Writing Funny: Good Humor is a Combination of Realism and Exaggeration

In this week's episode, Zena continues to unpack Melvin Helitzer's acronym THREES, which encompasses the six primary ingredients of all comedy. We've already covered the first two,  target and hostility. Today, we address realism and exaggeration. These go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. 

Realism - The best comedy is based in reality. If it isn't based in reality, then we don't connect to it. We don't resonate with it. Realism means it's based on something that we can all relate to because it's realistic or true to the human experience. 

Exaggeration - However,  while it must be based in reality, it also has to be exaggerated. Comedy is just reality turned up a notch; it's taken to an extreme degree, and that's what makes it funny. 

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WHAT'S NEXT? Join us next Thursday for another exciting episode on how to write funny! 

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SPECIAL THANKS to CARLA PATULLO for the original music used in the intro and outro of this podcast. To find out more about this amazing talent, go to  www.carlapatullo.com