😂 Is this thing on?

These are the jokes, folks.

This week’s rebroadcast is all about jokes on the page.

Jane Espenson makes the case for finding the essence before writing the jokes:

I guarantee you that they did not start working on the latest episode by thinking of funny things that could happen in a pottery class. They started by thinking about their characters, what they believe, and where they’re weakest.

Find your characters’ vulnerable spots and poke them and you’ll find a story. The idea that Jeff was over-praised as a child, resulting in a self-image that needs correction is not hilarious. It’s grounded and real — which allows for more license when writing the jokes.

---

In Crazy, Stupid, Love there’s a running joke where the characters keep mispronouncing Kevin Bacon’s character’s last name (Lindhagen). There’s a similar kind of joke in The Hangover where Zach Galifianakis’s character puts the emphasis on the wrong syllable of a naughty word. On film these jokes are extremely funny, but these seem like the kind of jokes that wouldn’t work as well on paper. So my question is two fold:

1. Do you think these types of jokes would be effective on the page? (aka “Should I even bother?”)

2. If so, any thoughts on how best to write something like this? Use accents and junk in dialogue, use a parenthetical, or cue in the reader in an action line?

— Nima

Pronunciation jokes have a tendency to feel cheap and hoary. But when they work, they work — and it’s easy enough to show them on the page.

MARY
(checking form)
Are you Mr. Donaldson?

MAN IN COAT
Doe. Nald. Sohn.

MARY
Excuse me?

MAN IN COAT
The o’s are long.

MARY
Oh.

MAN IN COAT
Yes. Not ‘uh.’ There is no schwa.

MARY
Doughnaldsone.

MAN IN COAT
Three syllables. Doe.

MARY
Doe. A deer.

MAN IN COAT
(unamused)
Nald.

MARY
Nald.

MAN IN COAT
Sohn.

MARY
Sohn. Doe-Nald-Sohn.

MAN IN COAT
Close enough.

Back to her form. A beat.

MARY
Mr. Doe-Nald-Sohn, I’m sorry to tell you your dog is dead.

Frankly, without more context my example feels like a clam — a joke that’s become musty through over-use.

But I can imagine scenarios in which its familiarity would actually work in its favor. Archer could probably weave in this kind of joke simply because of the heightened-deadpan nature of the show. And in the context of a dramedy, the setup is flat enough that it doesn’t really feel like a joke is coming, so the punchline is genuinely a surprise.

---

What’s the proper protocol in terms of writing a joke into your script? I frequently hear jokes in movies that I’ve heard from friends before the movie came out. Is it public domain and it needs no clearance or should it still be researched just in case it has roots from a standup comic’s copyrighted routine?

–Anup

Stand-up comics write their material, and written material is subject to copyright. But at a certain point, some jokes circulate out in the popular culture enough that I would argue they’re essentially public domain. But then again, I’m not a jury, so don’t take my advice as gospel.

If you can’t find a source for a joke, and you’ve heard it enough times and enough different ways that you feel it’s graduated to cultural meme status, you can probably get away with putting it in your script. Then the only question becomes, if you’ve heard it so many times, is it still original enough to be worthy of your script? Nothing is less funny than a joke that’s been played out.

---

Are you enjoying this newsletter?

📧 Forward it to a friend and suggest they check it out.

🔗 Share a link to this post on social media.

🗣 Have ideas for future topics (or just want to say hello)? Reach out to Chris via email at inneresting@johnaugust.com, Mastodon @ccsont@mastodon.art, or Threads @ccsont@threads.net