How I Came to This Comedy Writing Life

 When people say “That’s so interesting! How did you get into that?” upon learning what I do, I give them the nutshell history. Because it’s en excellent question and, as I always so, I came to this work of custom writing funny speeches, roasts, presentations, lectures and other public speaking products and documents very organically.

I fell into standup comedy in the late 1990’s shortly after moving to Los Angeles. I moved to LA with creative showbiz endeavors in mind, but leaning much more toward screenwriting and acting. Standup was not even a thought as I arrived in a rental car, driving down from San Francisco, where I’d been living for a few years, a Boston native seeking some version of the California Dream.

As a kid I’d always absolutely loved comedy, humor, jokes, funniness- whichever terms one might use. I was laser focused on and enthralled by Saturday Night Live sketches, and avidly consumed records on my parents’ shelves by comedians like Richard Pryor, George Carlin and Mel Brooks with Carl Reiner. Shortly later I’d go get my own comedy records, like Steve Martin’s Let’s Get Small and Wild & Crazy Guy, and The Wedding Album by Cheech & Chong. In Mr Pradell’s 6^th grade class, in our Boston suburb, I would recite memorized Steve Martin bits for my table mates, noticing that they seemed, if not utterly captivated, then at least modestly entertained by the impromptu show.

Joking around and doing silly voices, coming up with catchy inside slang terms for use by my circle of friends, writing a produced play in 4^th grade titled Alexander Graham Cracker- while none of these were of the level of work required of an adult in entertainment, as with pretty much all comedians, these modest outputs of crude humor laid the foundation-- they were building blocks of an affinity and an aptitude for being able to make people laugh.

After moving to San Francisco a few years after graduating from college, I started attending a drop-in improvisational theater class, taught by this charismatic actor who’d been in some widely seen and heard in some TV and radio commercials around the Bay Area. Later I joined the more formally structured Bay Area Theater Sports for a couple of levels, and although improvisation doesn’t strictly necessitate “jokes”, anyone with the slightest mind for humor will often come up with lines that have a comedic twist. You don’t need to be funny, but good funny is certainly effective and appreciated.

After moving down to Los Angeles, it was around a year before I even attempted a standup open mic. I had been going as an audience member to an especially magical sort of comedy show at the old Largo (they’ve since moved locations into a theater space), a bar/restaurant/showroom where many excellent, creative and smart standups would work out their material- old and new- at a Monday night show. Watching that inspired me to try an open mic at a coffee house in Santa Monica on a Sunday night, and getting any laughs at all led me to keep on going to mics and finding my way.

Within a few years, a handful of comedians I was friendly with asked me to write jokes for them. I did it for the thrill, the challenge, the satisfaction of hearing them use the jokes on stage at clubs, or on one of their late night TV spots.

Through the years since then, writing sketches, short films, bits for TV shows, humor pieces for magazines and a LOT of standup jokes and bits, it made good sense to me to share what I’ve worked on and gotten really good at with “regular”, non-entertainment people, professionals who benefit immensely from being funny in a real life or work situation.

In the last couple years I wrote a large part of 2 very well-selling creative-exercise books, with a lot of humor, for a top LA marketing guru; had a few humorous greeting cards I wrote sell good numbers for the Frank N Funny series; and a short, comedic film script I wrote was produced in West Texas by a successful director/producer with a half dozen feature films under his belt.

I feel grateful for the projects I’ve gotten to work on, and whatever project I work on with whichever clients, I bring the totality of that experience to the work. Comedic writing isn’t what I thought I would get into when I was a little kid, but now it feels like it’s where I’m meant to be.

Specific Tips for Comedy Writing Pt 4

This is the fourth in a short series of specific, technical tips for writing funny. This is the kind of work that expert, experienced comedic speech writers do, whether it's a funny speech for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, retirement, bar mitzvah, corporate or business event, or a civic public speaking engagement:

A Person’s Career or Hobby

When writing about someone’s career or hobbies, it’s important to stay away from anything too tragic or embarrassing. You might try: “Herman is quite the surgeon. With my own eyes, I have seen him separate the inferior lateral gluteous from the ventricular pectoralis. And that was just the boiled lobster.” Or, “Debbie’s a certified public accountant. I better be nice to her, or she’s going to report my poker winnings.”

Specific Tips for Comedy Writing Pt 3

 This is the third in a short series of specific, technical tips for writing funny. This is the kind of work that expert, experienced comedic speech writers do, whether it's a funny speech for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, retirement, bar mitzvah, corporate or business event, or a civic public speaking engagement:

Specific Personal Attributes and Qualities

As with personal appearance, make the jokes about qualities that your subject would take pride in, or that are widely known as safe topics for ribbing. For instance: “Aunt Nadine acts incredibly youthful, like she’s a fraction of her age. Last year at her birthday we hired a clown. And she still cried and ran away.” Or, “Brian is pretty oblivious to holidays. He asked me 'What's the date for 4th of July?” There's a way, in a funny speech or roast, to make fun of someone's qualities- good or bad- without causing serious embarrassment or hurt feelings. 

Specific Tips for Comedy Writing Pt. 2

This is the second in a short series of specific, technical tips for writing funny. This is the kind of work that expert, experienced comedic speech writers do, whether it's a funny speech for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, retirement, bar mitzvah, corporate or business event, or a civic public speaking engagement:

Personal Appearance

If you joke about someone’s personal appearance, it’s important that your subject have a good sense of humor about the topic. Making a public joke about someone’s attractiveness, baldness or obesity can be embarrassing for a family member or friend unless they are open and comfortable with such issues. Does the person regularly joke about these topics upon meeting a total stranger? If so, then it could be fair game.

Is Uncle Joe extremely tall? You could write: “It makes sense that Joe loves living in the Valley, because when he stands up, he’s actually above the smog.” That line combines a gentle dig at a local geographic area with a gentle dig at an attribute — height — which almost no one is going to mind being ribbed about.

Say one of the honorees is an extremely beautiful woman: “Cousin Sally is quite a looker, as everyone knows. It’s almost annoying. At her table, we had to include place settings for three stalkers.”

Will Sally or anyone else mind that you made a joke about her attractiveness? Probably not.

Specific Tips for Funny Speech Writing #1

 This is the beginning in a short series of specific, technical tips for writing funny. This is the kind of work that expert, experienced comedic speech writers do, whether it's a funny speech for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, retirement, bar mitzvah, corporate or business event, or a civic public speaking engagement:

1 - General Writing Rules

Try to keep the jokes general rather than too inside or obscure — those things only your family or closest friends would understand. Not everyone has to know every reference, but in most cases it’s important to shoot for recognition by at least 60 percent of the audience.

Jokes have a specific structure — a setup and punch line, not the other way around. Jokes can be as short as one sentence in length, but it’s important that the setup not go on too long; consider that your audience has been sitting in shul for several hours and a long setup might not play well.

Part of comedy comes from specificity, so when “punching” a joke — writing the ending words — “fish” can usually be replaced by “halibut” or “red snapper,” and “car” can usually be replaced by “Prius” or “Buick Skylark.” Some words just sound funny, like “halibut” and “Prius.” Develop your feel for that, and then use words that have a sharp, crisp, funny sound.

Use exaggerated or mixed-metaphor comparisons. For instance, “He’s made more people cry than Simon Cowell.” Or, “Her report cards have seen more A’s than the Oakland Coliseum.”

And it’s OK to get a little edgy or negative with your humor, but do not cross or possibly even get too close to the line. Know your crowd. If they are all pretty salty and irreverent, up and down, you can go a lot farther than if they are primarily prim, proper and socially conservative. You can ruffle feathers, but don’t singe them or rip them out.

Where and How Humor Fits in to Various Life & Work Situations

I like to remove misconceptions about the alleged need for seriousness and propriety in life and work situations that do not require such restrictions. 

Most people probably realize that at a private/personal gathering or event, like a wedding, anniversary, birthday, bar mitzvah, home retirement party, or even a funeral, some excellent cutting humor- tight, fitting jokes and such- is almost always extremely appropriate. And much needed!

Using strong humor shows that you have a sense of fun and irreverence about life, that you care about people's time and the toll put on their attention span by speeches and events. It conveys that you care about entertaining them and making them feel good, rather than just taking their time to listen to something purely "serious". 

If you don't happen to be a naturally sharp, effective comedy writer, it is advisable for private/personal events to hire an experienced, proven comedy speech writer, who writes funny speeches that utilize powerful and effective humor. When you get to experience the laughs, smiles, applause and hearty compliments afterward, you will freshly realize the immense positive effect of humor for speeches given at private life event parties and gatherings.

Perhaps less people realize that in the vast majority of business or corporate events that requite public speaking- whether it be a keynote speech, a quarterly check-in meeting, a sales dinner, a major employee promotion recognition, a lecture before industry peers, annual company outing or what have you, that well-places, sharp, cutting-edge humor- jokes, punchlines, laugh lines- are not only far more appropriate and allowed than one may think, but they are a crucial part of the public speaking of many of the most charismatic, powerful, likable and successful corporate and business achievers out there. 

At Funny Biz Speech Writers we happen to know this for a fact, not only by studying various fields and industries with regard to the use of strategic and tactically placed humor, but also from the feedback and results of our own very happy clients. Something powerful to think about in your own life and professional career, whatever your position, industry, job title or specialty. 

       

What I Love about Custom Writing Personalized Funny Speeches for People's Events.

I love custom writing funny speeches for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and corporate, business or public speaking events. I love bringing immense value and creating powerful moments for my clients and their families, friends, co-workers, customers- whoever the audience might be. 

I am very interested in people and their lives- their attitudes, quirks, strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, complex histories, offbeat anecdotes- all of it.

I get to know something about my clients and the people in their lives they are going to talk about, and my clients are very often impressed by my willingness to dig a little bit deeper to find the connection, the meaning, the history behind the reference or joke. I take my position seriously, both in terms of writing extremely funny, sharp lines designed to wildly entertain, and also to understand and honor my clients and their friends and family as a sympathetic, trusted, confidential observer. 

The unexpected joy and surprise, the wow factor and the uproarious laughs- that's a big part of why I do what I do and put so much of myself into this creative work. 

If you have a private or business/public event coming up, please reach out- I would love to answer any questions, send you appropriate funny speech writing samples, tell you more about my comedy background, my writing process and the results I've seen countless times in the reports and the videos from my clients' events. That's a real promise and an assurance- you shouldn't have to worry about your next speech or presentation being incredibly entertaining and attention grabbing. Leave that work up to me. It's what I do and what I'm quite simply very good at. -Adam Gropman @ Funny Biz Speech Writers

Funny Biz Writers