The Ten Commandments of Comedy

Gene Perret

• Publisher: Quill Driver Books
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781610351539
• Topic: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Subtopic: Fernsehen

Beginning comedy writers and performers may think funny can't be taught, but legendary comedy writer Gene Perret, winner of three Emmy Awards, tells otherwise in this guide to what makes a good joke work. Outlining the 10 commandments of comedy, the unbreakable rules that every gag must follow in order to be funny, this book liberates readers and allows them to immediately begin writing better and funnier comedy material. By following Perret's commandments, readers will better understand how to write jokes that connect with audiences and discover why unsuccessful material isn't working and how it can be fixed. From the First Commandment (""Thou Shalt Surprise"") to the Tenth (""Thou Shalt Be Clever""), this work stands as a fast guide to the essentials of humor that is perfect for business presenters, after-dinner speakers, professional comedians, and anyone who wants to be funny.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

I. Thou Shalt Surprise

II. Thou Shalt Be Truthful

III. Thou Shalt Be Understood

IV. Thou Shalt Be Current

V. Thou Shalt Be Concise

VI. Thou Shalt Create a Vivid Image

VII. Thou Shalt Let the Audience Know When to Laugh

VIII. Thou Shalt Use Solid References

IX. Thou Shalt Remember the Audience

X. Thou Shalt Be Clever

Comedy Checklist for Individual Gags

FOREWORD

Not long after I started doing ventriloquism, I wrote my first comedy bit; it was a little routine with my new puppet and I performed it for my family. After I finished my father told me that my patter was terrible and that I just couldn’t write comedy so I should stick to “routine books” and not try to write my own material. I was 10 years old. This proves once and for all that comedy does, indeed, come from pain.

Despite that setback, I persevered and went out and performed through my teenage years and through college. I’ll never forget a time in my early 20s—I was in the middle of a show when there was a sudden, loud noise in the back of the room, surprising everyone. I tried to ad lib, but failed to get a laugh. Nothing. Nada. Crickets. I believe the Yiddish word is “bubkes.” It just brought back what my father had told me—I wasn’t funny on my own so I shouldn’t even try.

Now the good part. In my mid-20s my luck changed dramatically when I stumbled on a little book in my local library written by Gene Perret called Comedy Writing Step by Step (since updated to The New Comedy Writing Step by Step). I checked it out and devoured it eagerly, trying to find out if I had the knack to write my own material. I read and reread it from cover to cover, taking each step very seriously, working on every exercise Gene recommended.

I clearly remember the first joke I ever wrote while working through one of Gene’s comedy writing exercises. I wanted to write jokes about marriage for my puppet, Walter T. Airdale. The joke went like this:

TERRY: So Walter, I understand your anniversary was last week.

WALTER: Yep, it sure was. It was our iron anniversary.

TERRY: Which anniversary is that?

WALTER: I forgot our anniversary and she hit me with an iron!

Not a great joke, but it was life-changing for me. With that one joke I realized that I had the ability to write my own material! I kept at it; I would use Gene’s book as my comedy bible and do the exercises constantly. As a result, two things happened. The jokes started to flow faster and faster, while the enormous emotional brakes my father had put me under began to disappear. I could write a funny joke!

A few years and much hard work later that joke-writing confidence and ability enabled me to ad-lib as well, always getting a laugh when the unexpected happened during my show. And it all came from my hard work and dedication to the principles Gene had laid down in his books.

Gene’s new book, The Ten Commandments of Comedy, ties together all the lessons I learned from his past books and workshops. It’s an amazing tool that contains the main rules of comedy for anyone who wants to make a career as a comedy writer, performer, public speaker, or even for someone who just wants to be funnier in living rooms. Regardless of which describes who you are, you should read and review this book regularly.

I am living proof that these rules and principles work, because decades after that fateful day when I discovered and read that book by Gene Perret, I won America’s Got Talent and now am the headliner in my own theater at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

Thanks, Gene! I hope this in some small way lets you know how much your teachings changed my life. And for all of you who are starting to fulfill you own dream by reading The Ten Commandments of Comedy—good luck! You are Luke Skywalker about to be taught by the Jedi master Yoda of comedy writing: Gene Perret.

—Terry Fator

INTRODUCTION

Anything that works does so because it follows those principles that make it work. An airplane flies because it is built according to the principles that govern flight. A clock keeps accurate time because it’s manufactured to follow the rules that govern timekeeping. The lights go on when you hit the wall switch in your home because they’re wired in accordance with laws governing electricity. If these items didn’t follow the rules, they wouldn’t work.

There are fundamentals, too, that apply to comedy—rules that must be followed. Some may object that comedy should be free-flowing, improvisational, creative. “I don’t want to follow rules,” they might say. “I just want to do what I want to do to make people laugh. Following some set of regulations would inhibit my originality.” It’s a faulty argument. Would you want to fly to Pittsburgh in a plane that was built by someone who said, “I don’t want to follow rules. I just want to build airplanes the way I want to build them?” Probably not. It’s almost certain that you’d rather fly in one that gets off the ground and stays off it for as long as the pilot wants.

Does adhering to established principles inhibit originality? There are countless types and models of airplanes: single-engine aircraft, giant passenger planes, stealth bombers, huge cargo transports, and hundreds of other variations. Despite their differences, they all fly because they follow the principles of flight. There’s no foreseeable limit to the inventiveness of aeronautical engineers and the machines they will create, yet you can be certain the remarkable aircraft of the future will still follow the principles of flight.

Again, though, some may argue that these examples—airplanes, clocks, and lights—are mechanical. Mechanical items are obliged to follow physical principles. Creative artists, though, should be free of such restrictions. For artists to follow rules, these people might claim, would be to limit their creativity, their genius.

Music, though, is a creative art. There are brilliant classical composers, great song writers, and innovative musicians who work in jazz, rhythm and blues, heavy metal, and so on. Yet all of them are governed by strict, mathematical principles. Scales are well defined. Chords that harmonize with the melody are controlled. Play according to those rules and you can create beautiful music in whichever genre you prefer. Break those rules and the music sounds discordant.

Knowing the principles of music frees rather than inhibits the musician. Many people can pick up a guitar and readily play hundreds of songs by learning just three, maybe four, basic chords. By studying the principles that govern music, though, a musician can then add depth, variation, and charm to the music. If Beethoven had been limited to using three or four basic chords, he might have played some cute ditties for his friends to sing along with at dinner parties, but he could never have written his symphonies and would never have become a musical legend.

The more you know about your craft, the better you can master it . . . and the more enjoyment you can bring to yourself and to others.

A key benefit of knowing the principles of your craft is that it allows you to search back and find flaws in your work. It also gives you the knowledge you need to then correct those problems. It’s always interesting in sports that regardless how well athletes perform, they always insist that they can improve something or other in their performance. How do they do that? Invariably, they return to basics. Knowing what principles apply to their sport, they can check to make sure they’re following those rules and apply corrective measures when needed.

A well received comedy performance is a tremendous high. However, a weak performance is depressing. Comedians say “I bombed” or “I died”—it feels that traumatic. Knowing the rules of comedy allows the humorist to analyze the material or the presentation and discover why the performance bombed, and what must be done to repair it. It’s an effective way to convert a poor or mediocre comedy bit into a one that will have the audience in stitches.

There are rules, precepts, principles, regulations, standards, fundamentals—whatever you want to call them—that control the effectiveness of comedy. I’ve chosen to call them “commandments.” Admittedly, it’s in part a gimmick to get your attention. But The Ten Commandments of Comedy has a biblical tone to it, a sort of threat from above that might be ignored only at one’s peril.

The precepts that follow in this book are the rules that govern making people laugh. There are ten of them, but the order in which they’re listed is irrelevant. For your humor to be effective, you should adhere to all of them. If, for some reason, a joke or a routine doesn’t seem to be producing the results you think it should, it would be wise to review each of the commandments to try to find out where you’re violating or bending the rules.

No one can really explain why people laugh or what prompts them to laugh. People in the profession have timidly accepted that.

“The jokes didn’t work tonight.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. The people just didn’t laugh.”

Suppose you took a watch to the repair shop and asked...