Funny Video Download Short
Bertoldo Beyer
A story is the same. The characters need to be excellent, the plot gripping, the idea original and engaging, the presentation professional. The humour should simply complement the story, giving it style and making it more enjoyable to read.
Just because you have a handsome hero who can drive really fast without crashing, stand in the middle of gunfight without getting shot and blow shit up without hurting any innocent bystanders, does not mean you have an entertaining action thriller.
The danger here is making the situation slapstick in an unbelievable way, with characters acting out of character or a plot being manipulated to generate a laugh. This can feel unnatural and disengage a reader. While common in sketch shows, this is not appropriate for a short story. Readers expect more depth.
Despite the scythe, the rotting cloak and the distinct lack of flesh coating his crumbling bones, Death was a sensitive individual. He disliked causing upset. Most people found the experience of dying traumatic enough, without him being disagreeable.
If the situation is placed in the story to generate a laugh via bared willies in a busy shop and inappropriate torrents of urine, then no. The reader will not be able to suspend their disbelief. They will disengage from the story and ask questions like:
Clichs become clichs because they are commonly used. This means they are not original. They do not help a writer create a unique voice. They do not engage a reader. They are unlikely to help you become a published author. More often than not (I did it again, did you notice?) they will lead to stories being rejected.
Canadian author, Olivier Breuluex, recently took me up on the offer at the end of the previous paragraph. Our discussion was interesting, so I created a blog post from it. You can read it here.
I find watching funny scenes a second time allows me to appreciate the techniques used to make someone laugh. First time through, it makes you chuckle. Second time through, ask yourself why you found it funny. You can then apply the same techniques to your own writing.
There are a lot of comedy short stories available to read for free in the short stories section of the site. Many are written by me, but there are some by other authors. I am now publishing work from other writers. Please visit my submissions guideline page to learn more.
As a measure of quality control, every story featured on my website has been previously published, either through short story competitions, magazines or writing journals. So each story has been successful and deemed as being publishable by professional editors and competition judges.
Please use the form below to leave your comments. All comments will be reviewed so won't appear on the page instantly. I will not share your details with anyone else. Most recent comments appear at the bottom of the page, oldest at the top.
Chris D
Hey Chris, I have actually been thinking about the issue of comedy in the modern age a lot... there is an awful lot of political correctness out there and it is interesting to me to see that things that people of our age find (found?) funny severely disturb younger people. I have a number of different projects in various states of disarray no doubt some of which could get me tarred and feathered in certain quarters.
Jan D
Hello Chris. Humour, as you so rightly say, is subjective. Fantasy and Science Fiction attempts at humour leave me cold. As does resorting to foul language. Wee and poo jokes are hilarious to children and old boys.
I think humour should be used to break down political, cultural and religious barriers. Let's all laugh at ourselves and others. Beneath every successfully funny joke lurks something sad or serious. My interest (I'm 65 soon) is in comedy script writing.
I was working all weekend on a long story (10,000 words!) which I have been attempting since 2013 and will eventually finish. In your experience, is there any kind of market for stories of such a length? It has the same kind of realism as your story about the war vet - it's just much, much longer. I know it is sort of a grey area between the short story and novellette/novella family, so I don't want to waste my time sending out to magazines that don't consider that length of story. Any advice most appreciated!
Margaret M
Dear Chris, thank you for your writing advice. Do you like David Sedaris? I met him in Bournemouth and he was so... nice. I am a sad elderly (66) woman, with almost constant hip pain and MS. Husband has ME, so you can imagine the fun we have some days. I write most days and will enter your To Hull and Back Competition. At present have RSI, but what's life without whimsy? LOL
Nick B
Hi Chris. Brilliant article. I'll be coming back to refer a number of times. As it happens, 2 of my favourite authors are Douglas and Terry. I love the Discworld series - especially those involving the Night Watch characters. I've just started writing again after a 10 yr break. I'm doing fantasy and attempting comedy with it. Two firsts for me. Thank you. Hope I can produce something you would be proud of.
Christopher Fielden and all the other contributing authors published via this website have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the authors of these works.
A vacationing penguin is driving his through Arizona when he noticesthat the oil pressure light is on. He gets out to look and sees oildripping out of the motor. He drives to the nearest town and stops atthe first gas station.
After dropping the car off, the penguin goes for a walk around town.He sees an ice-cream shop and, being a penguin in Arizona, decides thatsomething cold would really hit the spot. He gets a big dish of icecream and sits down to eat. Having no hands he makes a real mess tryingto eat with his flippers.
One day, on the savannah, a lion, a cheetah, an elephant and awarthog were all sitting around after their respective meals anddiscussing which species has the biggest potential for success. Theelephant suggested that they settle this, once and for all, and thatthey take a cue from humans and test this by starting their ownbusinesses, and then checking in in a month to see who did best.
A few more weeks later, the King finally moved in. On the firstnight, he and the Queen decided to test out the bed. Their testing gotvigorous, and they shook the walls of the house, causing the heavythrone to plunge through the grass ceiling onto the bed, killing themboth.
I was recently collaborating on abstract with a strict characterlimit. Every time somebody wanted to add something new, they would findsome punctuation and remove it to stay under the character count.Eventually, we ended up with an abstract during which the reader couldnever pause.
So the University of Illinois at Urbana Med School has created a newprogram to help doctors deal with patients who fake injuries to getdrugs. Turns out that doctors from Urbana are really familiar with ShamPain.
Did you hear about the middle school that voted to change theirmascot? It was an agricultural area, but they wanted to be progressiveand offer a female mascot. So, they had three choices, a female sheep, afemale goat, and a female deer.
After a long campaign, a series of debates, and a day of studentsvoting yes or no on each, the principal stood before his students andannounced that, in a unanimous vote, the new school mascot would be afemale sheep.
One day, an Australian man was sitting in a clearing in the forest,banging cymbals and pots and pans and loudly singing off key. A localwarlock was working nearby, and came out to confront the man. He triedto be nice at first.
One day, the man driving a large passenger train was texting with hisnew girlfriend and unthinkingly accelerated the train into a curve. Thetrain went out of control and derailed, killing everybody on the trainbut him. After being sentenced to 98 counts of manslaughter at thetrial, he was sentenced to death.
Finally, all procedures completed, the Warden threw the switch. Allthe lights in the room went dim, but the man sat quietly in the chair,completely unaffected. After a full minute, the Warden cut the power,checked all the connections, turned up the current, and threw the switchagain. A sharp hum echoed through the room, the lights flickering anddimming, but again, the man sat unaffected, tapping his fingers as ifbored.
The Warden, clearly perplexed, went in back, checked the breakers,replaced the headband and tightened all the straps. He turned thecurrent to the maximum, and threw the switch. The lights went outthroughout the rest of the prison, the room filling with the sound ofarcing power and the sharp smell of Ozone. But after two full minutes,the man in the chair shrugged, clearly bored, and the Warden turned offthe power.
Two men were sitting on the banks of the Vaal river, in South Africa,watching people wade across. They watched a short, young girl and herpetite mother swim through without trouble. Then a tall man tried towade across, and got swept away by the current. Then a group of youngboys floated across on a log. Then a huge bear of a man, attempting toswim, was forced back to the shore, nearly drowning.
Did you hear about the farm that produced camel milk? They shut downbecause of the chaos caused by camels running away and attacking peoplewho tried to milk them, combined with legal disputes and a nasty divorceamong the owners.
So she put a tarp over the stone and went back to the quarry,eventually settling on an astronomically expensive figured marble,planning to buy on credit and hoping that an upcoming job in Tuscaloosawould pay her enough to cover the cost. But then, as the train toTuscaloosa left the station, and while she was on the phone with herstonemason, she got a text message telling her that her design had beenrejected.
One time, I went on a trip to visit a company and consult. I hopedthey might send a limo and driver to the airport to get me. They sent aharlequin instead. It was a bit disappointing, but I guess it was stilla nice jester.
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