When I was 13 years old, I came up with the best idea for a comedy show.
I would get a small boat, and we’d drive around a lake while I tell jokes to the passengers. I’d call it Lampoon on a Pontoon. The only problem with my idea was that I didn’t know how to tell jokes.
While I still don’t have this skill, I’m another step closer to my dream of being a comedian in a pontoon boat, thanks to this project.
Over the last couple of months, I’ve written a series of nine humor essays and a book. I took inspiration from my life and things I noticed and observed from the world around me. I decided to create a Substack account to publish my essays, and I’ve had fun learning to use that medium.
I believe there are only five necessary steps to writing a humorous essay.
- Observe the world.
- Put it on the page.
- Perform it.
- Revise.
- Exercise the funny muscles.
I started with observing.
I kept a list on my phone of all the random, weird things I noticed as I went about my day. It happened so many times that a friend would say something, and I’d respond with,
“That’s going on my list!”
While I only ended up with ten writing projects this time around, it’s a good thing my Substack is still active because I have a lot more ideas for the future.
Whether it was about my college experience or my dad’s friends, my observations gave me ideas that I felt inspired to write about.
The next step in my process was to put it all down on the page. I would just word vomit everything I could possibly think of into a Google doc.
Jerry Seinfeld once said, “Just think of something funny and go from there.”
This quote reminded me that it’s okay if my first draft isn’t funny and makes no sense.
I often found that my essays and chapters would just write themselves. I would start with a simple idea and just go. It’s hard to describe what I thought about while I wrote because I honestly just checked out mentally and wrote down everything that popped into my mind.
Some 3,000 words later, I was ready for my next steps.
My editing process begins with me reading my draft to someone aloud. I perform my pieces for my parents on the phone, my roommate, or whoever is around.
I usually can’t get through more than a paragraph without stopping and fixing something.
I’ve noticed that I have natural performing instincts. While I read aloud to someone, I change the wording and make it sound better or funnier. The hard part is remembering to go back and change my writing to the wording I used in my performance.
Reading it aloud helps me identify where I need to take another look, and then I rewrite, revise, and do it again.
Each of my essays and chapters has gone through at least four drafts; I promise you, you don’t want to see my original copy of any of it.
While my drafts may satisfy me for now, I’m sure I’ll continue editing them as time goes on and I get more ideas.
My next steps after completing this project are to keep going.
From the beginning of this project to now, I’ve seen my writing grow stronger, and I’ve developed my own specific voice. I have a long way to go, but as I keep my observation list updated and crank out essays whenever I can, I know that one day, my pontoon dreams could become a reality.
In my Substack, you’ll find my profile, complete with essays, chapters, and their audio recordings. I voiced each one, and my audience can choose to either listen or read.
https://substack.com/@ellazeigler
My project included some research. I watched training videos and read articles from famous comedians, and took their ideas to help inspire my five steps and my jokes. I’ve included two flyers that describe what I learned about humor during my research process.