Are true comedians ‘born funny’?
Are true authors born wordy? Are true screenwriters born with typing skills?
Writing comedy is a craft. So you’ll have to practice. And just like drama, the first draft is always dense, complex and useless.
All drama must incorporate comedy. Drama is symbolised by two masks, and one of them is laughing. This is no accident. Too late to escape. And you’ll never find a “great” piece of dramatic writing that has no humour at all. Worthy, sure. Meaningful, okay. But not great.
Many writers ask if being funny is a natural skill. They do this in the hope it will let them off the hook. “Oh, I’m just not a funny person,” they’ll say. Wrong! They are just lazy or scared of failing.
Comedy, like dentistry, is a craft you can learn. It’s based on ancient principles that can help you build what Aristotle called “a surprise of the inevitable”.
What is the difference between incorporating humour into fiction, as opposed to stand-up comedy?
Character, character, character.
Narrative humour often stems from the confirmation of character. Sure, you can write funny dialogue, use witty wordplay. But to create truly comic moments in your stories, look directly at the heart of your characters.
Stand-up comedy can rely upon “persona”. But that’s not a general rule. Some deadpan stand-ups seem to have no personality at all beyond their novel perspective.
But revealing the heart of a character, often when the character themselves is unaware of it, is where narrative comedy begins.
Does funny writing ever translate badly to stage or screen?
Disaster looms over comedy in all formats.
Why? Because the sound of a comedy audience not laughing is even louder than a drama’s audience snoring.
That said, Shakespeare’s scripts were never written for the screen. What makes them work is our modern storytelling skills and technologies.
You just have to work it out.
When balancing humour and pathos, is there a sweet spot between the two?
Are you kidding? There are no sweet spots.
But if romantic comedy teaches us anything, it’s that the most profound emotional impacts are found when humour and pathos come together.
Who are you favourite comedians or comedic writers?
Writers: Tina Fey (Mean Girls, 30 Rock), Armando Iannucci (Veep, The Death Of Stalin), and Australia’s top joke writer, Ian Simmons (Good News Week, Ten Pound Poms).
Stand-ups: Laura Coleman, Christina Van Look, Justin Hamilton, Gretel Killeen, Peter Berner, and the Gen-Z absurdist, Richard Lindesay.
My favourite stand-up comedian is the Australian legend Sir Andrew Goodone. Beyond genius! Saw him with some comedian friends – none of us could describe or explain his act. But we laughed ourselves sick. If you like stand-up, see the master at work!
Tim Ferguson is a screenwriter & comedian. Author of The Cheeky Monkey – Writing Narrative Comedy screenwriting manual, Tim’s trained thousands of writers around the globe. Tim’s techniques empower writers to understand the mechanics of how comedy works.
Join Tim Ferguson for his course, Crafting Comedy Gold, Saturday 27 September 2025, 10am-4pm at Writing NSW.
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