Gary Janetti: “Don’t Do the Thing That You Don’t Love”

If you’re a comedy writer, you should never think you’re funny

Wake Up and Write is an advice column from Moms Don’t Have Time to Write. Today, we have Gary Janetti — writer, producer, and author of the instant New York Times bestseller Do You Mind If I Cancel? and the new book of essays, Start Without Me — who shared writing advice for comedy writers on the podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, hosted by Zibby Owens.

“First of all, you should never think you’re funny.”

“I can be funny. I have my moments when I’m funny. Then I have many moments when I’m not. I never tell anybody, ‘I’m a comedy writer.’ You can decide whether or not it’s comedy. I’ll just leave off the adjective and say ‘writer.’ It’s so subjective.

I would say if you’re interested in writing: what is it you’re drawn to? What do you watch? Do you watch a lot of TV comedy? Do you watch a lot of animation? Do you read a lot? How do you absorb comedy? What is it that you gravitate towards? That’s what you should be writing. That’s what it is. If it’s like, ‘I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I think I would like to write a sitcom,’ it’s like, no. Why? It’s hard. You have to be passionate.

The thing I’ve had to learn, too, is don’t force the funny. Don’t try too hard. We can see when somebody’s working too hard. An audience oftentimes laughs just at the things that are more human and smaller as opposed to the finely constructed joke. If something is too over-thought, sometimes that kind of comes through. That’s why the thing that you’re passionate about, the area that you love, whatever it is, that’s what you should go towards because that’s the thing that you love.”