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  "path": "/comedy-principles-screenwriter",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-03T22:30:04.000Z",
  "site": "https://nofilmschool.com",
  "tags": [
    "Comedy",
    "Comedy writing",
    "Joke writing",
    "Screenwriting advice",
    "Robert mack",
    "Screenwriting",
    "www.youtube.com",
    "_the best comedy movies_",
    "_character_",
    "_sketch comedy writing at SNL_",
    "_said_",
    "_the motivations of your characters_",
    "_Charles Schulz_",
    "_inherently sad or pathetic_",
    "_dialogue_",
    "_character-building_",
    "_things tend to happen in threes_"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\n__Screenwriters study structure. They study character arcs and dialogue. They probably don't spend nearly as much time studying the mechanics of why things are funny and the structure of jokes... but we're going to fix that today.\n\nComedian and comedy coach Robert Mack joined David Perell's _How I Write_ podcast to break down the mechanics of great jokes, drawing on Mitch Hedberg, Steven Wright, and Jerry Seinfeld as inspirations.\n\nThe principles behind a punchline and the principles behind a great scene have more overlap than you'd expect. Check out their discussion below.\n\n- YouTube www.youtube.com\n\n## Comedy Is Reality from a Skewed Angle\n\nThis is Mack’s number-one rule. To tell a joke is to surprise, and surprise usually comes from perspective, not from information. Hedberg's two-sentence joke as the example (“I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too”) has zero setup, zero backstory, and is completely self-contained. It takes a hard left turn because of his point of view, and the result is a shock of humor as your brain puts the two things together.\n\nIf your comedy scenes need a lot of runway before the laugh lands, the angle probably isn't skewed enough. Learn from _the best comedy movies_.\n\n## Learn Incongruity\n\nWhen two things that shouldn't coexist occupy the same space, the brain often resolves the dissonance with a laugh.\n\nSteven Wright built a career on it, as Mack points out. Incongruity is what happens when there is a sudden, surprising, or absurd mismatch between what is expected in a situation and what actually occurs.\n\nFor screenwriters, this is a _character_ tool. The funniest people in films are often incongruous by nature. Wrong place, wrong instincts, wrong era. A character might be put in a situation, and you expect them to do something or behave a certain way.\n\nBut the wonderful thing about people is that they’ll often surprise you, and do so hilariously.\n\n## Bait and Switch\n\nThis is more about joke set-up in Mack’s discussion. You’re priming the audience with a certain, familiar situation or premise. It might lead to automatic tension—maybe you’re talking about something that’s deathly serious. Start to take them down that path, but then turn around suddenly and surprise them.\n\nCraig Ferguson loved this kind of joke when he was in late-night TV. It often followed a pattern of, \"You've got A and B. One is (list of insulting characteristics that seem to describe A)... and the other one is A.\"\n\nThink, “You've got a studio executive and a Magic 8-Ball. One of them gives you vague non-answers, has no real insight into the future, and everyone still makes major decisions based on what it says... and the other one is the Magic 8-Ball.” _Yuck, yuck_.\n\nScreenwriting is not always as rigid as these types of patterns, but you can apply similar approaches. Leave clues in a scene that seem to suggest one thing, but then give the audience a twist to surprise them with a second thing. Build tension and exploit expectations.\n\nSometimes the audience will beat you there, and that’s okay, too. You’re still getting investment from the viewer. If your audience figures out the subtext or the turn one beat before the character says it out loud, they're locked in. That just means you don’t have to explain what’s funny, because the audience gets it.\n\nTo learn more, read about _sketch comedy writing at SNL_.\n\n_The 40-Year-Old Virgin_ Credit: Universal Pictures\n\n## Truth Is the Starting Point\n\nThe great Sid Caesar once _said_, “Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth, and you put a little curlicue at the end.”\n\nSo comedy is a kernel of truth that gets built on. The exaggeration only works because the truth underneath it is recognizable.\n\nIf your comedy character or situation isn't rooted in something real, the jokes will feel manufactured. This is why it’s so important that you know _the motivations of your characters_, and the audience can see them, too. Can we understand what they want and why? Can we root for them? Chances are, their underlying goal is going to be human and relatable, no matter the setting.\n\nStart there, and then no matter how ridiculous their situation gets, we’ll be along for the ride.\n\n## Winning Isn't Funny\n\n_Charles Schulz_ said it first: “Winning is great, but it isn’t funny.\"\n\nNo one connects with a character who has everything figured out. Their story isn’t interesting. Both comedy and compelling drama live in the gap between wanting and getting. In other words, conflict! Give us conflict.\n\nCarol Burnett is widely credited with originating the phrase, “Comedy is tragedy, plus time.” Much of comedy is _inherently sad or pathetic_ in some way. Think of great recent comedies— _The 40-Year-Old Virgin_ is about a guy who can’t find a woman. _Forgetting Sarah Marshall_ is about a guy who can’t get over his ex. _Bridget Jones’ Diary_ is about a woman in a slump.\n\nThere is so much opportunity for fun in sadness. The catharsis can feel very similar.\n\n## Word Choice Is Important\n\nIn prose, timing lives in sentence rhythm. On screen, it lives in editing and performance. But it starts on the page, specifically in the word you choose and where you put it. This will usually apply to _dialogue_.\n\nThey show a wedding speech example where the groom says, “We’re expecting… everyone to have a great time.” The context (being recently married) and the word choice (expecting) lead everyone to think he’s talking about a pregnancy. But he’s not, and his little pause and the word choice are what take people there.\n\nScreenwriters who want sharp comedy need to be precise at the word level, not just the structural level. Your actors can only work with what's on the page, unless they’re comedy geniuses giving you a dozen alts.\n\n_Curb Your Enthusiasm_ Credit: HBO\n\n## Name the Universal Small Thing\n\nThis is what they call “The Seinfeld Technique,” but you could apply it to all of Larry David’s work, especially later in _Curb Your Enthusiasm_. Find a small, universal annoyance, give it a name, and exaggerate it.\n\nAnd David’s character hates _everything_ —wobbly tables, private bathrooms, people who are slow in buffet lines, people hogging cabinet space in a shared kitchen, you name it. It resonates because, yeah, all of those things are actually annoying. But then Larry makes situations ten million times worse every chance he can by confronting the annoyances. And that’s funny.\n\nFor screenwriters, this is a _character-building_ exercise. The most specific, named quirks tend to be the most universal, and they're the ones audiences remember.\n\n## The Rule of Three\n\nYou know about this one already, probably. In writing, _things tend to happen in threes_. You have three acts, or a beginning, middle, and end.\n\nIn comedy, the first instance is the groundwork. The second gives the audience pause, a chance to recognize the pattern. The third instance is often so ridiculous that it earns the laugh. And the third breaks the mold of the first two.\n\nMack points out that this applies beyond comedy, so you’re not restricted in use. In screenwriting, it plays out in callbacks, escalating jokes, and scene structure.\n\nTwo setups and a subversion are a reliable machine.",
  "title": "8 Comedy Principles Screenwriters Should Try"
}