Comedy Writing Self-Taught Workbook

Cartoons are visual. They’re drawings so they must be a drawing of something. The image is an integral part of the comedy. Sometimes it’s easy for us to overlook the value of the visual in verbal comedy. But it’s often the image that the word joke presents to the minds of the listeners that gives the gag added impact. A vivid picture painted in the audience’s mind gives a boost to the joke’s effectiveness.

Cartoons are an excellent starting point for learning to write solid one-liners. Cartoons consist of a drawing and a funny caption. Of course, some are captionless, but we’ll concentrate on those that have a word joke attached.

All of us, in whatever area we work, have weaknesses, too. Those are the failings that competitors may take advantage of. Exercises can eradicate those flaws.

Amateur golfers often can’t understand why they hit the shot perfectly at the practice area but then mishit it terribly on the course. One reason is that the practice area is stress free. The pressure is off. You won’t be penalized for executing the shot badly. Anxiety can affect performance. Doing exercises helps develop consistency, as mentioned, and that promotes confidence.

“to hit the shot you know you can make.”

Sticking with our sports analogy, let’s look at boxers. What are they known for? Getting into a ring and pummeling their opponent. That’s what they do and then they collect their paycheck. But when they train, they don’t just box, they also work out on the bag to build up hand speed. They jump rope to improve their footwork. They run to build up stamina. In other words, they train to improve the overall package

huff and puff a little bit.