Comedy's Secret Weapon | How To Write Funny
When it comes to using the 11 different Funny Filters to make comedy funny, Madcap is like a secret weapon.
Madcap is the funny filter that uses physical humor, slapstick, non sequitur, and just plain zaniness.
A lot of comedy writers avoid Madcap because they think it’s easy, crass, or dumbs down their work. It can.
But when used well, Madcap is indisputably funny, and audiences love it. The trick to making it work is to use it with good subtext and employ other, more intellectual funny filters at the same time, like Irony, Misplaced Focus, or Wordplay.
If you pile on Character and dramatic story structure, Madcap will take you all the way to Farce, a sub-genre of comedy with Madcap baked into the structure.
A popular form in Europe for a long time, with its mistaken identities, double entendrés, bawdy takedowns of high society, and inevitable Madcap ending, Farce rarely makes it to America, at least not in its purest form.
Where can you see Farce? It’s popular on stage everywhere. Sitcoms of all kinds borrow heavily from it. A Fish Called Wanda, a British movie released in America, is pure Farce. Writer and star John Cleese is a big fan of the form. One only need watch his brilliant sitcom Fawlty Towers to see him revel in it.
It’s time for someone to resurrect the Farce and introduce it to new generations. Maybe that’s you.
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