Just heard about this term: Threading the necklace.
I was telling another comic about the material I've been working on lately. In the past couple of weeks I haven't been generating new stuff as much as I've been linking up and refining older bits.
See, I don't like doing one liners or quickie jokes and then just moving on. I like going deeper on a topic and feeling like I'm building momentum. Otherwise, it feels like I'm just starting from scratch every time.
So I've got a bunch of stuff that's worked but that I don't really do a lot because I don't know where to fit it in.
But sometimes one joke will spark a link to others. And that's what happened when I did a joke about being at a bar in Williamsburg where I couldn't tell whether people were having fun or making fun of having fun. Good line, gets a laugh. But not worth it to me as just a one-liner.
But then I thought about other jokes I have. I talk about a girl knitting on the subway in one bit but realized that she could be knitting at this bar.
And I've got a joke about people who play Big Buck Hunter Pro. This bar could also have that game.
And recently I heard a girl say, "You've got a body built for burlesque." A compliment or not? Reminded me of an old bit I have on burlesque. Maybe I put those girls in the bar too? And then there's other abandoned bits I have that could also work in.
All these were short bits on their own. They were fine (some better than others) but that quick hit style isn't really where I want to be going.
But by linking them up, I get a bit more narrative. There's a flow. I set a scene and get to paint a picture. All these little "gems" link up into something bigger. And that's threading the necklace.
6 comments:
As long as we're throwing out lingo, what you're saying reminds me of the corporate term spinning the flywheel, which basically states that you should be building up a momentum in the same direction and not just throwing out random ideas that may be at odds for each other.
Granted we're telling a set of jokes and not trying to build a multi-million dollar company, but it's a similar goal to aspire to.
A) threading the necklace sounds like a sex term I'm too pure to understand.
B) you would look good in tassles.
C) this is great when it randomly occurs to you. You'll have more success the more you intentionally seek links. I bet you'll realize there's more than meets the eye when these jokes are joined together. Like Transformers.
It seems like this whole bar bit will come off as much less real than all the other jokes individually. I say that because I think it will become obvious to the audience that all of these things happening could only occur together in a fictional, cartoony bar.
@Abbi:
I believe you're thinking of Voltron. You combined Transformers and Voltron in your mind to be one super robot concept thing, like Voltformers.
@Anonymous:
Who the hell are you to call yourself anonymous?
(Does that make sense? I think so.)
Also, if Matt doesn't want to admit to frequenting a cartoon bar (which I would call "Bar-Toon" maybe), he could always implement the same concept without saying all these things are happening at the same place at the same time, but rather "one time at a bar, this happened... another time, I saw... can you believe it, a third thing, etc..."
(Maybe this should have been @Matt.)
@Matt:
Read what I wrote at Anonymous.
(Not the part about who they are. Or that, too. You know. Is this necessary? I doubt it.)
Fun!
@myq:
Thanks for responding to everyone else's comment but ignoring mine. btw I know what Abbi's talking about. There were definitely transformers that combined together to create larger transformers. For each set of 6 that did that, I generally owned about 4 to 5 of them, so it would be this almost massive robot that was missing an arm or leg. Aww, the memories.
@Soce:
I'm sorry the large transformer that was my original response was missing the leg that was a response to you.
I hope this makes up for your broken toy childhood.
Post a Comment