Organic Comedy Writing vs. Written Formulas

We had a good workshop with San Francisco Comedy College teacher Kurtis Matthews on Saturday.

Among other things, he touched on two different types of comedy writing.

1. Written: Starting formula-based, written down: examples include the techniques of Judy Carter, Greg Dean, and Gene Perret.

2. Organic: Starting with an idea or two and talking it out onstage.

I've tried some of the formulas and I didn't like the jokes I got out of them, but I can't honestly say I've tried them enough- I write based on inspiration, generally, and that's enough for now.

I'm still learning about both of these, but I see some crossover too. That is, I've written some things that have evolved onstage and new things have been added over time as I talk to other people about the routine.

Also, I don't always say all my jokes exactly the same way every time- every audience and show has its rhythm and feeling and you've got to connect to this audience now ("be in the room"), so you may lengthen or shorten a line, repeat or rephrase an idea, whatever it seems like you need to- I can't remember exactly where I read it but one author said that every crowd is different, and you deliver the punch when it seems they're ready for it. But this is a performance issue.

Still, over time, you find that certain ways of doing the same bit work more often with more audiences- and that becomes the standard for that bit.

Organic joke writing takes more guts because you're starting with less, you're not leaning on memorized lines, but it also is more LIVE, and stand-up comedy is a spoken art form- if you transcribe real stand-up or talking you'll see that language usage and phrasing is quite different when spoken than written.

I don't remember if I've said it elsewhere, but Doug Lipman had a cool idea in his book on storytelling that showed a triangle, the three points were: you, your material, and the audience. But there are only two sides- the audience can't connect to your material except through you- and if you memorize everything, you cut out the opportunity for a live relationship with the audience- it's better to have ideas and emotions and pictures etc. and relate those to THIS audience in the way that best fits THEM.