4 Reasons To Use Exuberant Words
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Hello, all! I hope everyone is doing well out there after this insane election cycle—the “winners” and the “losers” both. If you are looking for a place to obsess over comedy, you’ve found it. I’ve worked as a comedian for many years, and I have learned a few things. Furthermore, I love helping people as much as I can in comedy. In the early days, every aspect of comedy was guarded, and it was very hard to gather info, or find support. It’s still tricky. But I want to help you find those answers. I ask for $7 a month from those who can afford to help me keep this project, The Museletter, afloat. Thanks for reading, and for contributing. You’re better than the hit TV show, Seinfeld!
No matter what else so many comedians are, writers is perhaps, #1 on the list.
Comedians can also be strong performers, listeners, people people, observers, filmmakers, social media experts, and many other things. But the best comedians are also typically good writers.
Even if they don’t think, or know that they are.
But those who are pretty sure that writing is not a strongest suit, one way to “fake it til you make it” with writing is by choosing great, unique, clever words and wordings.
Gary Gulman talked about this in his terrific series of comedy tips:
“Mark Twain said, and I’m paraphrasing, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” You’ve been meaning to do this. Go through your jokes and add some lightning TODAY.”
Here’s another one of Gulman’s tips:
“Words with the sound “buh” “puh” and “kuh” esp. a the beginning/end are funnier. No1 knows why. “Buick” is funnier than “Nissan”. I learned this early. I assumed everyone knew. They don’t. Take some soft punch-words and replace them with a b/p/k sound.”
I always love scraping the barrel of my most creative wordsmithery in order to come up with the most fun combinations of words, or just implementation of interesting words as I can.
One of my favorite rhymes in one of my songs is as follows:
“So I did that back and forth for a while; while I was stuck on the meridian
After about two hours or so; I saw a break in traffic, so I ran!”
That is a line from my song, Bicycle, and I challenge you to find another song that uses that rhyme, or even the word meridian in it.
While I’m no Joan Rivers, I will pat myself on the back over the lyrics in my Yiddish pop song, Jewish Boys until the day I die.
That being said, Stephen King cites, in his magnificent writing advice book,
On Writing, that writers should use the first word that comes to them, vs. stretching their creative prowess, to keep from diluting their most authentic voice.
Great, selective, focused wording adds an element of what makes something funny: surprise.
When people hear a word that they’re not expecting, in a perfect, cozy spot, it generates that surprise—and, voila! You have laughter.
The good news is, there is no need to start from scratch. Start by looking at jokes that have already been written. Tighten, change, or tweak a word, and see it go from pretty good to brilliant.
Regardless if there were actually four reasons in this post or not, give it a try, and let me know how it goes.
Daily Musings:
The New York Comedy Fest is on… | NYCF
Divorced Comedy Game Show | L.A. Times
St. Denis Medical = Comedy + Medicine | Parade
Etc.:
Buy tickets to my next show | EventBrite
Bicycle + Jewish Boys | Spotify / Shazam
It’s time for my tampon Christmas ornaments again | TikTok