Last month, ventriloquist Bob Abdou wrote a nice article for the Ventriloquist Central blog, entitled, “Now That’s Funny”, about comedy writing. (If you missed that blog, click here)
Here’s another installment.
That’s Still Funny, Part 2
Bob Abdou
After writing my last blog story for Ventriloquist Central, I had many personal emails from vents asking about writing material, they were having problems with either writing material for their act or not feeling comfortable with what they wrote. I never really had a major problem with writing,
I have problems in other areas (and boy do I have problems – but that is for my therapist to uncover). But seriously folks….this is what I did in getting new material for a new act.
Last month I took 4 days off to just write, write and write material for a new character for my adult show. I found funny bits from the newspaper, old tv skits, very old joke books and my own personal joke files. I was able to write over 100 jokes written for this new act.
What to do next? I stopped writing, yes STOP. To continue to the next level of writing, you need to evaluate the jokes that have been written. Take a break from writing and go live life
A few days later, I went back to my 100 jokes and took out the jokes that did not make sense anymore, were not funny or did not fit my new character. I cut down the 100 jokes to about 30 that were GOLD. Now to the next level.
I cut up in strips the jokes I wanted to use into 3 categories, intro, middle and end.
After dividing the material into the 3 sections, I then taped them to a piece of paper, that way it is easy to handle and to focus just on the subject on the paper.
I then put in order the jokes so the material made sense on each sheet of paper
After that I bridged the material so the intro would flow to the middle and the middle to flow to the ending of the routine.
After reviewing all that was written and I was happy with the finished product, I now have an act that will give me confidence to use, funny material for the puppet act and the audience will laugh and enjoy the show.
Levels of writing (a review)
1) Write until your hand, back, eyes and head hurt
2) STOP writing and don’t look at the material for a few days, relax and enjoy life
3) Reread your material and take out what is not funny, doesn’t make sense or doesn’t fit the act
4) Use what you now have and divide the material into 3 categories – intro, middle and ending.
5) Cut up the jokes and put them on a table and put them into the 3 categories
6) Tape them on a piece of paper, doing this makes it easy to handle and rearrange
7) After you arrange the jokes, bridge them into a conversation, a dialogue – intro, middle and end.
8) After you bridge the jokes into a routine, read them to see if they make sense
9) Congrats, you just got new material for a new act
These guidelines might seem juvenile, basic and simple but I gotta tell you, I don’t argue with success, it works for me and makes writing fun, easy and in the end, I have a new act that works!!
Bob Abdou
http://www.mypuppet.com
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Once again, Bob, thanks for sharing.
Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
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Dan Willinger is a ventriloquism enthusiast and ventriloquist figure collector. He has been collecting for over 25 years. He created the Ventriloquist Central Collection. It now has over 100 ventriloquist figures and over 50 of them are Frank Marshall figures. Because of his love for the art of ventriloquism, Mr. Willinger created the website Ventriloquist Central. For more information about the website, go to: http://www.ventriloquistcentral.com
Copyright 2010 by Dan Willinger
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