  Comedy
This week: Edited by: Ben Langhinrichs  
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"A pun is the lowest form of humor- if you didn't think of it first."
~ Oscar Levant, author, comedian, and actor
Greetings! I am a guest editor this week for the Comedy Newsletter, and I hope to convince you of why I should never be one of its regular editors.
~ Ben Langhinrichs
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[The pun is the] lowest form of humor. It is suffered, by and large, with groans of aversion, as though one had done an unseemly thing in adult society, like slipping a hand up the hostess’s dress.
~ James Merrill, poet
Moans of Horror, Groans of Aversion
In keeping with season, let's talk about one of the scariest and most vile forms of comedy, that which uses puns. Of course, a pun can be used in a short joke, but that is easily shrugged off. Instead, I want to talk about ways to build up a reader's hopes and dreams, make them think they have found a real gem of a story, poem or article, then dash their hopes ruthlessly on a particularly rocky play-on-words, leaving them moaning and groaning, but often laughing as well. The better the build up, the more the reader will laugh (often in between gnashing teeth and beating random body parts against the wall).
Remember, in this form of comedy all bets are off. You can play with words ruthlessly, set up unrealistic scenes with no satisfactory resolution, lead the reader astray shamelessly. Of course, you may lose all your readers in the process, but if you do it well enough, perhaps you'll attract others with a better sense of humor. 
There are two relatively distinct ways to cause this kind of pain The first approach is to make it clear that you are leading up to a twist, and as it gets closer and closer, you count on keeping readers due to that same fascination which makes people watch a train approaching a brick wall at high speed. In this kind of comic writing, you may even want the reader to guess where you are going, but be so horrified by the prospect as to be unable to stop reading and do something else more socially redeeming.
The second approach is to lull the readers into a sense of complacency by building up what seems to be something completely different, then yank the rug out from under them. Switching genre's unexpectedly works well here (romance to horror is fun, or try inspirational to bawdy). A favorite of mine it to use beautiful lyrical writing that seems elevated far above common comedy, then wham! He he he. As with any twists, it is best to strive to write as if you won't have a twist, because then when it comes, it come all the more unexpectedly. Just be sure the pun or play-on-words is either extremely good, or extremely bad, because you will have to make up for your reader's justifiable annoyance with you.
Let me show the first approach with a poem I wrote. You should know before reading it that it is comedy, and you may even have an inkling where it is going...
The Haven
Not much upon the ship worth savin’, still we’re aimed for Pirate’s Haven.
If this here ain’t the worst storm ever, the very worst I won’t see never.
Our last best hope, ‘tis certain sure, to find that cove in which to moor.
"Hey, look ahead, right ‘round the shore!", I see the place where we should moor.
We look unkempt, dirty, unshaven; we’ll fit right well in Pirate’s Haven.
But as we dock, feeling quite clever, there comes a booming voice, says “Never!”
A voice from hell damns our endeavor - the cove itself is screaming “Never!”
But with the winds we have in store, we have no choice but try to moor.
Rocks are flying, trees are wavin’ - on roars that voice of Pirate’s Haven.
We turn and flee, but from the shore, quoth the Haven, “Never moor!”
Scary, isn't it? My editor's picks below contain some of each of these approaches, plus a couple that don't really take either approach. The best thing is, if people hearing you groaning out loud today, they'll just assume you are practicing for Halloween.
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This story charges right out with puns blazing!
Very short slice-of-life poem that leaves me saying, "Ouch!"
A poem (one of mine - there, I warned you) that isn't what it seems.
Sometimes things don't mean what you think.
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Comedy: October 28, 2009 Issue [#3349]
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