Comedy : A How To in Making Folks Chuckle

omgpaulthompson

I've Got It
Joined
Aug 25, 2012
Messages
179
Reaction score
58
Age
29
Location
Scotland/England (I like to drift)
Channel Type
Youtuber


They say comedy is the hardest art form to master. YouTube is a fantastic platform to show off your comedic talents and brighten up someone's day but it can all be a little daunting. What if they don't think I'm funny? How do I get my jokes across as I want them to? Well, young grasshopper, all shall be revealed.



What Do I Know?

I have been an actor for the vast majority of my twenty one years on this planet and comedy has been central to my career. From playing the fool (Bottom in A Midsummer Nights Dream) to recently appearing on BBC3's fried chicken sitcom 'Fried' as a drunk Scotsman who just loves his chicken oh so much - trust me that one wasn't hard to act out.

I have learned some basic fundamentals in comedy that I know can be transferred to your videos be it vlogs, sketches, short films.

[Myself singing next to an Elephant, standard]


WHAT YOU MUST DO

There is an easy checklist that can help push you in the right direction.

  • Personality
  • Quality
  • Timing/Editing

Personality

Know who you are as a YouTuber and as a person. Nothing is more painful than seeing someone try too hard to be something they are not. The countless 'PewDiePie' & 'Jacksepticeye' gaming channels that have erupted in recent times is rather scary...And guess what? They don't succeed! Why? Because viewers know straight away it isn't their personality but rather a carbon copy of someone more successful. We laugh at Jack because of his outrageous loudness and enthusiasm and because he is AUTHENTIC. His channel description even says "The most consistently energetic videogame commentator on youtube". You will never be able to make people laugh and more importantly have them engage with your videos if you are trying to be a copy of someone else.

Are you a great story teller? Do your friends always love listening to your wacky stories? Maybe you are super clumsy? If so, try implementing them in a vlog or even a set upload of your adventures and mishaps.

Remember there are so so so many types of comedy. Straight out slap-stick, genuine and warming characters, dead-pan or sarcasm. Find what flows best for you and what makes you tick. The key to comedy is that the person involved is fully committed. Half-a** jobs don't cut it in comedy (unless its your style IE: Someone who always finds the negatives in everything can be hilarious if the right person is used)

I can't stress enough...BE YOU.


QUALITY

This one is fairly simple guys, quality scripts = quality comedy. Know your target demographic and work from there. Is your channel aimed at younger teens where slightly sillier comedy is appreciated? Or a more sophisticated character driven comedy short film in which it is rather the semiotics and surroundings that the character is in that drives the comedy. Once you have your target audience you can then hone in on your type of comedy. Now you are starting to build a picture. You know what comedy you are strongest at, you know your target audience so now you can start building material aimed to both of those.

Never force comedy! This is THE GOLDEN RULE. You should never set out to make an audience laugh at 2:32 in the video for example. Let the video take the audience on the journey with you - from what we've already started to establish you should begin to feel that your video is at least entertaining if not funny.

Timing/Editing

Comedy is all down to the...timing. Editing your video to make everything flow like a beautiful river can make or break the comedy you have worked so hard in setting up. If you are telling a story be sure to cut out any 'ums, ahs' and awkward pauses. This is not only good general editing practice but essential for comedy. Making videos allows you to have so much control over your delivery of your lines. You can edit out awkward bits, speed parts up and cut out any parts you later think aren't as funny as you thought they were in front of the camera.

Add music to your videos that match the mood of what you are doing!


*If you got this far, have a cookie! This guide is still being updated but this is the main, important core of it and I hope you found it useful! *