Trust Your Instincts
Here's the bottom line: If you think something is funny, it is funny. There's no doubt about it, it's funny — to you. The question is: Is it funny to anyone else? Sometimes it will be, sometimes it won't. It might be funny to some and not to others, but it will never be funny to everyone.
There is a classic Monty Python sketch about a joke that was so funny that whoever heard it would literally die laughing. The joke was so powerful that it was used in warfare as a secret weapon. It's a great concept, but there is no surefire joke. There will always be somebody who just doesn't get it.
The Marx Brothers were hilarious in their heyday, and still are today. But their leading lady never got their jokes. Margaret Dumont, who usually played the wealthy dowager the brothers simultaneously tried to woo and scam, never understood what was funny. Perhaps this is why she played the perfect straight “man” to the brothers Marx.
If you've ever seen a comedy amateur night, you've probably seen fledgling comedians who really thought they were funny but didn't connect with the crowd at all. You need to figure out how to communicate your comedy to your audience so that most of them see it in the same way you do. You know the expression “you had to be there”? You need to make the audience feel as if they are there.
Play The Odds
Comedy is about percentages. As a comedy writer, sometimes you'll gamble that about 80 percent of the audience will get a certain joke, 90 percent will get another, and maybe only 10 percent or less will get some jokes. If that 10 percent thinks those jokes are really funny, the other 90 percent of the audience feels left out and will now pay even closer attention to what you're saying.
A Target Audience
Gaining a following is easier today because audiences are segmented, and there are so many opportunities to reach them. In the old days of just three networks — ABC, CBS, and NBC — you had to play it safe. You had to have a large audience, a wide range of people of different ages and backgrounds, think your show was funny. But with hundreds of channels to choose from, audiences will seek out the kind of comedy that appeals to them. You don't have to play it safe to be successful. People who like your style of comedy will find you, and those who wouldn't get it probably won't even know it exists.
Hitting that 100 percent mark, where everyone thinks a joke is funny, is pretty much impossible. So don't waste your time trying to find it. Do what you think is funny and you'll attract a following that thinks it's funny too.
In the big scheme of things, even if a relatively small number of people check out a blog because it speaks to them, it doesn't need huge numbers to be a success. Advertisers will buy ads on your blog space and will thank you for helping them sell to a specific market segment. Some film comedies have bombed at the box office but have developed a cult following, which led to a second or third life on video or DVD.
Trying to please everybody is a fool's errand. Be yourself, trust your instincts, present your comic view of the world, and you'll attract your audience.
