The Cheeky Monkey by Tim Ferguson

Author:Tim Ferguson [Ferguson, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780868198613
Publisher: Currency Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five:

Creating an Episode

It’s hard enough to write a good drama; it’s much harder to write a good comedy; and it’s hardest of all to write a drama with comedy, which is what life is.

—Jack Lemmon

The Hope Principle

There’s an ancient principle that underpins many comic stories.

Ever since Homer (the writer of the Odyssey, not the bloke from The Simpsons), heroic stories have been comprised of some simple elements: a hero strives to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles between himself and his goal. He has weapons, tools, brains and skill. Throughout, his heart burns with an enduring hope that he will succeed.

If the story is a heroic drama, he’ll triumph. If it’s a tragedy, he’ll fail and die.

Aristotle’s Poetics states that ‘Comedy aims at representing men as worse, Tragedy as better than in real life.’ He takes the template above, applies it to comedy and identifies two differences. Aristotle says that comedy doesn’t demand a noble, wise or heroic protagonist—quite the opposite. Secondly, the comic protagonist should lack the weapons, tools, brains or skill they need to achieve their goal.

There’s a joke about a wide-mouthed African tree frog that illustrates Aristotle’s principle nicely:

A wide-mouthed African tree frog (a tree frog with a very wide mouth), bounces through the jungle. He approaches a monkey.

‘I’m doing a survey on animal diets’, says the Treefrog. ‘What do you eat, Mr Monkey?’

‘Nuts and berries,’ replies the monkey.

The wide-mouthed African tree frog thanks him and approaches an anteater.

‘Mr Anteater, what do you eat?’

‘Uh, ants,’ replies the anteater pointedly.

The wide-mouthed African tree frog thanks him and bounces down to the river where he spots a crocodile.

‘Mr Crocodile, what do you eat?’

‘I eat wide-mouthed African tree frogs.’

The tree frog purses his lips tightly. ‘Really? You don’t see many of those around these days …’

The wide-mouthed African tree frog has a goal—to survive. He faces a seemingly insurmountable obstacle (the crocodile is powerful, dangerous and likes eating tree frogs). The tree frog doesn’t have the weapons, brains or skill to escape the crocodile, so he tries the only thing left to him—hiding his identity. His pathetic attempt is his only hope and he gives it all he’s got.

When it comes to telling the joke, the punchline works best if the tree frog’s eyes seem as innocent as a naughty schoolboy’s. He thinks he might get away with his deception. The more hopeful the tree frog seems, the bigger the laugh.

We never find out what happens to the frog. The joke is over once the tree frog’s goal, the obstacle he faces, his inadequacy and his enduring hope have been presented. The options for continuing the story (e.g. the frog and the crocodile become friends or the crocodile takes pity and releases the tree frog) are workable, but they’re not comic.

The tree frog demonstrates the ‘hope principle’ that lies at the heart of cover-ups and distractions (see Chapter Six, ‘Narrative Gags’). When Basil Fawlty is lying to Sybil in Fawlty Towers, his desperation is soothed only by the enduring hope that he will get away with his deception.

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