This is a period of English theatrical history I adore. When most teenagers in the ’90s were discovering Dylan, The Stones, Hendrix, etc. I was discovering comedy albums on C.D. and vinyl like Jonathan Winters, Bob Newhart, Steve Martin, and periods in comedy history like Restoration comedy, Commedia dell’arte, or comic playwrights like Aristophanes. Out…
Category: Comedy
Comedy Screenwriting: Set Pieces
“Stories are about fucked up people.” – Judd Apatow When I first started writing scripts, in the early ’90s, I was really into Buster Keaton and The Marx Brothers. Which is great from a comedy history/geek perspective, but not so much when it comes to screenwriting. Keaton’s philosophy was figure out the beginning, and the…
Comedy Screenwriting: Story vs. Jokes
“In that moment what would you say? Forget the joke. What would you say?” – Garry Shandling. When it comes to comedy screenwriting, sometimes (but not all the time by any means) story can take a backseat to spectacle or humor. Whether or not it should I think comes down to personal taste. So I…
Story vs. Plot
I’ve been thinking about the difference between story and plot when it comes to screenwriting. And, if I’m honest, I sometimes use those words interchangeably. I tink this comes from learning about script structure so I often end up conflating the two. But they are different. And I don’t just mean in the spelling. If…
The Children’s Entertainer
Between 2004 and 2005, I worked as a children’s entertainer. A friend of a friend was working for a company, mostly performing magic for kids. I got recommended to try out for the company. I auditioned, got in, and was invited to do an all-day training session. Halfway through, they announced that one of their…