Understanding Comedy with David Misch
This class will give you an up close view of comedy’s innards, the idea being that understanding comedy will help you do it.
“The Rules” is a mini-version of “Practical Foundations of Comedy," a course which David has taught at USC, UCLA, Oxford University, Columbia University, AFI, and elsewhere. The class presents a critical and serious (though funny) exploration of comedy as an art form.
Topics include the Rule of Three (Why are things funnier in threes? Really, why? I mean why?); the relationship between Comedy and Logic (Hint: they’re bitter enemies); the calculations involved in timing; comedy cues and why withholding them is sometimes the best way to get a laugh; why your body is hilarious; the evil of punchlines; comedy placebos; and how the mechanics of jokes — tension and resolution, pattern recognition, misdirection, and surprise — provide a template for all humor.