Sep 04 2008
Writing Tip of the Day: Don’t Trade Characterization for Comedy
One of the easiest ways to create comedy is to use a double act. You set up a comedic conflict between two characters– usually, one character is sober and the other is crazy or one is savvy and the other is clueless. This is a very flexible setup that can handle most genres. For example…
- Rush Hour (crazy black cop vs. sober Chinese cop)
- Star Trek (Kirk vs. robotic Spock)
- Superhero Nation (crazy mutant-alligator cop vs. sober IRS agent)
This is pretty easy to handle with two characters, but as you add more it gets increasingly hard to keep the characters consistent. For example, the most common gags in 8-Bit Theater* is that one of the characters plays the crazy guy and everyone else plays it straight. In the latest comic the main joke is that Red Mage is a delusional Dungeons and Dragon player. A few issues ago, Red Mage played the straight guy to Fighter. That inconsistent characterization is fine for a few laughs– and I did find the issues funny– but trading characterization for comedy is usually short-sighted. It’s easier to come by comedic situations than characters.
One way you can resolve this problem is by keeping each character squarely on one side of the straight/wacky conflict. For example, in Rush Hour Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan never swap roles. Chris Tucker is only the clown and Jackie Chan is only the professional. If you’re only working with a two-man cast, your characters probably never need to swap roles.
But what can you do if you’re working with a large cast? Although 8-Bit Theatre has some problems, I think it handles the relationship between Black Mage, Fighter and the rest of the cast well. Black Mage is ALWAYS ludicrously violent and in touch with reality. Fighter is always stupid and out of touch with reality. Although the relationship between them changes– sometimes BM plays a wackily violent comic-man and sometimes he plays the voice of reason– their characteristics don’t actually change. That’s stronger characterization.
*I should add that 8-Bit Theater is generally pretty hilarious and generally far superior to our own straight-vs.-wacky webcomic.
