Funny
I had an immense comic moment yesterday. I walked my dogs in the ice storm, and NO ONE was out. It was dusk. And as I came out of the woods, I saw a figure shrouded in black. I didn't have my glasses on (they broke five months ago and in the insanity of my life, I have not had time to replace them). All I could see was a black hood, black cloak, blackness from head to tow. The figure was watching me. Intently.
Back story: We have a ton of Canadian geese in our neighborhood. They live at the pond at the end of my block. They crap everywhere, and you are not supposed to feed them. I don't feed them, but I don't get as freaked out by all the goose crap as my fellow neighbors appear to. And at ONE house, in the early morning, you will find dozens of them sleeping on their lawn. I wondered if it bothered them. Like my house, they are a three-generation home. They also happen to be Muslims.
Back to the shadowy figure. As I got closer, the figure seemed to panic a bit, and turn in circles, not knowing where to go. When I got still closer, I smiled and waved. It was the GRANDMA from the corner house, with her black hijab, and wrapped in her other garments--layers of them all black. And she had a sack of bread. She was "illegally" feeding the geese.
I winked at her. I don't care if she feeds the geese. And if she doesn't mind them sleeping on her lawn, I find the whole idea pretty comical. She was trying to be so sneaky about it.
I bring the whole thing up because while I find it hilarious, I am sure the neighbors who hate the geese will find this an outrage because people can get their panties in a wad about nearly anything.
And all THIS I bring up because I started out as a comedy writer and I am again working on a comedy. And the tricky thing is I am--up front and center--a New Yorker. Admittedly as liberal as they come, so far to the left I fall off the map. And what I think is funny when I write isn't necessarily what the rest of the world thinks is funny.
Now drama . . . is drama. Tragedy is tragedy. Weepy romance is weepy romance.
But comedy is tricky.
And right now I am struggling with making a lawyer funny. So brainstorm with me for a moment. What kind of cases would YOU think are funny?
27 comments:
Any case involving Stephanie Plum.
How about a case where a person is being fined for having an unregistered vehicle on the road, he tries to register it with DMV and they say it isn't registrable, etc. essentially making fun of the inconsistency of law enforcement.
Use a lawyer with a nervous tick that causes flatulence.
It's got to be something ironic and only funny to that character. I guess I'd poke at your lawyer character and see what makes him or her squeak.
I love grandma feeding the geese. Good for her!
Richmond:
I have 50 pages of funny . . . but the "concept" needs gelling. Like what specific area of the law she does. I don't know. Her career may have to change.
A lawyer who only represents impotency cases, because guys find that soooooo funny.
Honey, you want funny lawyers, read Paul Levine's novels, whether the Jake Lassiter novels or the Solomon v. Lord novels. And email the guy and talk to him. He's got a lot of his older Lassiter novels up cheap on Kindle and some of them even go to charity, but he can make lawyers funny.
Q. What's the difference between 4 lawyers in a Porsche and a porcupine?
A. The porcupine has its pricks on the outside.
Jon:
LOL!!! I know. Imagine . . . Viagra cases all day long. ;-)
Mark:
Thanks for the recommendation. I didn't go into the whole thing here, but this was originally a project I wrote "just" as chick lit was faltering. And it centered on a divorce attorney. And a very big house liked the writing a lot--but felt it would be hard to sustain divorce as "funny." I would like to resurrect it . . . and shift that aspect.
Divorce Lawyer? Perhaps a defamation of characterzation case because she squealed on the size of his...and now they guy wants to prove something to the lawyer.
Custody dispute of the couple's Bearded Dragon?
Could the husband file an assault charge against the wife because she ordered her yorkie to pee on his porche? Or is new girl friend?
Hmmmm, having fun here. Did the Grandma need a lawyer to defend against the anti-goos-ites of the home owners assoc?
That might have been me out feeding the geese....what's a little goose poop between friends?
I once read an article about divorce lawyers. One of the ones profiled had a chainsaw mounted on his wall. When asked what that was all about, he said he'd been involved in a particularly acrimonious divorce that got held up because neither of them could agree on who got the chainsaw. So eventually the lawyer went out and bought an identical chainsaw and made sure each of them had one so they'd sign the papers. Afterwards, the ex-wife gave him the saw. She didn't want it, she just wanted to screw with her ex-husband because he wanted the chainsaw.
If ever there was something that summed up divorce law...
Aimless and Mark:
LOL! Yeah . . . see I have no problem with LOADS of funny. But . . . with 50% of marriages ending in divorce, and children dragged through hideous custody issues, and so on (and I've seen that close up with a friend of mine) . . . I think for some people it might be a turn-off out of the gate. HOWEVER, all this brainstorming did get my creative juices going. And voila!
Entertainment/Sports attorney.
E
I've never been very good at funny. I wish I were.
But in regard to your story--Every once in a while, we all need to feed the geese.
This proves it. Those dang Muslims are terrorists. How dare they feed those pesky geese. I am outraged. where is Glenn Beck? Rush Limbaugh? Sarah Palin?
Actually I say feed them all you want. then when they fly south some hungry carnivorous Texan can shoot them and they'll be that much meatier.
Joe:
Funny was most of my writing for a long time. I've missed it, and I'm having a ball with the dialogue.
Travis:
I go out of my way to be very friendly to them. They are related to an acquaintance of mine who tells horror stories of his airplane and other experiences in the post-9/11 world.
And I thought it was just so cute and charming. She was being so sneaky until, I think, she saw me smiling. :-)
I may have to write to you off-line on this one. It helps to have a friend whose husband is a lawyer in the red-neck district of New York. :-)
P.S. The sad cliche about lawyers is that they're money hungry. My husband is the opposite, on occasion working for free depending on the client.
Recently I discovered footprints in the snow close to my house. Paranoia devoured me; I assumed someone was casing the place. Next day I caught three kids cutting through the yard (it's easier to walk behind the houses rather than in the street). I politely asked them not to cut in the yard (still paranoid). They said, "Yeah, sure." Yesterday I stood at my sink, its window overlooks the backyard. A kid walked through, saw me, smiled and waved. In the present condition of the world, his presence seemed suddenly a sort of bright spot to my day. At least he wasn't pooping in the yard, right?
One thing that always seems funny to me is the protag that takes himself seriously and the side kick who definitely does not. Castile is that way. And in an old book, the protagonists (twins) have older cousins who give them grief all the time. It's funny to me at least.
Make it about a lawyer who, no matter how hard he tries, just can't seem to get away from cases where people have strange obsessions to feed geese illegally. ;)
Writing comedy is DAMN hard because like you say, what some people find funny others don't. Good luck. :)
She's got to be a criminal defense lawyer. E, you and I both know how hysterically funny criminals can be. Imagine trying to get one of those characters off (as in out of trouble... although, if it's a romantic comedy...)
I had a friend who was studying to be a lawyer who had us in stitches over something called the "nuh-uh" defense... that would be my defense, nu-uh, I didn't do nothin, I didn't see nothin', I don't know nothin'. =D
Kath:
Oh yes, love resources. :-)
Starbucks:
Sassy sidekicks are the best.
Marcio:
I know. I love writing comedy, and I am used to it . . . but I know it's a fine line with some things. I definitely see the world (like anyone) from the background of my upbringing.
Merry:
:-) Oh, yes . . . I didn't see anything.
My dad has an idea about an attorney . . . he had me in stitches. All the guy does is cop a plea. EVERY case.
I don't have any funny lawyer stories, but I did work in a drug court for several years, and hearing the defendants tell their excuses to the Judge was hilarious. One guy had a no alcohol condition to his probation and claimed the beer in his fridge was for his pet pig. Another guy claimed he got drunk by unknowingly eating spiked tapioca pudding at a picnic. And then there were the many cases of sexually transmitted cocaine.
This is a true story (read it in the Louisville Courier Journal many years ago): a man who caught gonorrhea from his wife sued the man she caught it from. I can't remember the outcome of the case, but I remember everyone snickering about it.
Cheryl:
That's hilarious. You need to write a book. ;-)
Steve:
The world is just crazy. :-)
Post a Comment