Usually, when I go about writing Thoughts, the process starts when I come up with a funny idea. But what if I didn’t come up with an idea? What if I just sat down and wrote the first thing that came to mind and made it funny? Well, it might look a little something like this:
The man sat next to the cat. Or did the cat sit next to the man?
Kinda blows your mind, huh?
Now… let me walk you through this thing. See I was sitting down when I wrote that so that’s where my primary influence came from. What’s the man doing? Sitting. Sitting next to a cat. So right off the bat without even trying, what I’ve done is, I’ve established two characters. And what’s more, I (and more importantly you, the audience) have established a rapport with these characters. I, as the author, recognize that immediately…. and that’s where things get interesting. I (like you, the reader) am human so I’m obviously identifying with the guy in this story. He’s the one who’s active. He’s the one who’s sitting. It’s written in the third person, but we’re seeing it through his eyes.
So it’s all set up, and now I take the first step towards some real comedy when I flip the script on you. I ask that magical question: “What if?” What if the cat set next to the man? Now, everything’s changed. I’m making you think. I’m challenging your values. Now we begin to identify with the cat. Which is funny. Why? Because: we’re not cats!
And so I’ve made it funny… but funny enough? I said no. I said no, and I dared to go further, so I added in a little bit of something I like to call observational humor. I like to think of it as adding a little bit of Seinfeld to the piece. So what do I do? Observe and react! What’s happening to me? My mind is being blown.
Bang.
Comedy.
Package it up. Ship it out.
Next Thought.