How to Be Funny Whenever You Want to Be

This is not a funny article. I'm not really setting out to make you laugh. But I can give you the nuts and bolts of humor that you'll be able to use for the rest of your life. In one simple, kinda long, article. I can do that.

Up until recently I had this young kid in my life, and around a year ago I got the kid some software so that he could take his love of animation to the next level and actually make his own cartoons. As I saw it he had two hurdles to overcome: learning the software and learning how to turn his appreciation of cartoons into actually making enjoyable cartoons. I took him to a few animation festivals and shortly thereafter began to see him copying things he saw. I told him that was OK, to get started, but eventually he'd need, and want to, make something totally original. And so he did. And they were...not so great. I told him he was doing great, just keep going. And he did. But he had a hard time with the humor. And he asked me the big question; how do you make stuff funny?

Lots of people think kid's questions are childish, and sometimes that's true. But sometimes they ask questions that are eternal. Questions that they'll still be trying to answer as adults. And humor is a perfect example. What IS humor? It's hard enough to get a handle on defining it, but the mechanics of being humorous are downright greased pig territory.

Basically my comedy arsenal comes down to 2 items. After years and years of being a fan of humor like everybody else and then finally going to tons of Improv schools and becoming an improviser, I whittled it down, so all I need are 2 items to remind me HOW to be funny if it doesn't just come naturally. And that brings me to the only bad news I'm going to tell you. Some people are naturally funny-but you already knew that. And when I was in Improv school I used to ask teaches how could I be funny in this or that particular situation. I was a naturally funny guy, but I couldn't channel it into every one of our practice scenarios. It's like being a ballot dancer and somebody telling you to do your thing in an elevator. It can be done, but if you're not Baryshnikov you gotta have a strategy. Now the 2 tools.

Item one; John Vorhaus's book The ComicToolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not

Item two; Rowan Atkinson's 1992 TV special for Showtime Funny Business

I have a copy of Vorhaus's book in storage with my stuff in LA, so I had to go to the Chicago library to find a copy, and it's always checked out so that wasn't easy. But plain and simple he gives you the fundamentals of comedy. While I was at the library I picked up another book that looked like it was for kids, Mark Stolzenberg's How to Be Really Funny . It's a nice little book. Something he says that IS very important is "make yourself laugh." If you legitimately laugh at something you've done; it's probably funny. He's also looks at various people from the old days too, and that's important because it's good to think about who makes you laugh and WHY.

Atkinson's special is an odd thing. I really don't know how or why it got made. I can't really imagine who convinced somebody it was a financially good idea. And on top of that I don't think it's ever been released. I think my copy is on VHS in LA. And I might have a digital copy out here in Chicago I found as a torrent, but it might also be his Rowan Atkinson Live!

At any rate, Atkinson is very well known as the Mr. Bean guy, but I knew him first as Black Adder Which I'm a much bigger fan of by the way. But in his comedy documentary he breaks comedy down into 3 concepts.

Wrong size

Wrong speed

Wrong place

If you truly learn those ideas, quite honestly, that's all you need. But I strongly advise the Vorhaus book because it will make you able to understand those concepts better. There are many, many, many ways to break comedy down to its "core." For instance; all those Improv teachers I had were able to give me hundreds of little rules. Like the rule of 3 (sometimes five, and never 2), or "yes, and" or this VERY important one; a "joke" (meaning something funny) has 2 parts. A setup and a punchline. Blow the balloon up, and pop it.

The setup and punchline idea can manifest itself in many ways. Like the old standard joke format; "why did the chicken cross the road...to get to other side" Or for example, the straight man and the loony guy: Abbott and Costello, Mork and Mindy, Belushi as a Samurai and whoever came into his store. It's the reason they can get Steve Correll to do a remake of Get Smart without having to worry much about destroying the legacy. Buck Henry wrote the hell out of those characters 86 and 99. Didn't work out for Bewitched . But that's another good example; the situation and the comedy are the setup and the punchline.

Now let's go back to Atkinson's ideas. You have to really sit down and think about them. Or better yet, look at something that you find funny and I guarantee you it will be because of one of those 3 ideas-or a combination. If you go to StumbleUpon you can browse websites with picture, video or all manor of things by following the humor links That kid I mentioned earlier-I took him to see Hot Fuzz and after the movie I asked him to point out why certain things were funny (we were completely unable to do that with Eddie Murphy's movie Norbit). Just keep in mind that when it comes to those ideas it can be nouns or concepts.

For instance, have you ever listened to the sound effects in a 3 Stooges film? When those guys get hit by a pie or a fish it sounds like a gunshot. Wrong place joke or is it a wrong size joke? The sound is too big. Emotions can be the wrong size too. But hey, speaking of old brother teams, try finding something by the Ritz Brothers if you can, and obviously you can go wrong with The Marx Brothers. Their stuff is STILL funny. And since we're in the way back machine already; try looking up The Thin Man Collection. Not slapstick but again, always funny.

I'll leave you with a few examples. funny clip that I found today while preparing the article I'm writing tomorrow. It's a wrong place and wrong speed joke.

And in the photo of me (which should be in the lower right hand corner of this piece and definitely on my profile page). I have an afro, and the joke SEEMS to be the hair (cause it's funny looking), but the hair is actually the setup. The punch line is the fork and toaster.

David Rosenthal writes for the internet. Chicago native, lived in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Graduated Columbia University. Did film/tv acting. Studied Bujinkan Taijutsu. Comic book and movie fan. Renovating my home.

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