It usually takes two people a little while to learn where the funny buttons are and testy buttons are.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I learned at an early age that using the third person will push some buttons.
The conundrum that I face on a daily basis is that I have two sons who have grown up watching 'The Simpsons,' so they know exactly what buttons to push. They know how Bart irritates Homer, and they use these lines against me to tell me that I'm not funny anymore.
You can't teach someone to be funny, but you can teach comic timing. If you listen to a good comic, you can learn how to put it on a page.
Teaching someone to be funny is like teaching someone to be fast. They're already fast. You're just making them faster.
Most people are used to the T.V. comedy method of one joke every 18 seconds. And that's why it's not funny... There's no time for anything to develop.
The first thing that I learned - and I understood it at a really young age - was that I could get a laugh. Really early. Because my mother and father are funny.
Everybody I know who is funny, it's in them. You can teach timing, or some people are able to tell a joke, though I don't like to tell jokes. But I think you have to be born with a sense of humor and a sense of timing.
In order for me to have fun, I have to be able to not be buttoned down.
I don't think you can teach people how to be funny. You can make suggestions about how to speak a line or get a laugh, but it has to be in them.
The trick is always to write in pairs because if at least two people find it funny, you've immediately halved the odds of it not being funny.