said on his death bed. “Comedy is hard.”

Also, the jokes that Fallon’s hirelings hand him are delivered by a professional comedian at the top of his game. You’re probably not as skillful as Fallon’s writers are, and whether your work is to be read or to be delivered — by yourself or someone you’re writing remarks for — you should probably spare everyone the pain and suffering and leave humor to professionals. (Or, as people trying to write funny would say, “Don’t try this at home.”)

What Not to Do

There’s no shortage of online advice about how to use comedy in your writing, but most of it just tells you what not to do. Avoid “any polarizing topics,” one expert says. Steer clear of sarcasm. Instead, use “wholesome humor.” It’s “important to know your audience,” says another, but that’s true no matter what you’re writing. “Do your research.” Well, of course.

The experts also tell you to “stay on brand” with your one-liners, but what they don’t tell you (because no one really can) is how to be funny. A joke can be dissected, as Sigmund Freud tried to do, but all that seems to accomplish is to take all the fun out of it. But the experts never offer any useful guidance on how to put the fun in there in the first place.

Read a script from “Seinfeld” or “Modern Family,” and you’ll realize something else about comedy. A lot of the time, the lines aren’t very funny. What makes the lines funny are the actors and how they deliver them. People who are naturally lively and amusing often find that they can be lively and amusing in front of a crowd, and that’s great. Use it. But people who can be lively and amusing with friends sometimes can’t be lively and amusing in front of a crowd. And people who can be lively and amusing in person can’t always be so in print.

In addition to being the editor of Impact, Alan Crawford is a published author and journalist. His latest book, How Not to Get Rich, looks at the financial misadventures of Mark Twain.

Remember, too, that jokes in isolation usually sound forced, even if they are funny in themselves. For comedy to work, a comic spirit needs to infuse an entire article or speech, or at least part of it. Finally, even if you find that you can write comedy, be careful putting your jokes in someone else’s mouth. Another online expert says this: “Your dull speaker will love you if you write funny.” The problem is, a dull speaker is probably the last person you should expect to be funny.

Annoying Word of the Month: Resonate. Like so many clichés, this one seems to have been snatched from the sciences, having something or other to do with frequencies. An idea or message apparently “resonates” when it touches people in some deep and mysterious way, but that cannot be an accurate rendering of everyday experience. The Urban Dictionary calls “resonate” nothing more than “a long-winded way to overdramatize, ‘I agree.’” “Resonate” was No. 81 of the Top 100 Business Clichés, but that was back in 2010. It has surely moved up in the rankings since.

Want More Information on This Topic?

Contact Alan Crawford, editor, Impact

Additional Resources

The Write Stuff – Just Say It!

Workshop: Strategic Communications for Public Affairs