5 Easy Steps To Make Readers Laugh Using The Absurd

Ever laughed in an absurd situation or at an absurd time?

Sure you have. We’ve all done it.

Our friend trips over his feet, falls flat on his face, and instead of helping him up, we fall over laughing, lamenting we didn’t get it on video.

America’s Funniest Home Videos makes a living on our laughing when we “shouldn’t.”

They knew we’d laugh — and we do.

Why do we laugh at the absurd?

The absurd is unexpected, and the unexpected is funny. It’s that simple.

You can find more scientific answers to explain it, but that’s the bottom line.

We’ll laugh at the absurd as long as it doesn’t offend our sensibilities, such as laughing about 911. Not funny. Period.

But even in the midst of turmoil, we like to laugh. We need to laugh.

Comic relief eases pain and sadness.

The absurd makes for great humor material when done right.

Imagine laughing at a funeral. Who would do that?

The writers of the 1970’s TV series The Mary Tyler Moore Show thought it was a great idea. And it was because they did it right.

Using five easy steps, they reaped reruns of laughter even from a funeral.

5 Easy Steps to Make Your Reader Laugh Using the Absurd:

Let’s look at how the writers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show incorporated the five steps into their heralded episode Chuckles Bites the Dust.

1. Know Your Audience.

What’s funny to some may be offensive to others.

The writers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show knew their audience tuned in to watch comedy and expected absurd situations, but they never crossed the line into callousness.

Had their audience been a group of grieving parents, it would’ve fallen flat, even with a clown for a character.

2. Think of an Absurd Situation.

Absurd situations make us laugh. The more common to humanity the situation is, the wider the audience you’ll reach and the more they’ll relate, leading to bigger laughs.

A humorous situation about parenting may be funny to all, but they strike a parent’s funny bone harder.

Find a situation that’s common to the vast majority.

Death.

Then find a way to make it absurd.

The death of a clown named Chuckles, who was dressed as a peanut when an elephant tried to shell it.

You now know the premise of the Chuckles Bites the Dust episode. And you see how a common situation can suddenly become uncommon and absurd.

3. Add ridiculous timing.

Ridiculous timing can raise the absurdity to a higher level.

This step is similar to the idea in writing of building tension by thinking of the worst thing that can happen to your main character and then making it worse.

Without conflict there’s no story. Ridiculous timing increases conflict and laughter.

The writers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show raised the stakes and the laughter by placing the climax of the episode in the middle of Chuckles the clown’s funeral.

4. Place your characters smack in the middle of it.

Place your main characters into the middle of the absurdity and let them react.

If they react opposite of how the audience would expect, even better. That’s called juxtaposition, and it’s a great humor technique.

The main characters of this episode sit together at Chuckles the Clown’s funeral. Once the pastor begins the eulogy, Mary–the only character to have shown respect throughout the episode–suddenly finds the situation unbearably humorous. Despite her best efforts, she can’t contain her laughter.

5. Have fun, but don’t cross the line.

Even if some audience will laugh at anything, writers should behave with decency.

Some subjects should remain off limits as objects of humor. (Child pornography for instance.)

Other subjects need only be handled with care. (Sickness and death.)

Throughout the episode, various characters respond with appropriate sadness by the news of Chuckles the Clown’s death.

Mary consistently responds in the most appropriate manner. Thus when she loses self-control at the funeral, the audiences’ sensitivities aren’t offended.

If she’d been known to be a callous jerk, the audience wouldn’t have been surprised by her laughter and again wouldn’t have been unduly offended.

Chuckles Bites the Dust

The entire Chuckles Bites the Dust episode is a fun lesson for writers on how to use absurd situations and timing without crossing the line. The fabulous twist at the end (the juxtaposition I mentioned earlier) pulls it all together.

Watch the full episode by clicking the link above, or watch the short clip below: Laugh for Chuckles

Notice how the writers incorporated these five easy steps and made their audience laugh using absurd timing and situations:

Making an audience laugh isn’t reserved only for comedy sitcom writers or humor authors. A little humor can make any style of writing more enjoyable and memorable.  

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