I have been informally making people laugh all my life, but
professionally, my career started (and virtually stopped) in the
summer of 1968. That was when I ran across a copy of Writer's
Markets, a directory published by Writers Digest. I was surprised
to discover that magazine cartoonists bought ideas. I always loved
cartoons and I knew I had the ability to make people laugh. I
immediately had visions that within six months I would be lying on
a beach in Bermuda for the rest of my life leisurely writing
cartoon ideas.
I put an 8 ½ x11 blank sheet of paper in my portable, manual
typewriter and - in just three hours - voila - I had - - - a blank
sheet of paper. I made a painful discovery that day. Being funny
off the cuff, spontaneous, just winging it, was not the same as
being funny on purpose. I continued to try to write cartoon ideas
on and off for the next few weeks, but after three months I had
produced maybe 30 ideas, an average, roughly, of one idea every
three days. I sank into despair and depression.
This was the most humbling experience of my career. I put my
typewriter away along with my humor-writing dreams and went about
my life. But I still made friends laugh and I still read cartoons.
Then, in 1970, something wonderful happened. I was reading a
cartoon in a daily syndicated panel Grin and Bear It by George
Lichty. A robber holding up a bank, has a gun in hand and a nylon
pulled over face. The teller is saying, "Excuse me, do you
know you have a run in your stocking?"
I had a "Eureka" moment! I thought to myself, I know
what Lichty did. He took an everyday line, "You've got a run
in your stocking" and put it in a different/unusual setting.
I have since discovered it is a technique known as the cliche line
technique, but at the time I simply thought, "I can do
that."
I made a list of as many cliché lines as I could think of and
tried to find a new place or situation where each could be used.
Within thirty days I had written ninety cartoon ideas - triple my
previous output - and in one-third the time. I realized, that
while I had not suddenly gotten any funnier, in mere seconds, I
had discovered a process, a formula, a method, a recipe, a system
- whatever label you want to put on it - to create humor on
purpose!
I don't think I have ever been so excited in my life (I don't
even think my discovery of sex was that exciting - - although I
think what did come close in excitement was discovering the fact
that sex is more enjoyable with a partner).
Not all my ideas were good - few were - but still, with my
newly discovered method, a greater percentage were good than those
I created by sheer will power. Once again, I immediately had
visions of lying on a beach in Bermuda for the rest of my life,
leisurely writing cartoon ideas.
Nine months later, I sold my first cartoon idea to Jeff Keate
for his syndicated sports panel Time Out - college professor in
front of blackboard covered with complex equations to another
professor: "However if the track is muddy, it's an entirely
different equation." I was paid $5 for it. I realized the
warm sunny beach might be further away than I would have wished
for.
Anyway, long before that sale I began to look at cartoons in a
new light. I looked for other patterns that I could duplicate. I
found them. And I mimicked them, the wordplay, the understatement,
the substitution. That's when they began to sell to such places as
The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Reader's Digest, Cosmopolitan,
Playboy, Playgirl, New Woman, American Medical Association
Journal, and Saturday Evening Post. I have had cartoons in every
major publication except the New Yorker. New Yorker contract
artist, Charles Addams (The Addams Family) loved my writing, drew
stuff from every batch I sent him, but the editor never okayed a
single cartoon based on my ideas. I have also sold ideas for many
syndicated cartoons, including Ziggy, Marmaduke, Frank &
Ernest, The Lockhorns and Trudy.
But two more important ideas were soon to burst forth, two
ideas as important as discovering that there were specific
recognizable principles to creating humor and that these
principles could be duplicated at will.
Sometimes I would get a partial idea - a caption, and I would
mull it over and try to find the appropriate picture, which might
happen a month, two months, twelve months later. So the second
principle I discovered was: hang on to a good idea if you believe
in it. You never know when something will jell.
And then I made a more important discovery. At the time I only
thought of myself as a cartoon writer. I didn't think of myself as
a comedy writer, someone who wrote jokes - even though I was
spontaneously funny with friends.
So, there I was, simply thinking of myself as a gagwriter
(cartoon writer), and I had these ideas that I couldn't seem to
make work, couldn't get a picture to go with the idea. And after
two years it dawned on me. I couldn't the get picture because it
didn't need a picture. It wasn't a cartoon. It was a one-liner,
duh!
That was a major break-through concept. The techniques I was
discovering through observation, copy-catting, and trial and
error, the techniques that I thought of only for gagwriting could
be used in other mediums. At the time I was branching out a little
and attempting to write greeting card ideas since many cartoonists
did that as well. But I also was writing jokes and didn't even
know it.
I realized there are Principles Of Humor that can apply to a
variety of mediums. I realized comedy was like music. Whether you
play classical piano like Vladimir Horowitz or Van Cliburn, or
rock and roll piano like Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, you
are using the same tools - notes and chords. You are just focusing
on different combinations, and playing at different speeds using
the same basic stuff.
The same is true with humor. If you understand the principles
of creating humor, you can work in virtually any medium you choose
if you master the other components of that medium. I.e. you must
be able to write a screen play before you can write a funny screen
play, but once you set out to write a comedy script you use the
same humor techniques - exaggeration, understatement, combo,
substitution, etc., used in any other medium.
Each medium does have a few unique techniques but overall,
regardless of which of the many markets you can write for, you are
a comedy/humor writer, not a joke writer, or a greeting card
writer, or a humor columnist. You are a comedy/humor writer who
works in one or more mediums.
Once I realized I could write jokes, I began trying to sell
jokes. My first sale was to Bob Orben for Orben's Current Comedy:
"The republicans just had this five day convention to decide
who to run for president. It was a little like Eve sneaking up
behind Adam, covering his eyes, and saying "Guess who?"
Jokes sales to Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, Rip Taylor
followed, but what I learned from Orben was advice in his
guidelines for writers. Great advice. Profound advice. Orben
wrote, "Before submitting a line, ask yourself, 'Will this
get a laugh if presented on stage in front of an audience?' "
Too many speakers/performers ask themselves a much weaker
question. They ask, "Is this funny?" Everything that
gets laughs is funny, but not everything that is funny gets a
laugh.
You want to improve the quality of your presentation this year?
Go through your material and evaluate every piece of humor with
this new standard. If it measures up, keep it. If it doesn't,
replace it with something that does. If you are writing material
to be read, use the same criteria. If you use these techniques you
too will be able to successfully practice humor professionally.
Arm yourself with the above battle plans and you will do more than
survive the humor wars.
Go forth and be funny!
John Cantu is a professional humorist, humor coach, and writer.
He has produced shows starring Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, and
Margaret Cho, written material for comedians, provided cartoon
ideas to name artists, and coached many professional speakers.John
welcomes correspondence at: Cantu@HumorMall.com
© 2000 John Cantu, http://www.HumorMall.com . Cantu Humor - To
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