Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Mohamad. In today's class, we learn how to generate ideas and get inspiration to write jokes, humor, and comedic script. In this class, our primary goal is to learn how to generate new ideas for writing jokes. And we will not discuss topics such as what are the different kinds of jokes or what are the different elements of the jokes? Or what is comedic timing, or how to write a scenario which is basically called a setup of the joke. Many people give vague descriptions on how to get new ideas for writing jokes. For example, we hear a lot that we should go to public places and observed people in order to generate new ideas. But many of us are not aware that observation is a skill in itself. Everyone is good at observation. Hence, in this class, our explanation will not be a vague one, but a detailed one with practical examples. I will show you how I get new ideas for writing jokes and humors. And by the end of this class, you will have a good understanding of how ideas are generated in order to write good jokes. This classes for the beginners and for those who want to start their career in stand up comedy or in writing comedy scripts. Watch the class till the end. If want to start your journey as a stand-up comedian or a comedy script writer. Okay, then let's get started.
2. Get Rid of Distractions: The first and the most important thing in order to generate new ideas is getting rid of distractions. The cost of these distractions to your personal and professional lives is much more than you have ever imagined. Surrounding yourself with negative people has been shown to influence weight gain, smoking in even your likelihood of divorce, you should eliminate or minimize negative people in your life. These are people who play the victim or stuck in unhealthy habits are generally make you feel drained or bad about yourself. Be with people who were positive, focused, productive, and ambitious. For writers, you can call it a writer's block. But as for beginner level, comedians, don't listen to the people who discouraged you by saying You're not funny or you are not witty, or you don't have a sense of humor. They're the major distractions. Don't pay attention to these kinds of distractions. And if you do, you will underestimate your value and your talent and lose your confidence, then you'll completely give up on becoming a stand-up comedian. This is the primary reason why many people don't get new ideas and inspirations for writing jokes because people get easily distracted by the critics and comments of other people in altogether dropped the idea of writing comedy. Okay, now let's discuss the most popular way of getting new ideas for writing jokes. The few days ago I read a blog. It gives the same vague explanation. Go to the park, sit and observe people. That's it. Well, then the next day I went to a nearby park and tried to observe people in order to get new ideas. That after five minutes I was lost in thoughts, daydreaming. I was jumping from one thought to another. Then when I check the time, 30 minutes have passed and I wasted my half an hour futilely. Yes. Like I have said before, not everybody is good at observation. Some people advised us to carry a pen and paper and write all the funny things we see in our everyday life. So when I decided to do this, every day was like every other day, nothing funny at all. Same as usual. Then I got fed up and dropped his idea. Okay. There are many blogs and videos with many different kinds of advice on how to get new ideas for writing jokes. But none of them are practical. All of them are vague. That in this lesson, we will see a detailed explanation of how to generate new ideas and we will also see some practical examples as well. I created most of the examples so you may find them not funny or cringe worthy. But this is because we are beginner level writers and writing jokes and comedy is an art and a skill that takes practice patients in a lot of writing. Now that we have eliminated all the distractions, let's proceed to our next lesson.
3. Homonyms, Homophones, and Homographs: So the formula is to come up with the different senses of the same word or under similar sense or sound of different words. In layman's term, find the words that have the same sound and often the same spelling, but differ in meaning, such as bat, which is a baseball bat and bat which is a mammal who flies with the use of wings or find a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in spelling or meaning or origin, such as night in night. Here the first meaning of night is the dark period between sunset and sunrise. And the second meaning of night as a man who for some achievement is given honorary non hereditary rank. Or you can find words that have the same spelling but differ in origin, meaning in sometimes pronunciation, such as the word fair. The word fair has three meanings. First one is a good appearance. In the second meaning of fair is a marketplace. In The third meaning is impartial. Okay, now that we all know what are homonyms, homophones in homographs. Now let's look at some examples. While writing, I use the spacebar to much in, while thinking of the spacebar, I realized something. The word space bar has a bar in it, and the word bar has many different meanings. So I tried to write a good setup. And after many tries, this is what I came up with. Where did the keys on the keyboard have drinks? Barr, I know it is not funny, but hey, is you all know, we all are just beginners. And it takes years of practice to perfect the skill of writing the best setup. After writing this setup, I tried to find new words on the keyboard. And guess what? I found more than five, they are home, Insert, tab, backspace and delete, control, shift and escape. Now you are probably thinking about how can we create a set-up with these words. Okay, let me create another one for you using the words we just found on the keyboard. And again, let me remind you this setup was created after too many tries. So don't give up if you don't get it in your first few tries. The police put in APD out on the keyboard because it has escaped. Now I will tell you how you can get new ideas for jokes from your daily life. Once there was an opera scene in a movie and the women were very loud, and there was a room where no one was allowed to enter freely. Then suddenly I got an idea. The word loud is also written as loud. So I started writing a set up after a while. I came up with this. Sam, why are you not participating in the opera, Sara? Because I was not allowed. As you have seen, this is how I get new ideas from my daily life. And if you try, you will find new ideas in your daily life as well without much effort. For example, in our last setup, opera reminded me of Opera browser. Now I tried to create a new setup using the word opera, and this is what I came up with. Sam, why was the opera so short, Sarah? Because Opera Mini, it was not easy, but it wasn't too hard to come up with a good setup using words from your daily life. As you have noticed in our previous example, I took the word opera from movie and created a joke around Opera browser. This is how you can come up with new ideas and create different setups and start writing jokes and comedy script. Okay, I will give you another example from my life. I was watching Winnie the Pooh, and after some time it became so boring. I just couldn't endure it. Suddenly I had an idea, so I started to write a setup. Then this is what I came up with. Sam, why are you cursing Winnie the Pooh? Sarah, I just couldn't bear it. Here. The main character is a bear in the word bear also means to endure. Yes, I know it is not funny, but just bear with me here. Let me give you an another example. A few days ago I was watching the news about how the followers of the former president crashed into the parliament. In the news reporter said, It is unprecedented and suddenly it just hit me. President and precedent. I started to write a set-up and after a few minutes, I came up with something like this. Sam, I lost a presidential elections more than four times. Sarah. Yes, it is unprecedented. Recently, my friend sold in old phone and the buyer bought it for cheap. Then it just struck me. That phone is also called a cell phone. Then as usual, I started writing a setup. Sam, what is past tense of cell phone? Sarah sold phone. As you can see, it is very easy to generate new ideas. You just need to play with the words that you listened to in your everyday life. I got another one from selling and buying. Sam, you're a very cheap person. Sarah. One of I, after some time it becomes easier to write a setup. There is no formula or an easy method to write a setup. Like I have said previously, it all depends on your imagination. My friend got full marks in the exams in his teacher praised him and said, You're a very bright student in coincidentally, my friend was wearing sunglasses in an idea just popped up in my head. Maybe you have already guessed it. But let me tell you, I have got more than what you have guessed. Teacher, your child has got full marks in the exams. Child's dad. That's good. But why are you wearing sunglasses? Teacher? Because your child is very bright. This is the obvious one. Now let's make it more complex. Teacher, Your son has got full marks in the exams. Dad. That's good. But why are you wearing sunglasses? Teacher? Because your son is very bright. Here we replaced the word child with sun and the word sun sounds like the sun. Now it has two meanings. In the first one is, your child is bright, the second one is the sunshine's very brightly. I have got a new idea when I saw my friend used Python for coding and I had a sudden insight, then I started writing a setup. Sam, did you know snakes can code, Sarah? Yes, it was a python.
4. Assignment: Assignment, find homonyms, homophones, and monographs in your daily life and write a set up and try to find new ideas from your previous setup and write a new set-up. Here, let me give you an example. There was a line in a movie, draw your weapon. Then suddenly I got an idea. I started writing a setup. Sam, how can you threaten someone with paint, Sarah, by drawing a weapon? Did you get this one? Draw means to paint? Now let's try to find new ideas from this example. You need to have arms in order to hold a weapon. And the one who sells weapons is an arms dealer. You can write a setup using the word arm. Then from the word trigger, you will get triggering memory from sheeted gun. You will get She'd a video. We can just go on and on. If we just focus on few words, we will find new words related to it and we can generate new ideas for our jokes. So the assignment is to find new ideas in the words used in your daily life and write a set up in trying to find new ideas from your previous setup and write a new setup. Okay, that's it for today's class. I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Thank you for watching the video till the end. See you in my next class.
Mohammed Shamash
