I’m taking a stand-up class at Second City Chicago. Turns out it’s mostly about writing. One exercise was coming up with topics we thought had potential to be humorous. Not jokes, just topics.
I’d love to get some ideas from people of some such topics. Note: this is not a homework assignment. I’m just looking for writing prompts that may be outside of my own thinking. And of course if I do use any of them in a set I will acknowledge this. I might do a whole set about things that other people think are funny.
Isn’t the entire premise of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” based on the idea of finding something funny & absurd in the common and mundane events?
Bad person to ask; I still love basic slapstick. But I would say almost anything newsworthy from sports to politics is potential material. Look how a bus falling in a sinkhole here in Pittsburgh went viral with comedians across the country.
Operation Varsity Blues
House guests
Men in skinny jeans
Celebrities and sex tapes
Online Dating
The Democratic Party
The Republican Party
The Royal Family
The Religious Right
PETA
Anthony Weiner
Things with ironic names. The oldest bridge in Paris is called the Pont-Neuf (“new bridge”). The largest sized flash media format is the Compact Flash card. The slowest tool material for machining metal is called High Speed Steel. There’s got to be lots more.
George Carlin had a bit which started with him saying:
“anything that we all do, but don’t talk about, is funny”.
(He then went on to describe pissing.)
I think you could use the concept for anything else which we all do. Break it down to a million tiny steps and describe each one and how you decided to do it.
off the top of my head:
–Taking a shower( which part of the body, in which order.
Oops–you left the shampoo on the sink, now you have to decide is it worth opening the shower curtain and stepping out to get the shampoo,(spraying water all over the floor) or do you turn the water off, dry off and then start all over.
–laying in bed half awake 10 minutes before the alarm rings,and debating with yourself is it worth getting up now, or should you wait for 600 seconds. What will I gain with all those extra seconds?Will the dog just shut up and stop yapping already? Will I get to work early and my boss give me a raise? Will I enjoy extra time to take a good dump?
Properly delivered, there could be some humor there.
Poorly delivered, it will be boring as hell.
“Neuf” is French for “nine” and for “new”. “Nouvelle” is the feminine form of “nouveau” which also means “new”. The name “Pont-Neuf” means “new bridge”.
It really, really is. You are asked to do something as part of a learning experience. Instead of doing the work yourself as asked, you want others to do your assignment for you, thereby bypassing the whole point of the assignment.
You are just trying to wiggle out of doing your own work.
