I Can Learn To Be Funny?

There’s this book in the library by some joker. It hypothesizes that anyone can learn how to think funny. Well, I’m anyone. I take it out of the local library—for free! (libraries are amazing)—bring it home and realize that there’s a reason it’s called Comedy Writing Workbook and not Comedy Writing Coloringbook or Comedy Writing Doughnut. There are assignments, research, and work involved. Who knew?

When the library late fees kick in I find I’m still working on the first assignment from Mr. Gene Perret’s book. This is quite the useful book, I think, What the hey, I’ll spring $12 for a used copy on Amazon. Three weeks later it is yesterday and still no book. I email the seller. “It’s coming,” she says. I cross my fingers.

This afternoon it arrives. I gently slide the manilla envelope off my precious new, old banged up, creased paperback. It smells a bit like old people (not the cute kind). Curse it—the previous owner has written notes in thick black ink. I fire off an email to the seller over my ill-spent purchase: “Pages have been written on. This isn’t at all the condition I expect for $12.”

I thumb through my book again, examining the handwriting more closely. What the—? The handwriting is part of the printed book. Hah hah ha! Oh, that Mr. Gene Perret. Excuse me a moment as I email an apology to the seller, making this story way longer than we expected when I began typing and you began reading...

Okay, I’m back. The front of the book says it’ll show me how to “think funny.” I think it’s working.

My original point is that I’ll be sharing my book assignments here by posting them. Feel free to add your criticisms, critiques, and caterwauls. Whatever it is you do over there. Hopefully, I’ll become so funny that you’ll some day say, “Yeah well, I knew P.L. Frederick when she or he was not at all funny. Or attractive. Or tall.”

- - - - -

- - - - -
Portions of the book completed so far:
  1. 1A: My Collection Of Favorite Jokes – March 15, 2007

  2. 1B: My Collection Of Favorite Quotes – March 20, 2007

  3. 1C: My Collection Of My Favorite’s Favorites – March 23, 2007

  4. 1D: My Collection Of Favorite Cartoons – September 28, 2007

  5. 2A: A Rose By Any Other Name – October 5, 2007

  6. 2B: Mrs. Malaprop’s Affliction – October 12, 2007

  7. 2C: The Dictionary Must Be Wrong – October 15, 2007

  8. 2D: So You Wanna Be Noah Webster – October 22, 2007

  9. 2E: Fun With Puns – October 24, 2007

  10. 2F: One Person’s Idiom Is Another Person's Straight-Line – November 12, 2007

  11. 3A: A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Punchlines – January 15, 2008

  12. 3B: Pen And Ink Patter – Ongoing, and I ain’t gonna post ’em (“them” being 1,300 losing entries for The New Yorker magazine weekly caption contest)

  13. 3C: Inanimate Playhouse – July 1, 2008 (I admit defeat. I’m skipping this one.)

  14. 4A: That Goes With This – July 7, 2008

  15. 4B: This Doesn’t Go With That – July 10, 2008

  16. 4C: That Makes Absolutely No Sense At All – July 14, 2008

  17. 4D: What Can You Say About So-And-So? – August 5, 2008

  18. 5A: Say It With Pictures – August 13, 2008

  19. 5B: Say It With Funny Pictures (Part 1 and Part 2) – August 18, 2008

  20. 5C: The Bobsled Man’s Bottom – August 29, 2008

Comments

changapeluda said…
I love love love the library! Cool place to Quietly read...everything is FREE. What's not to love? Whomever invented the library: Genius!

And you're funnier already. Since the last time I came here, anyway.

:0]
January 20, 2007
P.L. Frederick said…
And funnier looking.

P.L. Frederick
SMALL & big
September 26, 2007
Kyle V said…
Hey, I know this is an old post, but I can't help notice that I too worked on the Comedy Writing Secrets book and felt it was a bit inadequate (for my purposes anyway).

But this was a long time ago, and I've soon crafted my own style of humor, and now I'm dedicated to teaching people how to become funny themselves. Neat, eh?

You don't sound too shabby yourself, but if you're interested please check out my site on how to be funny--maybe you might learn a thing or to, and maybe you'll see one of my tips, make someone laugh, and think beautiful thoughts about me.

Or maybe not. Either way, I know this post is 5 years old, but I hope you haven't given up on sharpening your wittiness knife. It's often frustrating, and usually fun.

Let me know what you think. :)

-Kyle
June 19, 2012
P.L. Frederick said…
Hello, Kyle. Interesting.

Folks, I checked out Kyle's blog and he's got some good stuff on it at www.socialhumorbutterfly.com/blog.html. Enjoy!
July 19, 2012
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

15 Albums That Changed My Life, Not That You Asked

Soundtrack to Disney’s feature length animation, “101 Dalmations,” played on my red portable record player/briefcase — Cruella De Vil rocked. The chorus sings how she made her husband take her last name. What a woman! Too bad about her puppy-skin coat fetish. (And that fat ugly husband.) Debbie Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” — For a third grader who enjoyed singing herself to sleep with sad tunes like “Leaving On a Jet Plane” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” this was I-T, in feathered hair. My younger brother’s musical selections — These included classics by Donald Duck, Alvin & the Chipmunks, and Wonder Woman’s theme song. I admired his musical maturity and confidence, especially with the 8-track tapes. Cory Hart, “Boy In the Box” — He wore sunglasses at night. ABC, “How To Be a Zillionaire” — How do I? That K-Tel one with “My Boyfriend’s Back,” “Leader of the Pack,” and “It’s My Party (and I’ll Cry If I Want To)” on it — I find my niche! Alas, I was born 20 years too lat
Read more

Shovel Trouble

Hey. You know how it snowed? And there was snow on your car? Well I’ve got a surprise for you. It‘s not any more! I know. Let’s jump up and down. How’d the magic happen, right? Well I went outside in the cold and cleaned it off. You're very welcome, my pleasure, no trouble at all. I almost enjoyed being outside in the fresh air. Anything for you. Oh, by the way. Just a small thing. In the future, maybe after the rainy season, you may see a tiny bit of rust. Like a line of it here and there. Mostly on top of the car but also on the hood and trunk areas. Roughly where snow would be if your good friend here hadn’t cleaned it off wayyyy back in winter. Brrrrrrr, right? Gosh it‘s cold. From the shovel scratches, silly. You shovel snow, you don’t kiss it away. I was shoveling the sidewalk and the next thing you know I was being helpful to you. Steel-bladed shovels work great! Yeah, let’s go see how great it looks. Look there. Isn’t that friendly, that one almost says “Hi!”
Read more

Anizo 100% Reality Mind

Image
“Anizo 100% Reality Mind.” What this means, I have no idea. A friend found it living in a vending machine on the street in China and brought it back to Boston for me. The one-inch tall yellow plastic guy (I think it’s a he) has a smile, a blue tear, a pair of hand holes, a growth atop his head pierced clean through, and, on his backside, a man getting squeezed between two lines that I hope do not represent butt cheeks. The warning printed on the paper insert commands, “Do not use as lifeguard equipment.” Anizo and I, we’re inseparable. Anizo 100% Reality Mind!
Read more