I have this astounding ability to watch a lot of sitcoms and pitch the jokes mere seconds before the actors say them, almost verbatim. It’s an amazing skill. Houdini never could do that. Audiences are mystified. Talk about magic.
Of course, the truth is that after years of writing comedy I just can identify the most obvious punchlines. And there are shockingly way too many sitcoms that are guilty of this.
You might think this is a byproduct of multi-camera shows where rhythms have become stale and predictable, but single-camera shows are sometimes worse. They often resort to irony so it’s not even jokes. It’s catch-phrases or “Gee, THAT went well.”
If I can predict a joke it’s just lazy writing. Either that or the staff is just not very good. So I choose to believe it’s laziness.
What’s keeping me out of the Magic Castle is that by now you’ve seen so many sitcoms that you too can probably perform this psychic skill.
I blame the showrunners. Someone has to approve these clams. Someone has to say, “Yeah, that’s good enough.” Someone has to say, "Fine. I've got Laker tickets."
On CHEERS we had the rule of 2’s. If the writing staff was working on a joke and any two writers pitched essentially the same punchline we automatically discarded it. Didn’t even matter if it was funny. Our feeling was that if two writers could come up with the same joke so could some audience members. And so it was quickly jettisoned. There was no debate. Ever.
When you’re trying to come up with a joke sometimes your first punchline might be the obvious one. Especially if you came up with it quickly. Learn to dig deeper. Is there a better joke? Is there a fresher joke? Is there something more unexpected? Maybe even something from out in leftfield?
Because sitcom audiences are more sitcom savvy your job is much harder now than it was back when we were writing CHEERS. And yet, I bet if you watch a CHEERS today there will still be jokes that surprise you and make you laugh.
Now I realize that not every show is CHEERS or is even going for the type of humor we went for. But you can strive to be the best in your genre, whatever it is. GOOD LUCK CHARLIE was a Disney Channel show but so clearly superior to other series on that network.
I know it sounds like a real contradiction. Comedy writing is a highly competitive business and yet high-priced comedy writers often get away with being lazy. I suppose it’s a matter of personal pride. Just consider this: The last thing you want is for me to thank you for getting into the Magic Castle
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For educational and curiosity reasons, this week I've watched the first seasons of CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? and THE BOB NEWHART SHOW. I remembered the theme song from CAR 54 from my childhood, but nothing about the actual show, and I had seen some Newhart episodes, but never really gotten into it.
NEWHART was as I remembered it: Bob Newhart playing his reasonable, perplexed man while everyone else around him is going slightly crazy. The most startling thing is the clothes, which are mostly nothing like anything anyone would wear today. Love Newhart; still don't really love the show.
CAR 54 was great. The situations, characters, and jokes still play just fine, and a lot of the lazier writers today that you're talking about could benefit from watching them. The contemporary sitcom leader who I can imagine watched it intently in his childhood is Larry David - the way the various threads he sets up in episodes of SEINFELD and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM is very reminiscent of those shows, which set up a problem and then explore the ramifications of Toody's and Muldoon's solution to it. What has dated *terribly* is that the show has practically *no women* - in the first season a couple of wives, one female cop, a few women seeking police help, and dozens and dozens of men. There are a couple of black cops (and one them has a wife who makes a brief appearance at the Christmas party), but the absence of women is so glaring (by today's standards) that it's distracting. (Even though Toody's wife is good fun, played by Charlotte Rae, and Schnauser's wife is played by the great Alice Ghostley.)
wg
I once wrote for a Z-lister who had been making the same bad jokes for thirty years. After I turned in my work, he brought in a second writer to replace my material with the same bad jokes. Likewise, I've seen clients insert the most mangy cliches you can imagine into stuff I'm trying to fix because their additions "feel funny" to them, another way of saying they weren't comfortable unless the material was as obvious and hackneyed as possible. They couldn't recognize humor unless they'd already heard the line before, and didn't care that everybody else was just as familiar with it.
What do you attribute this slack off in general work ethic from great TV series of decades ago and the sclock today?
Because I agree, the drop-off in quality is blatantly and painfully obvious. It shouldn't have to be this way.
Ken, thank you. Was helpful for me to read as I’m starting a writing for TV course at UCLA in October. Always appreciate your helpful insight.
This is exactly why I never was into The Big Bang Theory. I've heard all those nerd jokes before.
I just heard the news that Neil Simon has died. I imagine your post tomorrow will be about him.
Rest in Peace to a comedy legend.
RIP Neil Simon, who died this morning at 91. I'm certain Ken's tribute will soon arrive.
From a fan of Car 54, going back to childhood:
Mrs. Toody was Beatrice Pons (who filled the equivalent part with Joe E. Ross on Bilko).
Charlotte Rae was Mrs. Schnauser.
And Alice Ghostley was Officer Muldoon's sometime girlfriend.
Just so you know …
At first I thought this was one of those recycled posts because it sounded so familiar. I seem to remember a previous "Magic Castle" reference. And I've said something very similar about predictable dialog before. Maybe I'm psychic, too.
M.B.
My sympathies, Ken, on the passing of Neil Simon. What a great talent. What a great legacy!
@Wendy Grossman:
"Even though Toody's wife is good fun, played by Charlotte Rae, and Schnauser's wife is played by the great Alice Ghostley.)"
Actually Toody's wife was played by Bea Pons and Schnauzer's wife was played by Charlotte Rae.
Your basic point is OK. There weren't a lot of women on Car 54, although a lot of the best episodes involve women.
The episodes with Molly Picon are fabulous. Shari Lewis was great and the character Charlotte Rae created, Sylvia Schnauzer, is one of the funniest female characters in TV history, despite the fact she was only on 11 episodes. (check out Lucille is 40 - hilarious). She got almost no mention for this character in her obits, but she might rank right up there with Lucy, Mary and Carol. She and Al Lewis were pegged for their own spinoff, which would have been hilarious but Nat Hiken had health problems (probably caused by Joe E. Ross)
Sad to hear about the great Neil Simon passing away. He was "the world's most popular playwright after Shakespeare" (but I actually enjoyed Simon's work more). I grew up in a small Midwestern town without much theater, but the local library had bound copies of Simon's plays, which I read voraciously just for entertainment -- and that was a big part of what made me want to be a writer myself. When I finally got to see some shows on Broadway, his were always the ones I selected first, and they were a guaranteed great time. Too bad there won't be any more of them.
@Wendy
Not to be pedantic, but The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart are two distinct shows. In both shows he was the isle of calm in the sea of craziness.
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RIP Neil Simon. That Ken hasn't mention this shows that Neil had the same bad timing as Aldous Huxley and Farrah Fawcett.
The worst thing about writing comedy is knowing the audience is expecting a surprise. And they know that you know and you know that they know you know. Insert cliche.
One of the greats left today.
Humor, pathos and the human condition written with empathy.
This was what I saw in Neil Simons writing.
His presence will be missed even by us who only knew him through his writing.
Going back even further, I'm amazed at how well much of the writing on radio comedies holds up today in terms of crafting a joke. True, the pacing can be a bit slow and cloying for modern sensibilities. But every time I listen to an old Bob Hope or Jack Benny or Fred Allen show, there are always at least 2 or 3 strong jokes or bits of word play that I never saw coming and can't remember ever hearing used again. If I were an unethical person, I think I could have a pretty good comedy writing career just by listening to old radio shows and stealing these jokes that 99.9% of the population haven't heard in 70 years.
Ken: I've never been to the Magic Castle, but it sure looks interesting.
I've often wondered how many beautiful but invisible magician's assistants have been wandering around the place for years and years, searching for a magician to make them visible again. ;-)
So now you have your superpower, how can you use it to fight crime? Do you have a superhero name yet? I think The Joker is taken (as is Space Cowboy and Gangster of Love, dammit). How about The Jokester? SpoilerMan? Nah?
Good feedback that can be applied in so many ways beyond comedy writing for a TV show. I use this sort of idea when updating my humor blog and when making silly posts on Instagram, Twitter, etc. I try to walk the fine line with safe humor while still being original. This actually gave me a few things to think about...dig beneath the surface jokes.
"And yet, I bet if you watch a CHEERS today there will still be jokes that surprise you and make you laugh."
That is for sure. Same with FRASIER.
It can be hard explain or defend why some sitcoms work and other ones just don't. There certainly are no hard rules about it, although good writing and acting are obviously central. But sometimes that isn't even enough.
I'm going to say that the characters need to be compelling on some level, more than just generic types who serve as joke-conduits. Something flawed but expansive needs to be in their character makeup. You have to make the audience want to know about their backstory--but not too much, or it ruins the mystique.
As for jokes, yes, timing is everything. But they have to connect in way that is familiar on one hand, but throw a curveball every now and then too, yet still stay on point and in character.
Nobody ever said it was easy...
I remember Beatrice Pons as Lucille Toody. Rae must have come later.
As for predictability, I almost always know what someone will wager on Jeopardy! when they hit a bonus question. I can usually tell what letter someone will call on Wheel of Fortune, too. If only I could predict lottery numbers.
PERFECT example of your Cheers analogy Ken, is this scene.
It has surprises and ends with a laugh that brings the house down!! I don't know who wrote this gag but it is GOLD!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L_vWpTAra8
Beatrice Pons also played Rupert Ritzik's wife on BILKO, where the couple's relationship was pretty much the same as on CAR 54.
Should have added that Ritzik was played by Joe E. Ross, who was Toody on CAR 54. I keep forgetting that not everyone already knows this stuff.
And all that was already said above. Sorry, folks.
Absolutely, Ken. When I see a promo for a new sitcom and the jokes are either not funny but ones where I can anticipate the punchline I will NEVER watch it.
I was watching Matt Groening's new Netflix series, DISENCHANTMENT, yesterday, and at one point Elfo says that since he can do anything he wants, he is going to drink milk from his shoe. He then proceeds to do so. I said to my wife, who was watching with me, "I guess he already had milk in there." Elfo then says, "I already had milk in there."
I like this show, but some of the punchlines are supremely obvious. If my asides and the show's jokes are the same by accident, that's a pretty sure sign that they probably should've taken a little more time writing it.
Frank Beans said (about sitcom characters): “the characters need to be compelling on some level—-something flawed but expansive needs to be in their character make-up. You have to make the audience want to know their backstory—but not too much or it ruins the mystique.”
What a great description! And the scene shared by Dave Wrighteous is a perfect example of that. Another great CHEERS scene that does that also involves Frasier and Lilith. It’s very early in their relationship and they are exchanging hilarious (but almost unintelligible) insults while the bar regulars listen. Norm finally says, “Are they fighting? They listen a few more seconds and Frasier says, “Merci.” Woody says, “Yeah, I think they are, Frasier just asked for mercy.”
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