I like The Simpsons Conan O'Brien's funny. He used to write for The Simpsons. I think Matt Groening's funny. Rich Hall's funny and someone based Moe The Bartender on Rich Hall. I like The Simpsons. I'm not even sure if they're getting rid of Apu on The Simpsons. I don't think I've seen him all season/Season 30.
I like to write gags. Stories might be written but, it'll be a gag I think of being written into my story. So, I like writing gags, a lot.
Corny characters: * Ned Flanders * Hank Hill Out-of-touch characters: * Shirai Kuroko * Beavis & Butthead Impossible scenarios: * Fishes swimming outside of your window. * Strangled by a garden hose acting like a snake. * Screaming food. Spoiled and self righteous: * Junkie walking into your house as if he ownes it, using your television, eating your food, complaining about that you didn't clean up after him. Grim predicaments: * Waking up with evidence that you killed someone. * Some stranger is ready to die in a gruesome manner just to frame you for it. Alternative history: * Someone from WW2 still hiding in a basement, listening to fake war news. Insanity: * People getting high on painkillers and using powertools on each other while laughing. * Stupid ways to die while just trying to look better. * Smuggling drugs back to the country of origin while trying to get rich from the difference in market value. After testing 1000 of my own jokes on people, I discovered that jokes has to be emotionally evocative and really dumb to work. Anything that sounds smart will be boring as comedy.
P.G. Wodehouse Terry Prattchet Carl Hiaasen Douglas Adams Scott Adams Tom Sharpe Joseph Heller Giovanni Guareshi Donald Westlake Kari Suomalainen Bill Watterson Charles M. Schulz Ephraim Kishon Roald Dahl Astrid Lindgren Riku Mattila Erkki Mikael Ismo Leikola (Standup) Rex Stout Mihail Bulgakov Edgar Wallace Richard Feynman Mauri Kunnas David Lodge James Herriot Carl Barks Tove Janson Gerald Durrell Alexander McCall-Smith Veikko Huovinen Juba Heikki Turunen Juice Leskinen Mark Twain Anthony de Mello David Pawson A. A. Milne Aleksis Kivi Richard Scarry Nopola & Nopola Kirsi Kunnas Coscinny + Uderzo Tabary + Uderzo Alan Sorkin Serious Yahoo Neil Gaiman Riku Immonen Tony Attwood Orson Scott Card George Orwell Hunter S. Thompson Aykroyd & Landis Jordan Peterson Gilbreth & Gilbreth Lasse Lehtinen Arto Paasilinna Pertti Jarla (Kurt Vonnegut) Herge Markku Paretskoi Juhani Peltonen Taylor & Graham Erma Bombeck Kari Hotakainen ...
I fancy myself as a comedy writer. But Id be more useful in a team as some of my stuff is either inappropriate ,weird or just not funny. But I imagine writing comedy is a very serious business. Its hard work to be funny all the time. its easier to be funny when you are relaxed and your job is not on the line. I agree that Simpsons is great comedy. Homer is one of the funniest guys on the planet but there are some other cameos who are just as funny.
I agree with you about the Simpsons being really funny. I'm one of those people who think it's gone totally downhill though and don't watch it at all except for the Halloween episode each year. The Apu debacle is just another reason for me to tune out. What I like about the Simpsons, at least the older episodes, is that it's generally "clean" comedy. I find too much comedy nowadays raunchy, mean spirited or just political. I'd never heard of Rich Hall before but he does have a Moe quality to him. I watched his interview with Conan. I find late night hosts tend to go for that cheap political humour too often in their monologues but when you get them candidly talking with guests you can get some really funny stuff. Graham Norton's show seems to be a good source for this. I like the stories the celebrities tell. I think that's the thing with comedy, I like it to have a meaningful story, not just be gags, though I do like stuff like "3 Stooges". As for other stuff, I like screwball comedies from the 30s and 40s and older sitcoms from the 60s-80s. I don't write much comedy myself though because I'm sort of shy about it and I find that conveying humour in book is difficult. I've never found a comedy novel I've found funny. The rare time I laugh during a novel it's just a funny incident in a mainstream novel. I do find comic books and strips funny though. I think with comedy you generally have to have some kind of visual, whether it's drawn or moving pictures, for it to work. I like strips like Dilbert and Farside. I've never watched much stand up but have been meaning to, to try and learn from it.
Confederacy of Dunces and Christopher Moore books. I like writing about a ridiculous main character that has numerous flaws yet is completely oblivious. Unjustified narcissism is a plus. The plot unfolds as this character continues to mess everything up.
