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

• English roots (tabloid shows, burlesque)
• Vaudeville (W.C. Fields, Fred Allen)
• Radio (Jack Benny, Fred Allen)
• Film (Abbott & Costello, Martin & Lewis)
• Television (variety shows, sitcoms, unscripted reality)

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

• Topical (based on news items)
• Slice-of-life (everyday conflicts)
• Story-based (“Two guys walk into a bar…”)
• Biographical (embellished from real life)
• Observational (Ellen DeGeneres)

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

• Developing a Character
• Avoiding “Leading Lines”
• The “Dumb Act” (Burns & Allen)
• Importance of the “Straight Man”

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.