 Comedy: June 17, 2020 Issue [#10231] |
This week: Writing the Real Life for a Laugh Edited by: Lornda  
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This week's Comedy Editor:
Lornda
"All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them." ~Erma Bombeck
"Life is like a very long TV show — without a remote control." ~Anonymous
"I tried looking at the bright side of life, but it hurt my eyes." ~Anonymous
The real life is a great source for humorous ideas, but will the readers laugh at what we write?
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 Congratulations to Lilli 🧿 ☕  ! She wins a 'Queen of Comedy' Merit Badge for submitting the topic for this newsletter.
The real life is a great source of material if you want to write something funny. Whether it is non-fiction or fiction, any of these snippets of life can make the story come alive and entertain the reader.
A good point to remember is that it’s one thing to relate the story in front of an audience of friends and family, but when it comes to writing it, sometimes it can fall flat and read like an instruction manual for Zoom
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 The Hook: Whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, you want to grab the attention of the reader within the first paragraph. So try to open with a funny line in the first paragraph. For example, say your newborn baby raises his middle finger a few times. You think nothing of it, but as he grows, he starts to use that finger to wave to people. A good hook might be along the lines of: The glaring stares translated into strangers almost calling 911 to have me arrested. I mean, just what was his father teaching him? For the biggest impact, writing a punch of humor in the first paragraph is a good way to bait your audience.
 Plot Out the Humor: Before you start to write, it’s a good idea to plot out the humor. You may think the whole story has to be funny, but by timing it in the right spot, it will generate a laugh. For example, with the finger waving kid, there were two other instances of swearing before he could hardly talk. Three laughs along the way is perfect – one for the beginning , the middle
| Replacing the 'K' in kiss with a 'P' |
| You don't really think he'll say 'truck' do you? |
 Keep it Simple: As mentioned above, the last thing you want is it to read like a instruction manual. How can this be accomplished? Keep the sentences and paragraphs short. Give the reader digestible bites of vocabulary that’s easy to understand. Using metaphors and similes can be sprinkled throughout to keep the humor at a good pace. Learn to exaggerate. With the quoted line above, it would be easy and boring to write: The strangers stared at me. Not funny, but by exaggerating it:  How bad can the staring be? Push it and go inside their head and think the worst they could do ... then, push it even more and blame the father. . . . calling 911 to have me arrested. I mean, just what was his father teaching him? it pushes the humor for a laugh
Well, I hope it does  |
If you’re new to writing humor, here is one last tip for you. Your first few stories may not turn out too funny. Keep reading it over and tweaking the humor, and if you laugh, then you’re good to go. You can also read comedy pieces to see how other authors wrote the humor. The more you write it, the easier it is to use the funny incidents from the real life to entertain the reader.
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| | | VANITY VARMINTS [E] #2155089
a critter-cally acclaimed flash fable where vanity refuses to yield to reality
by DRSmith  |
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 Have you used something funny from your life to add humor to your writing? Anything funny happen recently?
 Comedy Challenge: If you make me laugh with a funny real life snippet, you'll win a 'Queen of Comedy' MB!
 Reminder: If you have topic for the Comedy newsletter, fill out the survey below. If I use it for a newsletter, you'll receive a 'Queen of Comedy' MB! "Invalid Item"
In my last newsletter, "Dad Jokes — Laugh or Groan?" , I asked you to tell me a 'dad joke', and the one who told the funniest would win a 'Queen of Comedy' MB. It was a tough choice — so many good ones. 
 The winner is: s 
Here are the submitted dad jokes. Enjoy! 
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  : A gnome finds himself in quicksand. "I have a sinking feeling about this."
willwilcox: A Dad was driving along when he saw a broke-down truck with ten penguins.
"Hey,you need some help?" he asked.
The truck driver said, "Yeah, can you take these penguins to the zoo for me?"
"Sure," the Dad said. And off he went with the penguins.
Later, the truck driver stopped by the zoo, but there were no penguins. He drove around town until he spotted them coming out of a movie theater with the Dad.
"Hey, I thought you were going to take those penguins to the zoo."
"I did," replied the Dad, "but then they wanted to see a movie too."
 He also posted dad jokes on his newsfeed. I did this a lot while reading them.  : Why do seagulls fly over the sea?
Because if they flew over the bay they'd be bagels
My brother just threw a milk carton at me.
How dairy.
A man goes in to see the eye doctor because he's having trouble with his vision. He tells the nurse he keeps seeing spots in front of his eyes.
The nurse asks, 'Have you ever seen a doctor before?'
And the man replies, 'No, just spots.'
s : I told my son two lots of five jokes involving clever wordplay. Know how many made him laugh? No pun in ten did.
From the newsfeed:
~Brian K Compton~ : What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the utility closet?
Supplies!
s : *Driving past a cemetery in a small town - "There's the dead centre of town!"
*Son: "I'm tired." Me: "Hi, Tired, I'm dad."
*When daughter puts on one of her knitted tops: "What do you get when you cross a kangaroo with a sheep? A Woolly jumper!"
Turkey DrumStik  :
"What did the tree say when a kid started shaking it?
'Leaf me alone!"
Jay O'Toole  : I told this one this evening, but it requires an understanding Southerisms.
“If the wedding goes off with a hitch, did the couple get married?”
Dad  : Well, my handle is Dad, after all.
"What did one eye say to the other? Between you and me, something smells!"
prettypoetry: When we'd be in the car and pass a cemetery, my dad would say, "People are just dying to go there!"
 A comment:
Sumojo  : Thank you for including “Dad’s Cure” in your editor’s pick. I appreciate it.
Cheers Sue
You're very welcome!
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