Writing sitcom as a drama before adding in humour. Page 3

Writing as drama then adding the humour?

Like this, you mean?

NARRATOR: it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be getting more fanny than he can shake a stick at.

Scene: an English manor house. Int. Day.

MRS BENNET: My dear Mr. Bennet, have you heard that Netherfield is let at last?

Mr BENNET: Netherfield? No, but we all know the last mistress had her nether regions feeled plenty of times. Before they sacked the gamekeeper.

MRS BENNET: Do not you want to know who has taken it?

(CLOSE-UP ON MR BENNET WHO LOOKS LONG-SUFFERING AND THUS INJECTS HUMOUR FROM CHARACTER)

MR BENNET: Go on then, spit it out - as the gamekeeper said to the actress.

MRS BENNET: Why, my dear, Netherfield is taken by a young man with an unfeasibly large penis from the north of England.

MR BENNET: What is his name?

MR BENNET: Bingley.

MR BENNET: Is he from Bradford by any chance?

Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ October 7 2010, 10:56 AM BST

Writing as drama then adding the humour?

Like this, you mean?

NARRATOR: it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be getting more fanny than he can shake a stick at.

Scene: an English manor house. Int. Day.

MRS BENNET: My dear Mr. Bennet, have you heard that Netherfield is let at last?

Mr BENNET: Netherfield? No, but we all know the last mistress had her nether regions feeled plenty of times. Before they sacked the gamekeeper.

MRS BENNET: Do not you want to know who has taken it?

(CLOSE-UP ON MR BENNET WHO LOOKS LONG-SUFFERING AND THUS INJECTS HUMOUR FROM CHARACTER)

MR BENNET: Go on then, spit it out - as the gamekeeper said to the actress.

MRS BENNET: Why, my dear, Netherfield is taken by a young man with an unfeasibly large penis from the north of England.

MR BENNET: What is his name?

MR BENNET: Bingley.

MR BENNET: Is he from Bradford by any chance?

View original

Right.
So at what point will you be adding the humour?

Quote: Lazzard @ October 7 2010, 11:25 AM BST

Right.
So at what point will you be adding the humour?

View original

Very good.

I walked right into that one.

surely it's all about character? one person can say something and it's funny and another person can say exactly the same thing and it's not.

look at the Inbetweeners, the jokes aren't funny, the characters are.

Quote: Swansonite @ October 15 2010, 8:04 PM BST

look at the Inbetweeners, the jokes aren't funny

View original

yeah, right.

Quote: Roy Gould @ September 9 2010, 1:37 PM BST

David Croft never wrote a 'gag' in any of his shows - comedy routines that came from the character, yes, but not jokes.

View original

Not sure that is entirely true. Pte Walker was self-consciously witty, as were Mr. Lucas and Rene, and other characters to a lesser extent. There is nothing wrong with cracking jokes so long as the jokes are in character. Attempting to be funny is something most people do in real life, and most sitcoms, British or American, take advantage of this. The character who won't let up, whether it is Shelley or Chandler, is a legitimate figure in a sitcom, it is a win-win situation where the character flaw is also an excuse to stuff the script with witty one-liners.

Comedy relying too much character is in any case not without pitfalls, the characters can become two-dimensional vehicles for catchphrases and tired rehashes of the same basic gags, something Croft could be guilty of.

For sitcom I would say you need both unselfconsciously funny characters and self-consciously funny dialogue, but more than anything else you need a funny story to tell, and, for me at least, that is the hard part.

I did once try writing a sitcom around a dramatic premise, and I came to the conclusion that it was not a viable approach for a series. You could maybe get away with if for the odd episode, but really once you go down this road you are writing comedy drama not sitcom.

Yes David and Jeremy did write gags for Lucas but that was the character Of Mr. Lucas trying to be funny and usually failing. They didn't write gags for Rene - more like routines as in the "I have no matches" with Gruber in the pilot.

Yes David did re-hash routines but then again these routines alot of the time were old Music Hall or Variety routines that he had seen as a child from the likes of Rob Wilton.