How to Write a Funny Comedy Song

Comedy songs can be the easiest songs you'll ever write. The trick is to get your head in the right place. And for that you need personality, character, attitude and a pinch of the unexpected. No fancy music, no big soundscapes, just simple, observant, silliness presented with one hundred percent authority and conviction.

How Comedy Songs are an Easy Challenge for Songwriters ?

Satire and funny isms don't come easily to everyone. If that's true for you - or you find it just doesn't feel right - then you may wanna skip it and move on.

But comedy songs don't have to be hilariously intelligent. And the big, big bonus which makes them a great place to start is that a lot of guesswork is already done. What I mean is this.

With most songs, we often spend a lot of time in the initial stages trying to discover what our song is about. For example : we have feelings which we're trying to express but can't find the words - we're trying to be understood without really understanding what we're feeling.

In comedy and satire, it's different. We know exactly what the emotions are and what our attitude is, so we can get on with building our little world of silliness and inviting our audience to feel those same feelings.

Lastly, for most people, a comedy personality is quite easy to adopt so the gravity of the performance is known and this makes it easier to write.

Why Write a Comedy Song ?

Because we don't have to be taken seriously.

One of the biggest problems songwriters face is feeling validated, especially when they start our first few songs. Comedy songs allow you us to make a fool of ourselves and be applauded for doing so. It also relaxes an audience and adds another dimension to a set of songs.

The song can be ridiculous.

Part of the Songwriter's angst is that of being understood. With satire, we can forget about that and write nonsense - it's perfectly acceptable because comedy is expected to illustrate the hippocracy in life.

How to Set About the Actual Songwriting ?

All the usual environmental prep needs to be done. So that means setting time aside, when you're brain is alive when you know you have no distractions. Get your dictionaries, and emotional compass - if you think you'll need it.

Plenty of paper, maybe an instrument but not necessary to start with. Do it on the floor or at a big table - maybe stick it all on the back of a door.

Get a central theme that you can keep coming back to, even if you only come back to it once at the end. This should be poignant or have certain philosophical value or be a lesson we can all learn from the story you're telling. For example, 'I'll never put whisky in my chainsaw again.'

Then simply spin a ridiculous yarn. A story which becomes increasing unbelievable at the end of every phrase. For that, you need to get your head in the right place.

How to Get Your Head in the Right Place

Listen to other songwriters like Tom Lehrer, Jake Thackray, Stephen Lynch, Fascinating Aida. There are dozens of songs and writers out there who'll will make you laugh and put you in the right frame of mind. After you've found a style which you like, make a few notes about how they present their observations on life.

Some writers will appear quite serious and intellectual with a sharp, unexpected twist here and there. Some will deliberately contrast serious music against ridiculously child-like lyrics. Others will use rude words or profanity. Whatever gets you excited is what you should imitate.

Notice that, with a few exceptions, the musical accompaniment tends to be very simple or even cliched. Like a child's nursery rhyme.

The music sets the mood and if you're going for an intellectual twist, like Jake Thackray or Tom Lehrer, your child like accompaniment will set that up nicely.

This might mean putting a bit more effort into writing a unique, grown up, melody. But for most comedy songs, you don't need to do that.

Who Wants to Be a child again ?

A comedy song is often about the unexpected. Like the small child who falls asleep into their own birthday cake. That's what you're doing in your song. Going about your everyday business when something totally unexpected happens. Sometimes you don't even need to write about an event, you can make an observation about life or an object or a person or a vista. It's that simple.

The trick is to overdramatise it. You can do this in several ways but you must inject personality, character and attitude. You inject it into the subject of your song and you bring your own adopted personality with you.

What Makes a Satirical Song Funny ? 5 Things to Try.

1. The comedy need not be in the lyrics - a comedy accompaniment will often 'tell' the audience that the story is a funny one. As music is more powerful than words - they'll be emotionally prepared for humour without having heard a single syllable.

2. Unexpected events in the lyric - for example.

'The preacher drove his truck to the alter - in semi-sacrificial summer rage'

'She wears enormous green waders when he takes her to the dance cos the water comes up to her knees.'

'My dog's got a thing about strawberry ice cream - no other ice cream turns him on.'

'How that man became my husband is a mystery to me.'

'It smells like heaven but it'll send you to hell.'

3. Imagery - some examples.

'A bear's behind was sticking out of the trash.'

'I swear she applied her make up on take off.'

'They were found guilty of tickling each other to death.' ( Yes - I know )

'My phone's looking at me with red eyes - like it's about to ring.'

'The sky's as angry on my wife on Sundays.'

4. Intelligent Ryme - clever phrasing - good English.

'She wore her wardrobe wearily - like a tornado had just been'

'In Littlerock there's a little old guy with a broken tooth and a red glass eye.'

'Please don't put the newspapers in the freezer My mom can't do the crossword and it's beginning to unease her.'

'If you don't take me dancing then you can forget all about romancing - My ass is gonna be bouncing outa town.'

'Say what's with the werrit, walking like ferret, with a whistle and a warble on her tongue ?'

'She's an angry youth - gotta bell on every tooth.'

5. The personality which you adopt.

Getting into character is really important in any genre but with comedy it's vital. The comedy persona must be believable and must believe in what they're delivering to an audience.

Half hearted fools are not funny, they're stupid. And whilst a we are often portraying our own stupidity, we must do it with conviction. There's a massive difference between getting an audience to 'laugh at you' and 'laugh with you.'

We all know how stupid people behave - in comedy - we overdramatise them. Exaggerate everything. Even if your persona is the 'Master of Understatement.' Do it with utter self conviction by living the role and re-living the emotion and events in your song.

How to Invent a Comedy Song Persona.

Every individual who writes and sings songs adopts a persona. But funny songists adopt a persona that is slightly more removed from 'normal.' This persona is not interested in looking at the world in everyday terms. Everything is seen and judged on it's comedy potential. 'Can I get a laugh out of this ? ' Or ' What is it about this which is ridiculous or unexpected ?'

Furthermore, the comedy writer must wear their pre-conceptions on their sleeve. It must be obvious that they have flaws and attitudes which invite conflict. An obvious example is Ned Flanders and Homer Simpson.

So for example, wet mushy leaves ! What could possibly be funny about wet mushy leaves ? Well you start by giving them personality, you see them as a community with attitude. You see them as a collection of individuals with human traits.

Let's say they're sick and tired of living in the gutter ! They want equal rights, they want better end of life care and better living conditions. Conversely, they could be a bunch of lazy lay-abouts, drifters and disillusioned sun addicts. They could be likeable losers hell bent on decomposition. So you see, as a comedy writer, you can turn the leaves into a metaphor with which to explore some trait of humanity and twist the hell out of it.

This is perfectly acceptable in a song, just as it is in cartoon. You can ridicule attitudes and throw political correctness out of the window to some extent because they are not people, they are leaves. Just to illustrate the point, they might see themselves as superior to the other trash in the gutter, you could start with the line, 'We deserve more than to be swept away.' Or you could use the leaves to explore the circle of life, living, re-birth, being high then brought down to earth etc.

So you see, comedy can be used to explore difficult humanitarian issues and diffuse tension, and often is. And that's what's funny about it ? The unexpected; the over-the-top attitudes, the metaphor, the obvious comparisons which your audience hadn't noticed until you showed them. Your listeners will laugh at their own shortcomings, believe me, I've seen it hundreds of times.

So remember, you must bring your clownish, simplistic, child-like attitudes into your writing because that's how you'll uncover the hippocracy and similarities and the silliness which allows us to laugh at ourselves.

How to Make Boring Objects Come to Life Through Personification

Mundane objects often have very funny and unexpected lives if you give them one. As I've just shown with the leaves, 'personification' is an easy and powerful method - here's another example.

In the UK, most of our houses are built out of bricks. A singular brick by the name of 'Pete' for example could spend an entire song 'looking for a place to call home.' He could be missing his friends and family, the mates he made in the brick yard, he could be very lonely. He could find a partner only to lose her because he's 'too square.'

A brief Summary

1. Get Your Head in the Right Place

2. Be a Child Again

3. Invent a Comedy Persona

Comedy songs are easy to write, they can be cheesy or shatteringly deep. You just need big personalities, big characters, big attitudes and an unexpected perspective. Most of all, you must feel comfortable adopting that persona.