A friend of mine – we’ll call him…um…Zaligano – told me that one of the things he’s always wanted to do is write comedy. “Okay,” I said. “How serious are you about that?” Because this is the same guy who wants to be in a world famous band, who also wants to be the next Yamaguchi; he’s also someone who has never written a story in his life. Nevertheless, he is a very good oral storyteller.
I just met the guy so I think the rules of civility apply and I can’t be unsupportive, so I tell him to write me something. I give him a deadline – he has one week (from today) to deliver a sketch – beginning, middle and end – and goddamn! it must be funny. Either way, I’m excited to read what a passionate person with a loose concept of story structure will deliver. I’ll be posting about what he puts out so stay tuned!
I believe Zaligano’s yearning to write sketch comedy comes from his love of cerebral yet eccentric, at times dark, outlandish humour he grew up with – Ren & Stimpy, Kids in the Hall…. – content envelope pushers like Arrested Development and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and contemporary British comedy series, among them The Mighty Boosh and Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. He feels the current comedy standards in the United Kingdom are much higher than North America’s and thus Zaligano aspires to write comedy of a UK standard, which is admirable. I, myself, have just begun to delve into the world of BBC comedy and I am taken and amused by the sophisticated level of writing.
I just hope Zaligano is not simply enamoured by the idea of being a comedy writer…
I think people like Judd Apatow and his buddies (Apatow regulars like Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel…) or the Brat Pack (Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn…) make the idea of comedy writing a fun, glamorous and easy thing. A very macho – guys and their beers and their women somewhere in the background – kind of thing. I think this because Zaligano has expressed his need for a writing partner, who “gets” his brand of comedy. You may have clued in on the sceptic tone throughout this post…
It’s not that I want Zaligano to fail. It’s that I know how difficult it is to write something good and I am put off by, and perhaps even envious at, his naiveté. I used to feel so much excitement, so much energy, so much ease about writing before I knew what good writing was and so my envy for my friend may be the fear that I am not working on my own writing as much as I should. (Hence, this first blog post in 2 months…)
If anything, Zaligano is motivating me to get back into the writing game after slacking for so long. Okay, Zaligano, try me.
Like this:
One blogger likes this.
Source:
http://anitaabbasi.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/so-you-want-to-be-a-writer-eh/
The News from http://funyhalloween.blogspot.com