Definitely agree. And there are other factors in there as well like audience, expectation, genre, publisher, editor, etc.
Yup.
I’m absolutely great at pulling off funny in writing, no ifs ands or butts. Not always strong humor, but still humorous moments, when they’re useful. I’ve got no problem sprinkling that in. It makes for a richer read.
But it’s not for everyone.
True that, lol.
My sister wanted to watch a comedy special on Netflix of David Chappelle, she said she heard how many found him funny. He wasn’t. A lot of the crowd laughed at his jokes, but we both found his jokes to be mediocre and offensive. And I definitely get that when you are a comedian, people are going to find things you say to be insensitive (because most comedy gold is), but there’s a difference in knowing it’s a joke because it’s an act and actually making it funny, and being an ass.
No.
Comedy is something I don’t necessarily touch upon because writing it in a book is very different than trying to come up with a comedy skit. If you try to be funny, it’ll look like you’re forcing it. And when you force it, it’ll be a terrible experience.
I don’t even count myself funny, to be honest. I mean, I do silly things, I send funny GIFs, I sometimes say something funny or make a joke that makes people laugh especially if it’s referencing pop culture (like, I say a lot of Spongebob, Bluey, etc. lines). But… I’m not funny in the sense of the word.
So, when I do write lighter scenes, I focus on sarcasm and small jokes that aren’t supposed to be funny but could be counted if I did make you laugh. Like for instance, I have a scene where the MC’s girlfriend asks him, “Have you ever considered trying to think of another way to push this negative feeling out of you?” And he goes, “Like how?” She responds with, “I don’t know. Exercising?” And it cuts off to another scene (time jump) to them about to fence. And he says, “I don’t see how this can help anyone.” And they do back and forth banter for a moment. In this scene, I’m not trying to be funny, but it’s supposed to be light humor and if I make a reader laugh or even chuckle, then that’s good.
On other pieces of fiction… it’s hard to say. I prefer the same things I try to accomplish in my own work (back and forth banter and sarcasm) because like I said, if you try to be funny, it’ll come across as unfunny. In the book Better Together by Christine Riccio, the story focuses on two girls (sisters) and one of them is a comedian who is trying to get back into comedy after feeling like she’s not funny. So Christine does what she can to add humor in all kinds of places. It comes out flat, forced, and cringy. It was hard to get through, even with an audiobook. The audiobook kind of made it worse.
I think it varies? I haven’t read anything by someone who I know they don’t think they’re funny, so I can’t say if believing you’re not funny can make a difference in the way you write it. I think that, for some at least, if they consider themselves funny (because Christine, for example, is a BookTuber and does a lot of skits) then it may not look it on the page.
But I also think it’s hard to say from that standpoint because comedians may find that they are funny and actually are… so it may just be because of it being on page and not in person.
I’m one of those people who can find humor in any situation. I think it’s all about your outlook on life.