With Comedy Writing Secrets, 2nd edition, you can master the fundamentals of humor writing and turn your comedic talent into a well-paying pursuit.
More than 50 percent of all humor is based on plays on words (POWs). T
he POW is a device usd by all humor writers. Plays on words are the basis of practically all puns, limericks, and clever witticisms.
Here are 7 Most Important POW Techniques:
1. A double entendre
Is the use of an ambiguous word or phrase that allows for a second–usually racy–interpretation.
Doubles entendres are 40 percent of all cliché humor because they’re so easy to construct.
Example:
We call our maid a commercial cleaner, because she cleans only during commercials.
2. A malatrop
Is the unintentional misstatement or misure of a word or phrase, or the accidental substitution of an incorrect word for the correct one, with humorous results.
Example:
Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.–Yogi Berra.
3. An oxymoron
Is a joining of two incompatible ideas in one phrase.
Examples:
Found missing; living dead; good grief; working vacation; Microsoft works; alone together, etc.
4. A pun
Is a word used in such a way that two or more of the word’s possible meanings are active simultaneously.
Example:
What’s ‘detail’? The act of removing a tail.
5. Reforming
Is a process that adds a twist or a surprise ending to a cliché ( a predictable, hackneyed phrase) or a common word, phrase, or expression.
Example:
Plagiarism: the unoriginal sin.–Roy Peter Clark.
6. The Simple Truth
Is the opposite of a double entendre.
Example:
A girl phoned me the other day and said, “Come on over, there’s nobody home.” I went over. Nobody was home.–Rodney Dangerfield.
7. The Take-off
Is a statement of the standard version of a cliché or expression, followed by a realistic but highly exaggerated commentary, frequently a double entendre.
Example:
Animals may be our friends. But they won’t pick you up at the airport.–Bobcat Goldthwait.