"Laughing is the gap between what’s true and what’s expected"
Comedy writer Alex Dobrenko explains how to be funny: Write what’s true. Explore the weird. Speak the subtext. Love the mistakes. Increase, hold and release tension.
“Laughing is the gap between what’s true and what’s expected, so if you just say what’s actually true in your mind, it might be funny!”
-Alex Dobrenko
Well said. I got at something like that in my Substance special too although my version was about Evel Knievel jumping buses (and also I was on shrooms).
Anyway, that quote up top is from
, a comedy writer with a psychology degree. In this piece, he explains how to be funny or, more specifically, “how to connect more with the funny that’s already in your life.” Excerpts below:Write what’s true: I know this sounds cliche trust me I hate it too but it’s also just…true. Comedy / laughing is the gap between what’s true and what’s expected, so if you just say what’s actually true in your mind, it might be funny! It might also not be, but it’ll be whatever it’s supposed to be which is better than the alternative: You trying to be funny. Cuz you know what that looks like? Someone trying to be funny. Yuck.
Explore the weird: Notice when you find something odd, different, or funny. Explore why it is weird for you. Inside of that reason why is a whole lot of comedy, probably.
Speak the subtext - In a conversation, the subtext is the unspoken stuff that’s going on inside of you or between you and someone else…If you can name it and call it out, it’s usually funny. And if it isn’t, just comment on how your trying to call something out that wasn’t there was rough, and that will be funny!
Love the mistakes - Enjoy the lower status world of being the one who loses, who fails, etc. That is funny. It’s also humbling and prevents you from looking like a pretentious prick. Win win!
This is, by the way, the hardest thing in the world. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution’s got nothing on how trying to ‘win’ in life makes you suck at comedy.
Increase, hold and release tension - People on TikTok (2023) are doing this better than just about anywhere else. Watch them and become a social media superstar. If you do, I want 10% of all your followers.
There’s one more tip Alex gives too. You can find it in the full piece here.
😈 Los Angeles: Come see the west coast debut of Misguided Meditation with Matt Ruby: A Mindful Comedy Show on Thursday, June 1 at Oeno Vino. (Rubesletter discount code: tunein)
ahhhh dude omg this is so kind and humbling and frankly just very damn cool
My favorite book on laughter (not just humor, the attempt to elicit laughter, but laughter more broadly, in the sense of what it is and how it works) is by neuroscientist Robert Provine, who I met once at a Society for Neuroscience meeting in Miami Beach -- during a hurricane, if I remember correctly.
https://randallhayes.substack.com/p/april-showers-may-bring-giggles