Now, this topic is one of those where I definitely do not have all of the answers. And in fact, I'm primarily posing some questions here because I want to incite some discussion around this. So, let's dive into it.
As content creators, storytellers, writers—whatever term you want to use—we often rely on humor to help us tell a story; to flesh out a character's personality, or just to have a little levity in an otherwise heavy scene. If you're doing a project like our micro audio drama, Greenhorn Tales, that is not just relying on a few bits of comedy and humor, but the entire premise of the show is that it's a sitcom in audio form; the whole point is to make people laugh. The comedy is vital in this case, but even in non-comedy works, bits of humor here and there are important to include in many instances.
And one of the things that I've been thinking about recently is how to make those moments of comedy evergreen. Or should this even be a concern? Do we need to make those jokes something that a listener 10, 20, 50 years down the road can still understand? Or is that something that we don't need to worry about at all?
Old-Time Radio Comedies
The reason I'm thinking about this is because not long ago, I was listening to an old Stan Freberg album. And when I say album, I mean an actual album, an LP that I found not long ago at a thrift store. It's from the 1960s and his humor, for the most part, still holds up. Freberg was very much speaking to the culture of his day at several points, which is often the case with stand-up and sketch comedy, so there were several moments where I didn't get the joke at all. There were also moments where I did happen to have the needed context and was able to pick up on the humor. But I could see how if somebody was not very familiar with some of the specific references that he makes, the punchline would fall flat. Though there were plenty of gags that are just universally funny, and they still hold up without having any particular context from that era.
That record got me thinking about this topic again, though I've often thought along the same lines in regard to many of the other comedy shows from the old-time radio era, like Bob Hope or Jack Benny. Unlike The Great Gildersleeve or Father Knows Best, these shows had segments that were more like monologues than straight-up sitcoms, and I remember many times having a joke go right over my head due to a contemporary reference that I just didn’t understand. And even the sitcoms would have moments where there were current-event sort of references in them.
I remember when I was first getting into old-time radio in my mid-to-late teens, I would often skip shows like Benny’s and Hope’s just because there were so many of the jokes that I didn't understand. I simply didn't get it; therefore, those shows weren’t as enjoyable. And that even happens to me today, as a full-grown adult who has a lot better grasp and understanding of broader American culture, history, and world events that they might have referenced. But there are still times where I'm like, “yeah, I'm not sure what he means by that.”
So, that's one element of this discussion: you have a lot of jokes and references that are very much of their time in OTR sitcoms and sketch comedy shows. And you kind of have to have been living at that time to understand exactly what they're talking about in every regard, or be a history buff of the era in which those shows were first aired.
Humor in Prose Writing
Next let’s look at another entirely different medium: the novel or prose writing in general. For example, the writings of someone like P.G. Wodehouse, who wrote what I think are very hilarious stories, some set in America, some set in England. But they were written almost 100 years ago. Yet, for the most part, most of that humor translates. It's very funny stuff. I have never been to England. I don't have any first-hand observations of British culture. Yet, I still get much of the humor in his stories. There are exceptions, of course, primarily because they were written so long ago. But in the majority of the cases, there is still so much well-crafted humor there that these books still hold up to our modern perceptions and understanding of things.
Another work that's in a similar vein is The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Another very, very funny piece that I would call classic literature, even though it is technically a play, not a novel. But the humor in it doesn't seem to be held back too much by the time frame in which it was written.
Stand-up Comedy
So, we started talking about old-time radio examples, and then we went back even further to classic literature. So, now let's jump up to a more modern comedic storytelling medium, and that is the stand-up comedian.
When you listen back to stand-up comedians, even from just a couple of decades ago, some of their material feels very, very dated, and you might not get their references. Now, I grew up listening to some classic comedians like Jerry Clower and Bill Cosby. But a lot of the references sound extremely dated when you listen to them today, though much of it does hold up. And if you look at somebody like Jeff Foxworthy, who was quite popular only a few decades ago, a lot of his material holds up, but there are definitely certain aspects that don't. I still enjoy much of the material from these performers when I listen today, regardless of some of the dated references, so does it even matter?
I listened to Brian Regan’s first comedy album from 1997 the other day and laughed all the way through it, but was that because it’s only 30 years old, or because he was particularly adept at writing evergreen, observational humor? I’d venture a guess that it’s probably a little of both in this particular case, though it would take a more in-depth dissection of the material to say definitively.
(Note: There are other reasons why some may avoid Cosby these days, which is irrelevant to today’s topic, but worth acknowledging.)
And so, all this has me considering how I use humor and comedy in my work. If we want to make something high quality that is going to stand the test of time, whether that's an audio drama, a novel, a short story, or whatever it might be, is it something that we want to be more than just a piece of content that's a flash in the pan that might hit for a few people, or even a lot of people, today, but in a few years it doesn't have the same impact?
I mentioned Greenhorn Tales earlier, and it makes me think of a line that I wrote in one of the scripts about Nick having some avocado toast, and I made a hipster reference there. Now I’m wondering how that joke would land in 20 or 30 years. It may not pack the same sort of punch then as it did when it was released. In fact, it probably doesn't even pack the same punch now, just a few years later.
So, this is just something that I'm thinking about. I would love to hear your thoughts on this whole idea of using comedy in your work and whether or not we need to think about how these jokes will sound in a few years' time. Is it going to hold up? Will it still carry the same impact? Or do we not need to worry about that at all, and we just need to write or create for our current moment? Is a solid punchline today worth the cost of possibly losing an audience in the future?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments or send your feedback to show@jdsutter.me.
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