[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What does it mean to be funny?
Steve Kaplan, Author/Instructor/Script Consultant: Everybody’s funny. I mean there’s no one way to be funny or one definition of funny. I think that there’s a difference between funny and comic. One of the things that we talk about in my first book The Hidden Tools of Comedy is the fact that anytime anybody makes somebody laugh, they’re funny. Comic is kind of an art form and it’s the art of telling the truth and specifically it’s about telling the truth about human beings. I think when people are funny (if we’re talking about in terms of writers, directors, actors) I think what they’re doing is they’re seeing what we see from a specific angle, from a unique angle. It’s like somebody once said that Fish don’t see the water because it’s all around them. Comic fish, are they going around saying Hey, it’s all wet around here. Have you noticed that thing about water, as if there was a stand-up fish. I think a comedian is somebody who is slightly off-center to where the majority are, but what he says isn’t off-center, it’s dead center, it totally makes sense in retrospect.
When a comedian makes a joke at the audience he takes the audience where they don’t know they’re going to go. When they get there, they go Oh, of course. The punchline of a joke is surprising and inevitable. If you ask me what’s funny or who’s funny I think we all have the capacity to enjoy humor, to make jokes. We just had our Thanksgiving dinner and we were around the table and people were making jokes and then away from the table people were making jokes about the people around the table so that we all have the capacity to enjoy humor, to create humor but some of us have the capacity to…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BUY THE BOOK – THE HIDDEN TOOLS OF COMEDY:
The Serious Business Of Being Funny
BUY THE BOOK – THE COMIC HERO’S JOURNEY:
Serious Story Structure For Fabulously Funny Films
BIO:
Steve Kaplan is the author of The Hidden Tools of Comedy and The Comic Hero’s Journey, best-sellers in their field. He’s working on a third book about writing comedy for television. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale and other universities, Steve created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre. In addition to development projects for HBO, he has taught workshops online and around the globe and at companies such as DreamWorks, Disney Animation, Aardman Animation, and NBC’s Writers on the Verge. Steve has worked as a script consultant and script editor for productions companies, studios, directors and individual writers.
UPCOMING COMEDY INTENSIVE ONLINE CLASS WITH STEVE KAPLAN
Kaplancomedy.com/product/the-comedy-intensive-online-2023-spring
MORE VIDEOS WITH STEVE KAPLAN
CONNECT WITH STEVE KAPLAN
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