Create Comedy Like a Pro
And Improve Your Own Writing With Humor
Learning Objectives
In this course, you’ll be taught the basic skills that are essential to create humor. You’ll be guided step-by-step through the entire process by BOB MILLS, an experienced professional who has written jokes, sketches, speeches, song lyrics, and comedy routines for Dean Martin, Dinah Shore, Steve Allen, Bob Hope and a host of guests on their TV specials -- a seasoned practitioner of the comedic arts whose myriad assignments included writing serious magazine articles that appeared in national publications like the Saturday Evening Post and The Ladies Home Journal. He is the author of THE LAUGH MAKERS: A Behind-the-Scenes Tribute to Bob Hope’s Incredible Gag Writers which recalls his two decades travelling the globe with Bob Hope as a staff writer.
He is a firm believer that virtually anyone with a sense of humor (that includes almost everybody) can learn the craft of creating comedy by mastering the elements necessary to inject funny lines in monologues, speeches, reports, articles, scripts, and song lyrics, as well as comic dialogue -- anywhere that laughter and wit are welcome.
An instructor who was born to teach, BOB MILLS explains comedic structure in clear, concise language -- providing the student with the “nuts and bolts” of comedy writing that the old timers refer to as “laying pipe.”
Through entertaining, easy-to-understand lectures, extensive analysis, hands-on practice, and by studying the hours clips included as additional resources exclusively available to the Udemy student of actual on-air performances of monologues, sketches, and routines performed by professionals, students will become familiar with a time honored craft whose genesis can be traced back to Vaudeville and English tab shows.
In fact, by completing this course, the student will have learned so much about script writing, he or she will possess the skills needed to create laugh lines at will, and for any purpose, be it for a spec script for TV or just “punching up” a business presentation.
From blank page to scripted performance, the student becomes privy to comedy writing secrets passed down through generations of professionals dating back to Vaudeville!
Course Summary
Topics covered in this course (along with 4+ hours of video examples) include:
The History of Humor in America
The Anatomy of a Joke
Verbal magic (“hiding the technique”)
The setup
Misdirection (creating an expectation)
The reveal (punch line)
Necessity of Instant Recognition
Clarity in presentation
Attitude in delivery
Methods of Misdirection
Uncommon Association
Unexpected List Entry
Illogical Connection
Anthropomorphizing
Misplaced Terminology
Flippant Iconoclasm
Alliteration
Unexpected word usage
New Meaning for Familiar Phrase
Literal Interpretation
Misuse of Medical Terminology
Alternate Word Meaning
Illogical Conclusion
Misused Logic
Unlikely Comparison
Obscure Word Use
Fantasy Exaggeration
Types of Jokes
Consistent Point of View
Angry (Jerry Seinfeld, Louis Black)
The Victim (Richard Lewis, Rodney Dangerfield)
False Braggadocio (Don Knotts)
Improv (Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams)
Monologue Structure (order of jokes)
Rhythm and Pace (varying length)
Building the Payoff Line
Joke Formulas
Arranging the Topics
Openings
Closings
Creating Comic Dialogue
Real Life conversation (Award show presenters)
Character Interview (Carl Riener & Mel Brooks)
Using an Already Familiar Character
The Comedy Sketch
History of the sketch
Length
Subject matter
Film & TV Parody
Brevity
Joke-Driven Sketch
The “Set Up”
Developing the Premise
*The Conflict
*The Dilemma
*The Resolution (“Black Out’)
CONCLUSION
Along with learning to write monologues, sketches and comic interviews, the student has learned the principles necessary to improve any writing assignment from business reports, speeches, presentations, articles, company shows, and product demonstrations. In a word, using the comedy skills they have acquired to improve their overall quality of life.