Comedies - Relying on the True and the Tested

Comedy is a hard thing to pull off, not least because you need to be funny, but because you need to be funny in so many ways and with such assuredness, while moving the plot... somewhere. Here, I've given four episode 1s a brief analysis of what the what and what the how, so pay attention.

Firstly, Good old Chrono posted a great article recently on his blog (Journey of the Scribe): Things I Learned from Improv. And, made this points (that are as important for Comedy as they are for Drama):

1. Every scene needs conflict.
2. Once you have conflict, escalate it!
3. When telling a story, avoid thought words such as 'decided', 'pondered', 'considered', etc.
4. Avoid 'talking heads' scenes. Characters should at least be doing something while they talk.
5. Fart jokes and scenes about gynecologists make most people groan or cringe, unless your audience is 5-year olds or horny teenagers.
6. In each scene, try to ask yourself, 'What is my character trying to accomplish this scene?'
7. Characters all have unique mannerisms and ways of speaking. Try to avoid defaulting to your own voice.
8. If you're not enjoying a scene, chances are no one else is either.
9. Subtext is amazing when you can pull it off.
10. Make every scene and every character larger than life, but still believable.

Black Books - Season 1 Episode 1

There are three plots - one main, and two sub-plots:

1. Bernard can't do his own accounting or fill in his tax forms and is desperate for assistance
2. Manny is overly stressed by his accounting job, but having mistakenly swallowed the Little Book of Calm, could die.
3. Fran's trying to solve the riddle of the latest purchase for her shop - what could it be, and will her trying to work out the answer keep her from being with her friend during labour

And the following is a list of the comedic elements in use:

1. Blagging / Lack of Knowledge/ Trying to Impress
2. Character - general funny act
3. Character - Idiosyncrasy
   
4. Character - Out of Character Response / Take on Persona of Another
5. Character - Over the Top
6. Character - Specific Saying / Way of Speaking
7. Contrasting / Reversal (Happy <-> Sad / Idyllic <-> Hell)
8. Escalate Situation / Responses
9. Forgetfulness
   
10. Getting Caught Out / Saving Face
11. Harming Oneself / Putting Self in Harms Way
12. Inability to cope with inanimate objects
13. Irony
14. Lack of Self-Awareness
15. Lack of Social Skills
16. Malapropism / misuse of Word, Phrase / Off-Cuff Wrong Saying
17. Obstructing another character (verbally / physically)
18. Offensive / Blunt / Rude
19. Reaction to Incident
20. Reminder of Something Character is Trying to Avoid
21. Repeat Something (Twist it on the repeat)
22. Sarcasm
23. Song / Poetry that doesn't Rhyme
24. Stating the Obvious
25. Stereotyping
26. Surprise Response (abnormal in situation)
27. Taking Anger Out on Others
28. Unexpected / Unexplained Act whose Outcome Leads to Explanation
29. Unexpected Observation / Link

Scrubs - Season 1 Episode 1

Scrubs is more gangshow that Black Books, and the plots resolve around a mural of life in the hospital, introducing us to the characters and following themes of fitting in (place in the hierarchy) / committing to the work / overcoming fears of inadequacy / making friends and rivals.

Here are the comedic elements in use:

1. Adopting a Funny Voice
2. Being Anal
3. Belittling Others
4. Blagging / Lack of Knowledge/ Trying to Impress
5. Character - Idiosyncrasy
   
6. Comedic Dreams / Words Put in the Mouths of Others
7. Contrasting / Reversal (Happy <-> Sad / Idyllic <-> Hell)
8. Fish out of Water
9. Gesturing / While Others are Talking
10. Giving Names (Derogatory) to Others
11. Going off on One
12. Humorous Observation
13. Hypocrite
    
14. Making Enemies
15. misleading People
16. Oneupmanship
17. Pop-Culture References
18. Sarcasm
19. Slapstick
20. Stitching Someone Up - Personal Gain / Avoidance
21. Talking Behind Someone's Back
22. Trying to be One of the Gang
23. Worrying the Wider Public with offhand Comment

Red Dwarf - Season 1 Episode 1

Red Dwarf, like Scrubs, opens with a lot of characters, but manages to shirk them pretty quickly with a heavy dose of Cadmium. There isn't a unifying theme, but the plot lines set up the main situation for the show along with Rimmer's perpetual subplot:

1. Lister is put in stasis because he won't reveal his cat, leading to Rimmer not fixing a drive plate that kills everyone with Cadmium, making Lister the last human alive
2. Rimmer fails his exam
3. Cat is the last surviving member of the cat race

Here's that all important list:

1. 1 of the 7 Deadly Sins
2. Barefaced Lying
3. Bending Rules for personal gain and claiming its not
4. Character - Idiosyncrasy
   
5. Choice of Clothing / Tools
6. Conflict / Winding Each Other Up
7. Crossing Objects / Animals (Woolly-Jumper)
8. Delusions of Grandeur
   
9. Dissing / Ignoring Authority
10. Escalating a Wind Up
11. Fish Out of Water
12. Going the Wrong Way
13. Hamming - Grand Literary Acting
14. Inappropriate Music to a Scene
15. Inappropriateness
16. Indirect Double Entendres
17. Jade comments - Lack of Knowledge (history, geography, science) / Incorrect Terminology
18. Losing Mind
19. Making a Fool of Another / Getting them to Make a Fool of Themselves
20. Me-First Ideology
21. Misunderstanding / Not Bothering to Understand
22. Nerdy
23. Offensive / Blunt / Rude
24. Punchline Interruption (of someone else's dialogue - funny or otherwise)
25. React to Incident / Situation but leave it for Someone Else
26. Repetition and Ignorance (They're all Dead Dave… Everyone's Dead)
27. Saving Face
28. Slapstick
29. Superiority
30. Trying to be Careful and Making it Worse
31. Twisting Meaning of Someone's Statement

IT Crowd - Season 1 Episode 1

And finally we have the IT Crowd, the newest of the four, and not necessarily the funniest (some of the character idiosyncrasies are vaguely annoying), but it's still a masterclass. Here we have the introduction of all the characters meshed in with two plots:

1. Power play within the team
2. Raising the profile of the team

And the list:

1. Anticlimax - from the big build up (McGuyver / A-Team sequence)
2. Blagging / Lack of Knowledge/ Trying to Impress
3. Caught Out
4. Character - Idiosyncrasy
   
5. Conflict against 3rd person bring 1st and 2nd together (then in-fighting)
6. Contrasting / Reversal (Happy <-> Sad / Idyllic <-> Hell)
7. Determination (To Do / Not Do Something)
8. Diffusing Situations
9. Failure to Listen / Lack of Interest
10. Hiding / Avoidance
11. Increasing an Alert Status
12. Jade comments - Lack of Knowledge (history, geography, science) / Incorrect Terminology
13. Job Specific Cliché
14. Mania
15. Matching Banter (Down a Blind Alley)
16. Mirroring Someone / Object
17. Missing the Obvious - Stated / Visible
18. Mistaking the Secret Nod / Talk / Handshake
19. Not Picking up the Vibe
20. Odd / Incorrect Analogy
21. Playing on a stereotyped lack of knowledge
22. Private Joke / Job Specific Joke - not got by others
23. Proving them Wrong
24. puerile Humour - Self Aware
25. Repetition (normal)
26. Self Loathing
27. Slapstick
28. Slow Response / Reaction (Purposeful)
29. Stress Induced by Others
30. Sudden Outburst
31. Telling the Wrong Story
32. The "What did they say?" or "I'm not talking to them, tell them this…" 3 way
33. The Kitten -> Tiger Unexpected Unleashing
34. The Only One Who Knows - Being Ignored
35. Toilet Humour
36. Used / Abused - Bemoaning Treatment at the Hands of Others
37. Wordplay

Having knowledge of these terms however doesn't make for great comedy. It's all in the choice of topic delivered in the form of one of these listed items, and of course the delivery itself. So, finally, altogether... the full list (just to show you what you can call on):

1. 1 of the 7 Deadly Sins
2. Adopting a Funny Voice
3. Anticlimax - from the big build up (McGuyver / A-Team sequence)
4. Barefaced Lying
5. Being Anal
6. Belittling Others
7. Bending Rules for personal gain and claiming its not
8. Blagging / Lack of Knowledge/ Trying to Impress
9. Caught Out
10. Character - general funny act
11. Character - Idiosyncrasy
12. Character - Out of Character Response / Take on Persona of Another
13. Character - Over the Top
14. Character - Specific Saying / Way of Speaking
15. Choice of Clothing / Tools
16. Comedic Dreams / Words Put in the Mouths of Others
17. Conflict / Winding Each Other Up
18. Conflict against 3rd person bring 1st and 2nd together (then in-fighting)
19. Contrasting / Reversal (Happy <-> Sad / Idyllic <-> Hell)
20. Crossing Objects / Animals (Woolly-Jumper)
21. Delusions of Grandeur
22. Determination (To Do / Not Do Something)
23. Diffusing Situations
24. Dissing / Ignoring Authority
25. Escalate Situation / Responses
26. Escalating a Wind Up
27. Failure to Listen / Lack of Interest
28. Fish Out of Water
29. Forgetfullness
30. Gesturing / While Others are Talking
31. Getting Caught Out / Saving Face
32. Giving Names (Derogatory) to Others
33. Going off on One
34. Going the Wrong Way
35. Hamming - Grand Literary Acting
36. Harming Oneself / Putting Self in Harms Way
37. Hiding / Avoidance
38. Humorous Observation
39. Hypocrite
40. Inability to cope with inanimate objects
41. Inappropriate Music to a Scene
42. Inappropriateness
43. Increasing an Alert Status
44. Indirect Double Entendres
45. Irony
46. Jade comments - Lack of Knowledge (history, geography, science) / Incorrect Terminology
47. Job Specific Cliché
48. Lack of Self-Awareness
49. Lack of Social Skills
50. Losing Mind
51. Making a Fool of Another / Getting them to Make a Fool of Themselves
52. Making Enemies
53. Malapropism / misuse of Word, Phrase / Off-Cuff Wrong Saying
54. Mania
55. Matching Banter (Down a Blind Alley)
56. Me-First Ideology
57. Mirroring Someone / Object
58. Misleading People
59. Missing the Obvious - Stated / Visible
60. Mistaking the Secret Nod / Talk / Handshake
61. Misunderstanding / Not Bothering to Understand
62. Nerdy
63. Not Picking up the Vibe
64. Obstructing another character (verbally / physically)
65. Odd / Incorrect Analogy
66. Offensive / Blunt / Rude
67. Oneupmanship
68. Playing on a stereotyped lack of knowledge
69. Pop-Culture References
70. Private Joke / Job Specific Joke - not got by others
71. Proving them Wrong
72. Puerile Humour - Self Aware
73. Punchline Interruption (of someone else's dialogue - funny or otherwise)
74. React to Incident / Situation but leave it for Someone Else
75. Reaction to Incident
76. Reminder of Something Character is Trying to Avoid
77. Repeat Something (Twist it on the repeat)
78. Repetition (normal)
79. Repetition and Ignorance (They're all Dead Dave… Everyone's Dead)
80. Sarcasm
81. Saving Face
82. Self Loathing
83. Slapstick
84. Slow Response / Reaction (Purposeful)
85. Song / Poetry that doesn't Rhyme
86. Stating the Obvious
87. Stereotyping
88. Stitching Someone Up - Personal Gain / Avoidance
89. Stress Induced by Others
90. Sudden Outburst
91. Superiority
92. Surprise Response (abnormal in situation)
93. Taking Anger Out on Others
94. Talking Behind Someone's Back
95. Telling the Wrong Story
96. The "What did they say?" or "I'm not talking to them, tell them this…" 3 way
97. The Kitten -> Tiger Unexpected Unleashing
98. The Only One Who Knows - Being Ignored
99. Toilet Humour
100. Trying to be Careful and Making it Worse
101. Trying to be One of the Gang
102. Twisting Meaning of Someone's Statement
103. Unexpected / Unexplained Act whose Outcome Leads to Explanation
104. Unexpected Observation / Link
105. Used / Abused - Bemoaning Treatment at the Hands of Others
106. Wordplay
107. Worrying the Wider Public with offhand Comment