Friends, I have a question—especially for those who don’t live in the U.S. but are trying to write for that market and enjoy creating comedy.
I believe that every country, every nation has its own sense of humor. What is funny to one audience may be completely uninteresting or not funny at all to another. For example, I feel that humor that works in Ukraine might not resonate in the United States.
How do you deal with this challenge? How do you find jokes that are suitable for a specific market? How do you study and understand their sense of humor?
I’d really appreciate hearing how you approach this.
Thank you!
3 people like this
Physical humor crosses country borders most easily. The early shorts with Charlie Chaplin were popular among immigrants in early 20th century USA.
2 people like this
Never really could understand why the French thought Jerry Lewis was a comic genius
3 people like this
That’s exactly the point — what’s funny to some people isn’t funny to others.
5 people like this
As a comedy writer I have given this some consideration. When I realized that not only the jokes BUT the shared cultural context for the jokes are so culture specific that I just had to write what was funny to me and hopefully it connects with as many people as possible.
2 people like this
For example, in my film “Gods Secretary”, the story begins with the main heroine having her skirt rip in the back while she’s working as a secretary at a publishing house in Los Angeles. This leads into a series of early office situations and other events connected to it. I hope it will be funny.
2 people like this
Please, I don't want to disappoint you but since my native country is called the most feminist country in the world, I would not use the skirt rip. The probability is high that it would be considered sexist instead of funny. Better having the heroine solve a problem in a way the audience loves. Which illustrates that what is considered funny differs between countries.
3 people like this
Excuse me, but if in your country a torn skirt is considered sexism, then in another country something else might be seen as unacceptable, and in a third country something different again would be considered inappropriate or not funny. I cannot tailor my work to please the entire world at the same time.
First of all, the humor is not in the torn skirt itself. The humor comes from the heroine’s behavior after it happens.
Second, even if your country is considered one of the most “sensitive” or “feminist” countries in the world, are you saying that no woman there has ever had her skirt tear? I find that hard to believe.
So I disagree with your interpretation. The joke is not about the skirt tearing — it is about how she reacts to the situation.
2 people like this
Sure, if I misunderstood you, you don't need to bother.
2 people like this
I’m with you, humour is subjective across the board which is both great and difficult. I know a lot of my comedy is based on puns and observations that don’t work in every culture/language, so I stick to what I know versus what translates universally, like physical comedy.
4 people like this
I don't know if you like Balkan humor, but this humor is so specific and unique. I plan to write a comedy with lots of humour in it. So we'll see what will come out of it.
1 person likes this
It;s simple: what’s funny to some people isn’t funny to others.
1 person likes this
To be honest, I really like Jim Carrey’s films — they’re great to me. I especially love the TV series Police Academy. It’s an amazing comedy. So in general, I do relate to the American sense of humor.
And I think, in principle, the humor I write also works in that direction.
But I’ll be honest with you: for example, if we take my country, Ukraine, humor there is more based on dialogue because of the specific nature of the language. In the United States, however, I see that humor is more based on the characters’ actions.
So I take that into account and build my film in that direction.
2 people like this
By the way, as Charlie Chaplin once said, people laugh the most when someone falls—and the harder the fall, the louder the laughter from others.
3 people like this
It's a universal truth that one thing is funny to one person and not funny to another person. This truth crosses oceans.
2 people like this
I probably didn’t express myself correctly. I’m not saying that American comedies don’t have dialogue — they absolutely do, and a lot of it is very sharp and witty, and I do understand it.
But this is just my personal perception. Although I’ll be honest with you, right now I’m watching the series Lucifer, which is actually very dialogue-driven. And the way the main character speaks is really funny and interesting. It’s clearly built on dialogue.
So I’m not saying American comedies lack dialogue. It’s just that maybe I’ve mainly seen certain types of comedies. I can’t possibly watch every film out there.
And I’m sure there are many American comedies I haven’t seen yet that are heavily based on dialogue.
1 person likes this
I love seeing this discussion. Comedy writing can seem pushed to the side just a bit relative to Horror and Sci-Fi (I Understand the business reasons) but to me well done comedies are some of the most satisfying viewing experiences I can have. I have done some open mic nights and I really wanted to do one in England but my wife convinced me my material would not go over hahaha.
Aleksandr Rozhnov - I am NOT an expert on Woody Allen and he brings some baggage to the table for some people but his comedies from the 70's would be excellent examples of dialogue driven U.S. based humor.
Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America Fletch and Used Cars offer varieties of dialogue driven humor that are very culturally America specific.
More recent examples not already cited would be The Hangover, Bridesmaids, This is 40 and Get Him To The Greek - offering gender, class and emotional varietals of what I would consider pretty American specific types of comedy.
2 people like this
You know, I think comedy can be made out of almost any action—you just have to repeat it. For example, when someone falls once, it’s not that funny, but when they fall three times, it becomes funny. When one character slaps another once, it’s not funny, but when it happens three times while the other keeps talking, it becomes funny. So I believe comedy can be created even from things that aren’t very funny at first.