Why do we universally appreciate slapstick, sight gags, and cartoons? Because they are visual—the humor unfolds right before our eyes.
As writers, we have a unique challenge—to craft worlds, including humorous ones, using only words. We, a cartoonist and psychologist, present techniques from our fields to help writers make humor writing more visual, effectively showing readers the funny.
As we discuss ways to strengthen print humor, we remain mindful of E. B. White’s observation, “Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process …” Our succinct dissection focuses on ways to spark readers’ imaginations while ensuring the survival of humor and the frog.
“Darth? Darth Vader?”
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
The comedian Steven Wright pondered, “If you tell a joke in the forest but nobody laughs, was it a joke?” We say “no.” Humor that is not accessible to your audience is akin to that unheard joke in the forest. And that’s neither fun nor funny.
There are numerous theories about what makes people laugh, many of
