The Art of the Smart Dumb Joke: Why “The Naked Gun” and Other Broad Comedies Work
By many accounts, The Naked Gun should not be considered a classic. Its humor is juvenile. Its characters are cartoonish. Its plots are barely held together with sight gags, puns, and glue. And yet, decades later, it remains wildly entertaining, rewatchable, and more expertly constructed than many so-called “serious” films. This raises important questions for […]
What Makes Comedy Writing Funny? It’s More Than The Jokes
Writing successful comedy is serious business. Your jokes can live or die by the sword. Audiences are fickle. Comedy is neither inherently good nor bad – it’s only effective or not. The difference between a joke landing or falling flat depends on many factors such as the audience, the context, the way the joke is […]
“Unconscious Levels of Funny” Judd Apatow on ‘Sicker In The Head’ & Beyond
The 2022 book Sicker In The Head includes conversations with Cameron Crowe, David Letterman, John Mulaney, Kevin Hart, Margaret Cho, Whoopi Goldberg, and Will Ferrell, among others. By simply asking “how are you doing?” during the pandemic, Apatow felt he could grow as a creative and a person based on many of the responses from […]
“The Depth Of Comedy Characters” Judd Apatow on ‘George Carlin’s American Dream’ & Beyond
“When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was stand-up. I probably had some idea of being Eddie Murphy or Bill Murray, like we all did,” said Judd Apatow, “but I love the idea of doing stand-up. I did it for 7 years when I was in high school, took off a couple […]
6 Ways Comedy Fails
Comedy is such a peculiar writing beast. It is so contextual, timing and culture-specific. Even broad comedy which caters to the widest crowd may be met with a frown. Sometimes, it call comes down to personal taste. Some people don’t find certain things funny. The same people may find something funny the first time but […]
