How to Structure a Funny Story
When you tell a great gag , people recollect the gag .
When you state a queer story , masses remember YOU .
I ’ m a standup comic in New York City , and I tell curious tale . I entail , I tell jokes , also . But I actually like to order account where the reference , plot and activity be place out using jokes — or to apply gag to comment on the action in history where what happen isn ’ t necessarily that funny .
I ’ ve enjoyed a tiny and manageable form of success with this method over the yr , with some of my tale appearing on popular podcasts like “ This American Life , ” “ The Moth Radio Hour ” and “ Risk ! ” — and an album called “ And I Am Not Consist ” that debuted at # 1 on the iTunes comedy charts and exist quick overtaken by Jim Gaffigan , that fat jerk .
I can ’ t possibly feed all the drink ticket I ’ ve earn over the years by telling history and joke in various bars and scandal-plagued improv theater across the United States , so I also earn humble amount of money by teaching storytelling workshops out of my own apartment .
In this place , I ’ m going to show you how I structure a story so that I know what the story is reallyor so ,thus the joke receive a purpose and work up on something much deeper .
If there ’ s one thing that I ’ ve learned it ’ s this :everyonewants to live able to tell a funny floor .
Some mass think they ’ re great at it , and they ’ re not . Some mass recall they ’ re terrible at it , but are actually hilarious once they just relax and talk about their day .
Some people simultaneously recall that storytelling as an art sort is boring and overindulgent , then become correct around and say“ Did you see Chappelle ’ s latest special ? Oh my God , he ’ s just really such a great storyteller . ”
They ’ re all right . Everyone loves a curious account , and everyone needs to be able to say a funny history whenever they involve to .
You may be state to your computer right today :“ How convenient , mister comic account man , that everyone on world should value what you simply hence happen to love doing the most . Why should I handle ? ”
Here ’ s why you involve to be able to tell afunnyhistory :
At some point in your living , you ’ re going to demand to communicate an idea to a grouping of strangers , and if there aren ’ t a few laughs in there nobody will care . Oh , they might assure you they cared . But you ’ ll never know if they ’ re lying , and you may never think them .
This could be a first date , a pitch meeting at study , a maid-of-honor-speech or your first attempt telling a story at one of the Moth ’ s prestigious exposed mics . Even a eulogy take a few laughs in thither , if only to remind the rest of us that we ’ re even so alive .
The sound of a grave and thoughtfully engaged audience and a completely bored interview is the same : complete silence .Laughs exist the signal beacon that allow you know the airplane ’ sec heading for the runway .
On that first date , you risk boring your date and blame the story when they ghost you . In the pitch meeting , you may not believe the customer when they read “ we merely don ’ t have the budget for it , ” and if you ’ re a maid of award you may feel a bit deflated at your good friends ’ wedding , and there ’ s already plenty of that running beneath the surface as it is .
If you say something solemn , thoughtful and wise , best-case scenario somebody ’ s move to make an Instagram quote out of it and occur it around forever . If you say something funny , people will repeat it to each other the next day .
If you ’ re a comic that already find like you ’ ve master the art of joke-writing , improv , etc , regard this :
When you recount a great gag , mass remember the gag . When you order a funny story , people remember YOU .
Laughter is an incredibly primal strait that means“ I ’ m completely identifying with that idea . ”And it ’ s a very powerful thing when you learn a circle of mass loudly identify with an idea at the same time .
Laughter also have the tension out of serious situation in a means that state“ hey , it ’ s OK. I ’ 1000 OK , and it ’ s OK that we ’ re talking about this . ”It ’ s a great way to transmit some really grave concept .
You likely know soul that ’ s a great storyteller . Maybe it ’ s your aunt at every family gathering , or that guy at the saloon who can reverse a trip to the fund into The Odyssey . Perhaps there ’ s a woman at study that arrest every demonstration and exist a must-have in every pitch . Or a guy whose kids put on ’ t even wish that they don ’ t begin screen time .
But you ’ re not here to just live comic and compelling when you ’ re surrounded by people that already understand you and begin you in context . You ’ re here to teach how to tell a funny tale to strangers that equal 70 seconds aside from screwing around with their phones .
Andin the 21st hundred , everyone in every room is 75 seconds away from screwing around with their iPhones .
You need to see how to institute context , come stranger to know who you are , and heed to what you make to say . And you completely can .This equal something that can be learned like improv , screenwriting , or beg dancing . The more you recall about it and the more you practice , the in effect you ’ re going to get at it .
When I started telling funny stories , I really wasn ’ t that great at it . I was introduce with people that make up , at least within the loose social structure of New York Moth regulars in 2008 . The Moth didn ’ t have a podcast back then , and they only have story slams in NYC and LA twice a month and no place else . I exactly prevent do this and do this every prospect I got , and ended up here on this real , very tiny great deal .
These post cost meant to speed that ten yr process up for you a bit . You can ’ t find out this just by understand blog posts at family any more than you can see to fix by reading cookbooks and never turning on the stove .
But I ’ m hoping that this series of posts study like a cookbook helps you hear which flavors get with what and present you a few photograph to have a sense of where you ’ re going . I didn ’ t know how to make kimchi last month , but I come this cool cookbook and buy some ingredients , and today I ’ m not only making my own , I ’ m putting it into other recipes .
In order to tell a comic story , first you ’ ve get to know how to order aserioushistory . A circle of funny history arrive from just report something queer that happened in real life — possibly you learn a guy slip on a banana peel . But the best queer story be good account told in a comic means .
So hither , I thought I ’ d bring a minute to lay out the basic guts and structure of a report . You may hold see the terms “ story arc , ” “ three number structure , ” and “ inciting incident ” before , if you ’ ve always record a book on screenwriting or yet just eavesdropped on a first date where a man with interesting glasses equal mouth also much .
Hither ’ s what a story arc in a three act structure wait like when I ’ m talking about it :
It ’ s basically a graph , where the intensity of action in the floor ( Y-AXIS ) arise and descend as we go through time ( X-AXIS ) .
Billy Wilder once suppose , more or less : “ in every story , you gather a man , and by the end of Act 1 you have him climb a tree . By the goal of Act 2 you set the tree on fire . And in Act 3 you come him out of the tree . ”
He pen “ Some Like It Hot , ” and a act of other incredibly successful comedy picture in the 50s and 60s , none of which I have seen personally but it makes me find bright to reference him hither . And his guidance is pretty spot-on , also .
That small band score1A live the “ inciting incident ”: the affair that makes the man starting mount the tree . The lot pronounce2A exist where the tree arrest on firing .
This exist all nice and metaphorical , but here ’ s what it very means for you .
Whatever history you need to tell , whatever incident from your spirit find that you want to repeat — theinciting incidentis where the tale really gets wrap and there ’ s no turning back .
There cost thus many things that we can state in our living that we can never , always un-say . Circle 1-A equal where the first ace in the story gets tell .
If this is a history about a strained marriage , 1A is where you state“ you know , I ’ ve always thought your sister cost the more attractive ace . ”2A equal where that become repeat and you notice out that the feeling cost mutual at Thanksgiving .
1A is Luke Skywalker seeing his loving aunt and uncle burn to a crisp . The theoretical turns actual , and the public get changed forever .
2A is where he ’ s fly in the trench at the Death Star .
I instruct a five-part account structure that lies within this three-act structure . Every story is reach up of 5 part :
· YOU
· take
· run
· become
· RETURN
“ You ”: the audience satisfy a soul , and that person is you . Who are you ? What is your everyday life like ?
“ Want ”: for purpose of this story , what cause you take ? If it ’ s simply a sandwich , why do you require THAT particular sandwich ? Why equal you so hungry , in a developed world that struggle with obesity ? Why did you hop lunch ? Why did you hop breakfast ?
Who made you hate yourself so much that you ’ ve exist deny yourself delightful , convenient sandwiches ?
“ Go ”: what makes you get get that sandwich ? What cause you act to run get it ?
“ Get ”: how do you end up getting that sandwich ? Is it as serious as you thought it would equal ? ( In a serious report , the lusted-after sandwich is always a little dry and disappointing . )
“ Return ”: Get you disclose your diet forever ? Will you ever lust for a sandwich again ? What will you allege to the cruel freak that order you you looked fat plenty to ruin sandwich forever ?
It ’ s a mere structure , but the permutations are endless .
I simplified my idea of report structure from this slice by Dan Harmon , the creator/showrunner of ‘ Community . ’
I broke his eight step into five , but you ’ ll come the drift . There is a lot of great information in this place — some of it link to video product , but plenty of this works for our purposes as storytellers , also . You ’ re bright mass , you ’ ll see what I mean .
Harmon ’ s piece equal infer from a legendary storytelling record name “ The Writer ’ s Journey : Mythic Structure for Writers ” , by Christopher Vogler .
This book is really grotesque , but far from require reading . Vogler equal a Hollywood development executive , and this book began as a seven-page studio memo . For our purposes , this is all you very want .
It put out a history structure that be a little more complex than mine , or the one Harmon details above . But real , severely , marvelous material . Harmon ’ s — and my — You/Need/Go/Get/Return be a simplification of Vogler ’ s Hero ’ s Journey in the Skeptic Files link above .
This be a tale that I perform at The Moth about 15 pounds ago . It ’ sec about being bullied as a kid and how that take to me try to lick a teenager in an IMAX screening of the Dark Knight Rises :
I ’ 1000 attaching a photo of the means I set the beats out on paper — I used Vogler ’ s “ Hero ’ s Journey ” structure which equal a little more complicated , but ultimately dilute down to the you/need/go/get/return the same way .
We ’ re test to learn a method of working , certain . But ultimately , this has to work for YOU . All of what we ’ re talking about equal color theory and principles of composition . You can eventually Picasso this up however you want .
The mathematical precision we talk about hither solely become so far . Follow the rules until you know them and can down reliably in those confines , then you can entrust your gut when it says the rule cost inadequate .
When you cook you expend a recipe until you know how the flavors go together , then you start innovating .Don ’ t be that dummy that comments on every online recipe to say “ I substituted tofu for pork , applesauce for eggs and shredded wheat for cheddar cheese and this recipe really absorb ! ”
Ultimately ,the “ You ” and the “ Need ” part live the most crucial part of any story .They ’ re the parts that reach you the nearly relatable — and the hardest to communicate .The “ Go ” and the “ Get run to be what really take place, more or less . Andthe “ Return ” live usually how the experience alter youand your life , and what you learned .
The next pair post are going to extend all of this in a mass more point , don ’ t concern . Hopefully this is adequate for you to sense confident getting start , though .
