How is this Funny?

In this blog post I will be analyzing my own writing to determine what exactly makes it funny. I decided to write a script for a sketch or a video...not really sure. Could be done either way really. But what makes it funny, I guess, is that I used an improv game called typewriter to actually write the script out. So it starts off with the narrator coming in to sit down and write a book and introduces the scene and characters etc. But the humor comes from when the characters actually interact with the narrator. It's a fun convention that can be used in this type of game. But it gets kind of more humorous when the main character isn't going to take anymore of the narrator's shit and breaks free and...well I don't want to give it away. But it's funny how meta the sketch gets at the end.

This blog kinda sucked on my part. I don't like to toot my own horn about what's funny. Because I honestly didn't think this was the best sketch I could have written. Sure I'm proud of some parts, but I don't write funny that well. I can perform funny. Just not write it. I would rather someone else's opinion about what's funny on my piece. Thank god for peer reviewing.

A Humor Analysis

Since I can not do my original idea of taking the recorded improv shows and mashing together to create a 3-5 minute video of this weeks show, I am instead going to do this genre analysis on the sketch script that I will be completing for this project. I kind of forgot what genre analyses are about. Or I just cant think of how to analyze a script that I have no idea what it is going to be about yet. I guess that does not matter in the long run since this is an analysis on the genre as a whole not just specifically on my piece. Analyzing a sketch script...well it is going to need a few one liners. Some interesting characters. A good plot. Some type of twist, but not like a M. Night Shyamalan style twist. I need an actual good twist that's comedic too. The tricky part is going to fit all of this within the 3-5 material limit. Though, that's pretty much what a good improv scene is. So all I need to do is think of my own improv scene and write it out. And have drafts. I think a good sketch scene should include all of what I previously listed; good characters, plot, twist, one-liners, and also be honest. The characters in the scene need to be honest with their choices by staying true to what their character believes in. That sounded kinda sloppy but it makes sense to me.

Some Funny Ideas...

To be honest, this project is probably going to be the hardest and most painful project of all times. Writing humorously is not for everyone. Certainly not every single one of us in this class. I know I can't write good humor. I can be funny. Anyone can be funny when they're in a relaxed environment shootin' the shit with their friends, but writing and scripting out comedy is a whole new ball game. I am really hoping that I will be able to do what I have been meaning to talk to you about since yesterday which is turning a recording of one of my improv shows. I perform each week and for the past several week, the shows have been recorded with some scenes winding up on YouTube. So I am really hoping that I could compile a few of my best scenes and turn that in *fingers crossed*. If not, and the project has to actually be scripted then I guess I'll write a quick sketch? I have never been good at coming up with comedy on the spot, which is some sort of irony since I am on the improv team. But improvisational comedy is completely different than from the slap-stick comedy you get from your typical sketches, at least the improv I have been taught. To me, the truth is funny. If you tell an honest story then it'll be funny. Even if you are two absurd or random characters in a scene but having an honest conversation being honest to that character choice, you will have a funny scene. Granted yes sometimes that choice can make the scene pretty sad, but it's still a real scene that you would expect to see if you were observing those peoples lives. So if the whole video compilation doesn't work out, I'll write a sketch. Should be interesting.

Project 3 Project Analysis

I had a lot of fun doing this project. I got to research something that I already knew a lot about and I got to actually enjoy working on. My observation was watching a bunch of improv teams do their stuff for Pete sake. Improv has become one of my passions ever since I joined ISU's team earlier this team. It has become an essential part of my life. Doing improvisation has been a stress relief, a life lesson experience and a place where I have found the closest friends that I will ever have. To write a whole ethnography about something I care about so much just made this whole project a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable. Needless to say, even though I loved my topic there were some things I know I could have improved on. I wish I had been able to revise it more. I really wanted to add the explanation and differences between short and long form. Though not absolutely necessary, I think it would have cleared up some misconceptions throughout the paper. Also I should have figured out how to cite my interviews better. I gave credit in my paper but not in my reference page. C'est la vie though right? Good news is that I actually had a peer reviewer that gave me good notes and things to change in my paper. I am not sure if that means that my writing was not as good this time around or this person legitimately read and edited my paper. Either way it was a nice change up. It got me to actually catch some points in my paper that I wanted to change. Each paper so far has been about something I like and enjoy, which I am assuming is what everyone else does for their papers which I find interesting to see what some of their topics are because it allows me to indirectly get to know that person a little better, but something about writing about something I am so gosh darn passionate about made me feel more satisfied turning in this paper.

Creeper Notes

Observation Notes from 10 March 2012
Subject: Improv Teams
Location: College Improv Tournament at Mercury Theater, Chicago, Illinois
Purpose: To determine if the style of improv varies depending on where the team is from
Question: Since improv was practically born in Chicago, how has improv changed when practiced in other cities around the country?
Notes:

• Each team is performing their own form
• Almost all long form
• One team did short form
• Canada team has long form I've never seen
• Involves writing down monologues
• Used as idea generators
• Interesting use of "current" events
• Health care
• Depending on how far away team is from, possibly determines how many team members they bring
• Styles have same basic core just varying details
• All use one word suggestions (cept for Mafia)
• CIT has grown in the past 5 years
• The the amount of teams that were in nationals this were is the same number of total teams competing in CIT's first year
• Different size teams work the stage differently
• Different energy
• Use of stage
• Ideas used

Preliminary Ideas for Project the 3rd

To my understanding ethnography is stalking and creeping on a certain group of people and writing up a case study on that group. Sounds weird and wrong but as long as no one does anything illegal I think we'll be okay. So the first group that popped into my head when you were describing this project was to observe different improvisation teams. This Saturday I will be seeing the College Improv Tournament at Mercury Theatre where sixteen different college improv teams including ISU's very own Improv Mafia will be competing to earn the top place for this international competition. Having already seen a few different groups from regionals and studying with Improv Mafia, it is actually fairly obvious to tell the distinct differences in styles of each team. Some teams like to have more musical improv or more two person based scenes, or even just have a higher energy than other teams. Bottom line is that each team is different depending on their preferred style of improv which is also affected by what part of the country (or world) they are from. Chicago is the hub for improv. It is where improvisational comedy was created. So of course Chicago based teams all relate to each other in their own developed styles, however the cool thing about Nationals is that there will be teams from all over the country and even one team from Canada which brings in so many new styles of improv to watch and learn from. If this idea does not pan out, I am not too sure what I could do. I am going on spring break which narrows down the possibilities of groups I can observe. I guess if all else fails I can observe the group of people at the local grocery store or park. I would however feel way more creepy doing that than watching people perform at a comedy festival.

Project 2 Analysis

I kind of dropped the ball with the blogs for this project. It is real unfortunate that I did. I enjoy these blogs sometimes. They get me thinking and let my reader(s) know what I think of my various assignments. So this blog, as the title states, is supposed to be about what I thought of the project we just completed. The idea of the project I thought was really good. It made my peers open their eyes and look into why and how certain texts can have such a huge effect on a certain person or an entire culture. I think one of the problems with society today and probably throughout all of society is that people are ignorant. They never like to learn more about people and try to understand other cultures. I will admit that I am ignorant on a lot of things but the difference between me and the majority of society is that I am willing to learn. That whole saying that "ignorance is bliss" is a bunch of poppycock. The less you know, the less helpful to the world you are. It is always important to be informed to know what is going on so you are not left behind in your "blissful" world while the rest of us decide to pack up and move on.
I decided to use the word "gay" for my unethical text because it is a word today that most people use as a synonym for dumb and other insult words. Hearing this word used in the wrong context all the time and having several gay friends I already had a basic knowledge of how the word was being used unethically but I wanted to know more. I was amazed at how much I learned about the hardships of being homosexual in today's society. The high suicide rates, the origin of certain homosexual insults. Each disturbing fact I uncovered intrigued me even more and provided me a lot of research to write this paper with. The part that I did not understand and had trouble with this during this project was trying to be unbiased. I was confused as to how we were supposed to write an objective paper on something that we find to be subjectively unethical...but despite that obstacle I managed to write, what I and my peer editor believe, a pretty darn good paper. Obviously I noticed a little opinion in my writing but nothing can be 100% bias free, but I incorporated a lot of various facts and history of how "gay" is used unethically today. One of the troubles that I had again in this paper is revising. I know you said to do more research and that will help, but I could only find so much research without repeating myself. Like I said last time, I write papers to produce the final product. As a math major I am programmed to produce the final correct answer. If you need to revise your answer then you did it wrong. The combination of that thinking process and my peer reviewers not providing thorough notes, I find it very difficult to change anything about my paper. I even purposefully tried to sabotage myself so I could have something to revise which I wound up rewriting the Prop 8 paragraph near the end. I am not saying that the revision process is useless by any means, I just wish that I had someone who would truly revise my paper and try to tell me what I need to add or change or what sounds awkward so I can actually improve my writing. Other than that speed bump I think my paper went pretty well actually. My creative piece is probably my favorite part. I have to give credit to my roommate for helping my brainstorm about this idea. I feel like it probably could have used some color but with the materials I had available I think the absent of color actually makes it stand out more and adds to the message a little bit.