BRITISH COMEDY: HOW DOES IT WORK?
WRITE COMEDY WITHOUT DYING IN THE ATTEMPT
Writing comedy for both feature films and television is one of the biggest challenges for screenwriters. As it is often said, the line between funny and ridiculous is extremely thin. So how do you learn to write comedy? Comedy cannot be learned and even the best comedians have a hard time teaching how to create it. A sense of humour is something you either have or you don’t. At the same time, someone can be very funny and still struggle to create a dialogue or a scene that makes the world laugh.
The comedy genre encompasses many complexities — more than the requirements of writing another genre of the screenplay (premise, characters, structure, etc.). The comedy itself is very subjective — and if writing a comedy is challenging, creating one that is distinctive is twice as hard and requires even more precision.
When we think about distinctive, groundbreaking comedies, British comedies immediately come to mind. In my belief, they contain a style and tone of humour that sets them apart from the rest. In this article, we will analyse some of the elements that define these popular British comedies (both films and series) to see what they have in common. From Monty Python to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, we will discuss keys and practices they use that will hopefully help you write a movie or series that makes us laugh out loud.
CHARACTERS FIRST
In comedy, the first and most essential thing that a screenwriter should do is focus on creating complex characters and then delve into them. Before the premise, before structure, before anything else — work on the characters. Once you have your characters, you can create the rest of your story, plot and screenplay.
Let’s think about the main character of Edgar Wright’s movie, Shaun of the Dead. Shaun is a foolish, electronics salesman whose life is boring and monotonous. He is not respected by his peers and even his girlfriend breaks up with him. In short, he is a routine zombie. One night he gets drunk with his best friend and wakes up the next day to a zombie apocalypse. Ironic isn’t it? — the protagonist attracts the universe! To escape his routine, it is clear that Shaun needs to fight a zombie apocalypse (and himself?).
As always, one of the most important things is to be able to relate to the characters. For this, characters must have their own distinctive voice. Try creating hypotheses about how your characters would react to different situations. One of the scenes that I believe best reflects Shaun’s personality is when after getting drunk, he wakes up in his kitchen and goes to a shop to buy soda and the famous Cornetto for Ed. We see zombies on the streets and yet Shaun yawns, oblivious to what is happening around him and even stumbles on the pavement. He keeps yawning, a phone rings, no one answers and a guy runs off. He arrives at the shop but the shop assistant is not there, so he leaves the money on the counter and leaves. Shaun tries to open his soda with his mouth, gives up, and opens it with his hand. He then finds a zombie that he mistakes for a homeless person!
This could only happen to Shaun who is so absorbed in his routine that he is totally unaware of what is happening around him. A character’s personality should also be reflected in the small details, for example when Shaun tries to open the can with his mouth — revealing the foolishness of the protagonist. Who tries to open a can with his mouth?
In the case of a TV series, the rule of developing and defining your characters is essential. When writing the script, it is crucial to know how to manage and deliver all the essential information in the pilot. The pilot will determine whether someone decides to give the series a chance or abandon it. If the characters are not complex/likeable from the beginning, people won’t be interested in continuing to watch the rest of the series. It doesn’t matter if you have the best premise in the world, the pilot episode needs to hook us into the character — how they think, act, their conflict, lifestyle, relationships, etc. Through the rest of the episodes you can define the character and their story character arc — but you need to win your audience in Episode One.
If we take a look at the pilot from Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s series, Fleabag, we can see that it perfectly introduces the protagonist. Who is Fleabag? A narcissistic, disturbed and cynical woman addicted to sex who apparently repels love or any display of affection. The fact that we don’t know her real name and we call her Fleabag, provides the viewer with key information about the protagonist or at least, how she sees herself. The pilot episode precisely shows us Fleabag’s attitude towards sex, her relationship with her sister and the tense situation between her, her father and stepmother. The best thing about the pilot in my belief is the last scene where Fleabag reveals that she has stolen the golden statue of her stepmother confirming, in case we had any doubts that she is the narcissistic, cynical and disturbed person that we have been introduced to throughout the pilot.
COMEDY LOVES DRAMA
The structure of a comedy is not only vital to create a coherent story but it also helps to create tension and ultimately drama. If you think about it, most funny situations both in a movie and in a series arise from a dramatic situation or a conflict that is heated until it explodes. In the end, the comedy is fed directly from the drama. In other words, we like to laugh at misfortunes.
There is a comedy series that in my opinion uses this style in a simple but very effective way — Mr Bean — a series created by Rowan Atkinson in the 1990s. Everyone remembers this character to a greater or lesser extent. Mr. Bean is a child-like adult who turned any simple task into an odyssey. The character constantly suffered all kinds of misfortunes and embarrassing situations that made several generations laugh.
In a comedy, effectively delivering the scenes or gags you have in your head is more complicated than in other genres since you not only have to worry about the position of each of them but also their context. You have to think of each one as a minidrama. Many screenwriters use the famous beat sheet and its post-its to try to discover where and in which context they should place each gag. If the gag doesn’t work, they discard the scene. As a writer, you will probably end up falling in love with a scene or gag that you find hilarious, but if it doesn’t fit anywhere on the broad, sooner or later, you will have to get rid of it. So be mentally prepared for it.
A TV series has to introduce compelling characters, a coherent plot and a series of gags in a short time, so the structure must be very solid. Nowadays, the basic structure of a sitcom pilot usually consists of:
· A teaser with or without connection to the plot.
· First Act: introduces the premise, characters, and relationships. This will be the foundation for the series.
· Second Act: here is where most conflicts and dramatic situations unfold. We will usually have the main plot (story A) and minor stories or subplots created from the relationships between the different characters in the series (story B, story C).
· Third Act: in a series the third act has to be a closure of all conflicts and at the same time, offer a clue about what the next episode will go. This hook will ideally work as a cliffhanger to keep the audience watching the series.
IRONY AND SATIRE
One of the most characteristic and distinctive things about British films and series is their sense of humour. Many people tend to compare British comedy to American comedy. In my opinion, the biggest difference is in their tone and use of irony.
British comedy tends to be harsh and dry in the best sense; sometimes we are left wondering whether something is a joke or not! This style of comedy uses humour to point to a much harsher reality. Which leads me to talk about the characters in The Office — a British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant in 2001, whose American adaptation starred Steve Carell. If we compare David Brent with Michael Scott, we can agree that both of them are self-centred and ignorant. However, the character of Michael Scott is more likeable than David Brent — with the latter character rarely having an opportunity to redeem himself in the series. Although both series use irony, the British one has a less optimistic tone and benefits more from comically exploiting human miseries. It confronts the viewer with embarrassing scenes that can make us feel uncomfortable, while at the same time laughing out loud.
Another element from which comedies benefit a lot from is the use of satire. Screenwriters can create powerful political or social criticism, reflecting on controversial themes through the genre of comedy
We couldn’t talk about satire without mentioning the Monty Python crew. This group of comedians formed by John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, created the controversial show Monty Python’s Flying Circus in 1969 — revolutionising English television. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a satire on one of England’s greatest legends, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It followed with the infamous Life of Brian — where a Jew born the same day as Jesus Christ is mistaken for the Messiah. It was a voracious criticism of religious and political demagogy and sectarianism. Deemed so controversial at the time that they almost couldn’t shoot it, it was thanks to the strong support of George Harrison (the Beatles) that the project could progress to production.
A more recent movie that celebrates Monty Python’s style comes from a controversial film by Chris Morris — Four Lions — about four British Muslims who decide to become terrorists. With such an unfunny premise and theme, Chris Morris delivered a distinctive and hilarious result with rip-roaring success. A potentially provocative film, Four Lions explores difficult subject matter, whilst allowing the audience to reflect on the dangers of religious fundamentalism, exposing the absurdity in it. It is a good example of a comedy that makes us feel a bit uncomfortable because of the issues it explores, whilst providing hilarious relief from its slapstick style.
If you think about it, comedy is a very contradictory genre. It can appear simple, but it is very complex to write and deliver to success. It may seem that its main goal is purely to entertain us and make us laugh, however, the best comedies are those that confront and expose controversial subjects. When it works, the results are almost magical.
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