Comedy WritingSelf-Taught
The Professional Skill-Building Course in Writing Stand-Up, Sketch, and Situation Comedy
Gene Perret
Fresno, California
Comedy Writing Self-Taught
Copyright © 2014 by Gene Perret. All rights reserved.
Published by Quill Driver Books
An imprint of Linden Publishing
2006 South Mary Street, Fresno, California 93721
(559) 233-6633 / (800) 345-4447
Quill Driver Books and Colophon are trademarks of
Linden Publishing, Inc.
ISBN 978-1-61035-220-8
eISBN 978-1-61035-260-4
135798642
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file.
Dedicated to the many Bob Hope writers who preceded me and unwittingly (no pun intended) served as my comedy writing instructors
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Comedy Can Be Taught
Chapter 2: Self-Taught Is the Best Taught
Chapter 3: Two Concepts You Can Teach Yourself Immediately
Chapter 4: Learn the Business
Part One: Joke Writing
Chapter 5: Learn What Good Comedy Is
Chapter 6: Learn to Be Good by Not Being Bad
Chapter 7: Selecting Your Mentor
Chapter 8: What and How You Should Learn from Your Mentor
Chapter 9: What Do You Write About?
Chapter 10: Preparation and Research Are Part of Learning
Chapter 11: Teach Yourself to Write Routines
Chapter 12: Find and Study Joke Formulas
Chapter 13: Do Comedy Writing Exercises
Chapter 14: You May Want to Skip This Chapter, But Don’t
Part Two: Sketch Writing
Chapter 15: Your Best Mentor Is in Your Den
Chapter 16: How to Watch Sketches
Chapter 17: Sketch Endings
Chapter 18: Sketch Writing Exercises
Part Three: Sitcom Writing
Chapter 19: How to Watch Sitcoms
Chapter 20: Sitcom Writing Exercises
Chapter 21: Develop a Situation Comedy Story and Outline a Script
Chapter 22: Write a Situation Comedy Script
Chapter 23: Errors to Avoid in Writing a Spec Script
Part Four: Graduation
Whenever people ask me where I learned to write comedy, I tell them I attended the College of Gene Perret, got my Master’s from the School of Phyllis Diller, and my doctorate from the University of Bob Hope.
There was no greater education than watching these three legends in action. Gene Perret is an acclaimed teacher/mentor/book author/writer of television comedy for decades. Having written for The Carol Burnett Show, Mama’s Family, and for comedy greats Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller, this three-time Emmy winner knows his subject inside and out. He’s generous with that knowledge, too. I’ve personally made countless withdrawals from his bank of advice on many, many occasions. He’s not only been a mentor to me, but also a dear friend.
Phyllis Diller taught me comedy through her comments on the sides of the pages of material that I would send to her. “Too long of a set up,” “Too short of a set up,” or “Dynamite!” and “Great!” would be scribbled along the sides of individual jokes. Her words gave me encouragement, as well as helpful hints on how to make the jokes better.
From Bob Hope I learned to “hide the joke,” mine the humor hidden in the most unlikely topics, be aware of what’s going on around me at all times (everything’s potential material), and the most beneficial lesson of all, how to write fast.
By watching Gene work, I learned to write on demand, and I also learned the wisdom of sometimes getting alone to write. Often while the rest of us were trying to come up with a new line for Bob, Gene would step away and return some ten minutes or so later with a page of great material.
Writing in volume is another method that I learned from Gene. The more you write, the greater your chances are of coming up with the right joke. You can’t watch Gene for very long and not learn how to organize your material into a solid routine, too.
Don’t get me wrong—I bought his books also. But there’s something about watching the master in action that gives you an even greater insight into this world of comedy writing. There was something about watching Phyllis Diller and Bob Hope that taught me bonus lessons, as well. I learned from so many of the other legends that we were blessed to get to work with—Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, George Burns, Lucille Ball, the list goes on and on. Bob Hope ran in a nice crowd. A crowd that knew the art of comedy and continued to hone it until the day they exited the stage of life.
You truly can learn a great deal about a subject by watching the masters of it. Want to learn about Wall Street? Hang out with Wall Street traders. Ask them why they made the decisions that they made. Want to
