The Serious Guide to Joke Writing: How To Say Something Funny About Anything pdfdrive com

3. Everyone Will Think This Is Rubbish!
Even if you have ideas you thought were okay, when it comes to sharing them
you suddenly lose faith. Your mouth will be too dry to say them aloud and your
heart will be fluttery. The jokes never see the light of day. Then one day you will
find  a  screwed  up  bit  of  paper  in  the  bottom  of  the  wardrobe,  read  them  again
and  realise  that  some  of  them  were  funny  after  all  but  sadly  now  long  out  of
date.
I’m sure we all have our own weird and very special variations of panic. But any
form  of  panic  sucks  away  your  brain  power,  your  energy,  and  your  will.
Suppressing it can just make it worse.
My way of dealing with it is to accept that it’s there.
I  say  ‘Yup,  these  are  my  nerves,  I  always  have  them,’  and  then  I  keep  on
working, keep sifting through ideas, keep looking for new angles, and try to see
doing the work and putting in the time as my goal.
The trick with dealing with fear is to
go on in spite of feeling afraid.
Judy Carter
I know that when I’m working I don’t have 100% guarantee that I am going to
write  a  brilliant  joke,  but  if  I  allow  my  panic  to  stop  me  working,  I’m  100%
guaranteed I won’t write anything.
If  you  still  want  to  focus  on  all  that  is  wrong,  then  psychiatrist  Robert  Leahy
2
recommends worry postponement  where  you  schedule  time  to  fret  about  things
later,  and,  according  to  essayist  Anne  Lamont,
3
 you  can  suspend  perfectionism
as  well  by  putting  off  any  brain  activity  that  stops  you  getting  on  with  your
work, and telling yourself you can worry, panic and/or make it perfect later.
If  you  need  some  outside  influence  to  help  you  focus,  then  invite  joke  writing
friends  round  to  do  an  exercise  together.  Allow  yourself  to  write  anything  as
long as you are writing.
The  panic  won’t  go  away  completely.  Every  time  I  start  writing  jokes  I  worry
that this is the time there will be none, this time I will fail. I counter it by telling
myself  that  even  if  that  is  so  then  I  will  still  do  my  best,  and  run  whatever
subject through my joke writing methods, and put the time in.
I have learnt to live with my fears.
So  take  a  deep  breath.  Feel  those  nerves.  They’re  kind  of  exciting  aren’t  they?

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After all, it’s a special thing to be allowing yourself time to write jokes. Let the
nerves  sit  there  in  your  stomach  or  spleen  (or  bowel  if  you  are  really  unlucky)
while  you  get  on  with  the  exercise.  Write  out  those  associations.  Do  the  work.
Find those angles. Don’t focus on the panic, use it! Let the adrenalin help your
brain think faster.
Boldness has genius, magic and power in it.
Begin it, begin it now.
Goethe
We’re  all  the  same,  you  know.  You,  me,  the  writers  of  great  sitcoms,  famous
stand-up  comedians.  We  all  panic  because  we’re  doing  something  exciting  that
isn’t working at a factory or sitting in the pub. We are joke writers and thinkers,
and it’s scary, but oh so rewarding.

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Summary
• Panic is natural – accept that
• Don’t engage with it - walk beside it
• Just keep working
•

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