Advice to writing humor and inserting it naturally into a story?

[JoshRaed]

Here’s the full context.

[NickRowler]

In my personal opinion, naming a character Nobody is really confusing.

I had something similar in my story where one of my characters was originally named Taboo and was worried that it would confuse readers. You don't want your story to turn into a "Who's on first?"

[morganicfoods]

I actually think that interaction is pretty funny. It comes off less as shock-value humour, and more "character doing something stupid and then immediately regretting it," which I appreciate. The rest of the conversation feels slightly off, but you’re definitely getting somewhere.

People don't act goofy to act goofy,

You've clearly never met me.

But generally, yeah, people have their own senses of humour and ideas of when or when not to be silly. Personally, I'm of the belief that I've spent too much of my life upset, so often I make jokes, be silly, or be at least optimistic. Usually there's something deeper to a character constantly making jokes or doing silly things.
The kinds of actions your characters take contribute to the audience's perception of them, even if it's a joke or played for laughs. Since I'm not writing a comedy, I don't expect people to find the jokes in my story funny (if they do, POG!), I just make sure that the jokes fit and don't take away from the story or characters at hand.

[KevinReijnders]

4) “Windows are just doors the government doesn’t want you to know about”

I wanna add to the conversation that I think this could definitely work as a joke, for me at least. But it depends on the context for me.

Say you have two characters, one takes the other along to a location. You know a typical A is searching for X deal and meets B who claims to know X.
Arriving at the location B proceeds to climb through the window to which A says "Why aren't we going through the door?"
To which B replies "Windows are just doors the government doesn't want you to know about."

That would get a good chuckle out of me, plus, instant characterization.

[vapidink]

Humor is tough because it's so subjective, but also, a lot goes into making a joke or gag land. There has to be build up to the punchline--a set up that gives context. The joke has to be consistent with the character, unless the joke is that it's something out of character, and then you have to make that clear. It also has to fit the situation or it could break the tension of say, a fight scene, or an emotional moment. You also have to use the type of humor that best fits the story you're trying to tell.

So, keeping all that in mind, let's look at MCU humor since you mentioned it earlier. We'll start with Age of Ultron because Whedon is a hack and the humor in that wasn't good. He constantly writes this back and forth between characters in situations when the focus shouldn't be on quips and one-liners effectively draining the tension away from big fight scenes. He did this in Justice League too, to the same effect.

Compare that with how humor is handled in a more grounded MCU movie, like Winter Soldier. One of my favorite exchanges is at the start, with Sam and Steve. The jokes have a good setup; Steve repeatedly lapping Sam. It's all grounded humor that fits the characters, just a bit of friendly banter. And it also leads towards some character building with them bonding a bit over their shared experience as war veterans. We also get some fun bits between Natasha and Steve, and note that, while they do joke around during dangerous situations, they do it in moments of quiet, when they're not in immediate danger--slow moments between a build up and resolution of tense situations.

Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favorite series and has a lot of silly humor, but it works because the characters are established as idiots. Gamora and Nebula are usually the more serious ones and you can see that in the way humorous moments are built in a way where they usually express frustration with whatever Quill, Drax and Rocket say/do. The humor builds on and expands on the relationships between these characters, and while it's also used during moments of danger and high tension, it works because we've established a more chaotic and improvisational nature to the characters and their style of doing things, like the dance-off at the end of the first movie. Quill uses the absurdity of the situation to distract Ronan. It's in character with who Quill is, because he's smart, can come up with a plan on the fly, but he's also a bit of an idiot so he's not gonna solve it with some Supergenius move. He's going to throw people off and use that to his advantage.

The point is that humor needs to fit the character, situation and tone of story or it will feel jarring to the audience. Look at, say, The Simpsons. The old shows are hilarious, but take a joke from it and put it into another movie/show. It probably won't work because the style of humor doesn't fit.

I'd suggest you figure out who your characters are, what you want your story to feel like, and what style of humor would best fit. Keep in mind whether a joke adds to the story or detracts from it, like whether it breaks the tension or ruins an emotional scene or builds it up.

[JoshRaed]

Thank you. I'll work on this.

[DiegoPalacios]

You don't want your story to turn into a "Who's on first?"

unless that's the joke

[DiegoPalacios]

To incorporate jokes in a natural way into your story, you need the jokes to fit the characters that are doing it. It would be too weird if a character breaks character just for the sake of a punchline.

To give some examples: a sarcastic character may be more prone to sarcastic humor. A stoic and serious character may be a straight man or the joke would be that they act intensely serious on mundane situations. A crazy character may lean more towards surreal humor and so on........

Sometimes the humor can also come from the strengths and weaknesses of the characters. and from the character's interactions.

Now, about humor and jokes itself:

To make comedy, the first key is to find your types of humor. The ones you like and entertain you.

There are many types of humor:

relatable humor,situational humor, surreal humor, puns, cringe comedy, antihumor, black comedy, sarcastic humor, parodies, physical comedy among others.....

Your humor may combine many of these kinds. And that will build your comedy style. Is important to note that you may have different stories with different kinds of humor. Ex: You may not use black comedy in a more lighthearted story.

Timing is key to make a joke funny: Is important to have a set up, to build up the joke and a punchline, which is the moment of truth in the joke.

Jokes play with the audience expectations, either by subverting them, or by subverting the subversion by playing the jokes straight. You could even subvert the subversion of the subversion, but that is going on another plane.

Exageration makes things funny too. Either an overreaction, or even and underreaction can make a joke.

Also, watching good comedies can help you too.

Hope this helps

[JoshRaed]

So i’m curious. What makes spider man work in terms of fight quips? Do they work or are they also bad?

[IndigoShirtProd]

Do they work or are they also bad?

Aw no, spider-man has great quippage. What makes it great is hard to say from my biased perspective. I can make my own joke and say that he really knows how to bring the punchline. But, one thing that makes spidey jokes and quips work it that most of the humor is situational, in that It's specific to the situation he is in during a fight. He's usually making a quip in response to what a villain has done or said.

For example, in the spectacular spider man animated show, the green goblin crashes through a window during a black tie event, hosted by tombstone, and begin conversing with the host about spider man(actually I think he's threatening tombstone). Spider man makes his entrance in the middle of the conversation, loudly asking to the room full of people from the broken window "Can I come in through here, or do I need to make my own entrance?" On it's surface this may seem asinine, but it plays for good laugh because it a tension breaker for the scene and the voice performance is every well done.

Peter Parker is also a likeable character who is smart and well-meaning, is sympathetic due to his school and familial circumstances, and is a true hero who, for the most part, puts the safety of other before his selfish desires. Plus spider man's making jokes at the expense of the villains that terrorize the people of New York so it's easy to laugh at them.

[vapidink]

Well it helps that he's usually portrayed as a teen, and he's also a more light-hearted hero. So it goes back to the idea of finding a type of humor that fits the character, situation, and tone of the story. If you have Batman saying those lines, it's dumb, but it fits for Spidey. I'd really just recommend watching/reading comedy and analyzing it to see why it works in that context and whether it would work in a different setting and coming from a different character.

Another thing is, Spider-man is a very likeable character. He's usually a bright spark within the gloomier bits of the Marvel universe and that's why when he's making fun of the villains and breaking the tension, it works, especially because he usually comes in and kicks ass. Spider-man represents hope, and he brings that by dispelling people's fears and anxieties. But, when the situation is dire, you're not likely to hear him making quips because that would break the tension when it's needed. So yeah, just analyze stuff and see what works and why.

Edit: Btw, I had to read back to answer this because I'd completely forgotten about this after so long.

[Kuma]

There are structures to comedy.

Comparison, Rule of Three, Exageration, Set up and Punchline.

Comparison is easy, you make a funny comparison like saying:

Harder than making a toddler understand Quantum Physics.

Rule of Three works by creating an expectation and then doing a twist.

My first date was awful, she didn't spoke to me, she was cold and I couldn't get her out of her coffin.

Exaggeration is also quite easy to understand, you go over the top.

I'm so fat my pants size is 8, but on it's side

Set up and Punchline seems easy, but you need to know how to structure it. And you know how to apply a twist at the end. You give a set up to inform and then you make comedy from the contrast with the punchline that gives a different meaning to the Set Up

I only eat minors... what? What's wrong with eating veal?

---

Writing them is easy, but comic books are a visual medium, so you need to know how to also structure it visually, is like having timing to tell a joke, but in panel form.

The Dynamics of the jokes and the characters can make them funny. Many of the weakest quips by Spider-man are funny thanks to a character pointing out they aren't. It happens a lot in Daredevil or Wolverine team ups with Spider-man.

[Leyelle]

The biggest key to writing humor for a story is to understand your character's sense of humor. Everyone has a different way of making jokes and the jokes should reflect your character's personality and the way they see the world and think. You don't really need a setup for a punchline to make a joke outside of a comic strip format: the whole story is your set-up. If you teach yourself, and through that, your character, to pick the humor out of a situation, or to figure out how to spin the situation into a joke, you'll be better off than just making jokes out of the blue that don't really seem to relate to the situation.

A few examples that I've written; (just to give you context of how this can be used)

“Fortunately your ancestors did half the marketing for us. I’ll bet money there aren’t many other artists with your last name on the market right now. Where exactly does ‘Palmero’ originate from, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“It’s Spanish,” I smooth the front of the binder with my left hand, but keep my eyes on his face, “I’m Mexican and Navajo on my dad’s side - just plain Mexican on my mother's.”

“Is that so,” he says with a smile, “speak any Spanish?”

I nod, “I’m out of practice though.”

“But that increases our options ten-fold, that’s good to know. If you happen to be able to dance on aerial silks or do a backflip, you should also not hesitate to mention that....”

*

“Excuse me, Mr. Man,” I nag, hands on my hips as he comes in sipping a cup of coffee, “but how exactly do you expect me to get up there in pumps?”

“Well, there are two or three ways.” He smirks, setting the cup down on his desk, and wiping the condensation onto his cable-knit sweater. “I can put my hands together and help you step up or you can take the heels off and climb up like a five-year-old in Mickey Dees play place.”

I roll my eyes.

“First of all, that’s only two ways, and I’m pretty sure my shoes would stab straight through your palms if we tried the first one, and you’d have to spend the rest of the day looking like Christ.”

“Just take the shoes off and I’ll help you put them back on once you’re seated.”

I shake my head, but step out of the heels, and climb up onto the chair.

As Shannon slides the right shoe back onto my dangling foot he quips:

“If the magic slipper fits…”

“Hah.”

“It works! We won’t have to remove any toes.”

[KevinReijnders]

Check the dialoge game, were pretty funny over there

https://forums.tapas.io/t/promote-your-novel-with-the-dialog-game