Katherine | September 25, 2009
Laughter when something seemingly terrifying turns out to be harmless is a classic form of tension release. I’ve seen this happen with bungee jumping. People who jump off that bridge with a bit of bungee attached to an ankle (and a body harness for backup) may respond by vomiting, crying, or laughing. The ones who [...]
Katherine | July 31, 2009
When I first started studying literature I noticed my compatriots tended to either be high-minded: reading and writing only high literary or avant garde works, or genre focused: reading and writing only within a single field such as speculative fiction, mystery, horror, or romance.
The problem with an English degree is that you go into the [...]
Katherine | July 21, 2009
We live in a society that speaks of valuing free expression. For the most part as a comedian you are free to make jokes on any subject you like when performing at a live venue. You must also remember that the audience is free to choose whether or not they wish to spend money for [...]
Katherine | July 20, 2009
Back in my article about Comedy Dance Steps I spoke of the three-step. That particular comedy formula goes: introduction, validation, violation. For instance—”You must make sure you get plenty of the three major food groups
every day: fruit, vegetables, and chocolate cake.” The third item may not be impossible, but it will always be unlikely. The [...]
Katherine | July 3, 2009
TheatreSports spends a lot of time training their performers in certain elements of story in order that they can automatically improvise a storied event. Some standup comedians like to tell shaggy dog stories, tall tales, narrate
humorous events, etc. Then of course a comedian may find themselves writing for cartoons, sketch shows, sitcoms, or film comedies. [...]
Katherine | July 2, 2009
Transformations and instant inversions are in part about the exaggerated suddenness of a change, partly about the absurdity of the change, and sometimes the pleasure in observing a little instant karma.
Transformations are when something or someone changes into something comically distinct. Usually comic transformations are fast, like a prince turning into a frog, but they [...]
Katherine | July 1, 2009
Some declaim that story is about conflict and suffering. You will hear this being aphoristically spoken of by filmmakers.
Our current culture has made an idol of violence. Conflict seems to inevitably lead to it, even though that is seldom our experience in every day life. Violence makes films, novels, computer games, etc thrilling and bankable [...]
Katherine | June 26, 2009
A MacGuffin is an object that drives the plot forward and is the focus of suspense. Someone or many people often are quite desirous of this object, or have some intense emotional connection with it, and find their actions concerning that object somehow frustrated. The greater people’s desire for the object and the greater lengths [...]
Katherine | June 24, 2009
The comedy element of “ignorance and enlightement” is most popularly used in farce. Farce is a form of storytelling that involves exaggerated and improbable situations that frequently include witticisms, sexual innuendo, mistaken identity, and disguise. Classic examples would be Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. More recent examples [...]
Katherine | June 19, 2009
I have been keeping a journal since I was very little. I just liked being able to draw pictures, write poems, and scribble down ideas whenever I felt bored or inspired. Journals are not like diaries in that you don’t have to have the discipline to write something down every day. And you don’t have [...]
