Chapter one starts off by explaining the value of humor writing and explaining how people acquire their humor-writing skills. A quote backs up one theory of humor-writing skills by saying a secret is passed down from one generation to the next telling how to write humorously. The believers of this theory think the humor trait is inherited and only those who have humor in their genetics can become successful humor writers. Not all humor writers inherit their talent. The writing comes naturally for some, but others grow into their success through the environment they grow up in. Anyone can develop the skills needed for humor writing and I particularly enjoyed the exercise where I was supposed to list possible uses for a beer bottle and an ash tray. I was unsure of how difficult humor writing could be, but the exercise helped me and showed me how simple the writing really is.
The benefits of humor writing are brought up and said to involve reward, remembrance, and respect. Humor earns the speaker respectful attention, funny jokes make them remembered, and successful comedy writing helps them receive rewards. The benefits come with success and success comes from the performer using the material and audience to their advantage. The humorist must first weigh up the audience and determine if the majority is teenage girls, young lawyers, or old doctors. The people in the audience help the comedian decide what jokes to tell. Teenage girls will not enjoy the same jokes as old doctors so the comedian must decide what type of people are in audience so he can make sure he has a good show.
In dance I also used the material and audience to my advantage. In order to place well at competitions I needed to get a feel for what the audience and judges liked. Isn’t the key to success finding out what the audience enjoys before performing? I would sit in the audience and see what kind of dancers the judges enjoyed watching. Were they interested in jazz dancing and did they get into the music when an upbeat song started playing? I wanted to see how they reacted to good dancers so I could tell if they liked my performance while I was on stage. If the judges seemed to like sharp dancing right on the movement, then that is what I would do that day, but if I sensed they liked choreography held out to lengthen the music, then I would sustain my choreography instead. I never changed my choreography; I merely moved through the choreography based on the preference of the judges.
Similar to comedy writers, they also base their performance on the audience. For the audience members to enjoy the performance, jokes must be told in their interest of the viewers. Comedy writers must target a certain age range and solely write to keep the reader interested. When performing, you want to keep the audience entertained and that only happens by performing to their liking. Every type of performer has to study the audience and decide what type of performance will be the most successful and enjoyable to the viewers. As long as the performer gets the right feel for the audience's interests, the show will be a hit!
Questions : Do you think the majority of comedy writers inherited or worked for their talent?
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