  Comedy
This week: Dialogue Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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Dialogue
So you're writing a completely serious work of fiction. (I know; unlikely if you're reading this newsletter, but it's always good to stretch our boundaries from time to time.) And yet, you can't help it - you keep wanting to make a joke. It's perfectly natural. But how can you do that if you're trying to be serious?
One way is through dialogue.
Chances are, your characters are human. Even if they're not, they probably have some human qualities. Without human qualities, it's hard to relate to a character. And the most human of all qualities is a sense of humor. Consider, for example, the one fictional species least likely to have a sense of humor, the Vulcans. A scene from Star Trek: Enterprise:
Captain Jonathan Archer [to T'Pol, a Vulcan]: It almost sounded like you were making a joke.
Commander Tucker: At least trying to make one.
Commander T'Pol: I assure you, if I ever decide to make a joke, you'll know about it.
Commander Tucker: There it is again.
Captain Jonathan Archer: T'Pol, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were picking up some of Trip's bad habits.
Granted, not the funniest scene from a Star Trek episode, but it was amusing, and it relied entirely on dialogue.
There are at least two ways to handle this sort of thing in a serious story: Deliberate and accidental.
Now, as writers, I hope we don't write humorous things accidentally; all of our words should be deliberate. But from a character's perspective, sometimes they don't mean to say something funny, but everyone around them is amused. Conversely, sometimes the character says something hilarious, but everyone around them is like "What?"
Either way, it's funny for the audience. The reader can feel superior to the fall guy with the accidental humor, or we can feel like we're better than the folks in the story who don't get the joke. Unfortunately, the situation that most often occurs in real life - someone tells a joke and everyone else laughs - is almost never funny when it's written down. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because that situation leaves out the observer, makes him or her feel like an outsider instead of an insider.
So here are a few possible techniques for comic relief in your story:
 One character always finds the humor in everything, and makes jokes about it - but no one around her gets them.
Someone makes a pun, and everyone around him throws things at him. (Puns are almost never funny. Peoples' reaction to them, however, is.)
Have the classic comic / straight man scenario, where one plays off the other.
Have two people who make in-jokes to each other - brothers, perhaps, or a married couple - that only the reader gets.
Make one character always mix up letters or otherwise be accidentally funny, and then feel bad because everyone's laughing at her.
There are, of course, many more techniques, but never overlook dialogue as a source for humor in fiction. |
A few funnies with some dialogue:
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Last time, in "Comedy Newsletter (May 2, 2012)" , I talked about sarcasm.
Being Diane  : We were having a pleasant dinner with the entire family including my dear in-laws. I was thinking which sometimes can be dangerous! I said, "You know I've been thinking about getting some of fat taken out of my ass and pumping into my lips. There was silence, then I said, "That way every time he'd be kissing my lips he'd be kissing my ass!"
I envy your relationship 
LJPC - the tortoise : Hi Robert!
I loved the funny quotes at the beginning. Great ones!  Thanks for the discussion about sarcasm, how easy it is to miss it in books, and how to indicate it. All good points, and thanks for the link. I'm looking forward to your next NL!
~ Laura
Thanks! Hope it's satisfactory!
And that's it for me for May. See you next month, and until then...
LAUGH ON!!!
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Comedy: May 30, 2012 Issue [#5069]
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