What Are You Laughing At? by Brad Schreiber

Author:Brad Schreiber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: 2018-01-26T05:00:00+00:00

It’s clear to see from this excerpt alone that Geneva Holloway is the kind of character who is not likable but creates humor particularly because she is not likable. The more pressure you put on a character like this, the more misbehavior you get.

A reader or audience member also enjoys seeing which characteristics will remain, which will disappear and which will be transformed, in the course of the work. Who says a comedic hero has to remain consistent throughout a story?

A good example of a character who changes in many ways but also retains important qualities can be found in the film Big written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg. After getting his wish, a twelve-year-old boy turns into an adult physically (Tom Hanks) but still retains childlike traits. This is shown not only in the way he plays with the products at the toy company where he works but in small moments, like not knowing how to eat baby corn and spitting expensive caviar out on a floor and desperately wiping his tongue clean. He’s still a kid, but the character of Josh is forced to become more mature.

Part of the process of his maturation is about sex, love and a relationship with a formerly uptight executive, Susan (Elizabeth Perkins), who softens and gets more in contact with her own “inner child” even as the guy she’s dating, who’s emotionally twelve, is being forced to grow up before his time.

DO THIS NOW 8.1

Choose three people you have known in your life. Write down as many comedic character traits or “hooks” you can think of for each person. Try to include aspects of speech, behavior, thought and other areas in addition to how they appear. Notice what kinds of categories you choose when selecting humorous characteristics.

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