Excellent channel, thank your for your videos! I'd love to have a video about witty little quips, jokes in non-comedies. Maybe The Sopranos could be a good frame for that?
A great topic! And one I hope to explore further in 2023. Humor is an essential tool in winning the audience over, and it’s used in just about every genre. Jokes are, of course, difficult to write and highly subjective, but I think there are some useful patterns to be found in studying serious, “realistic” dramas like The Sopranos. Early thoughts: Setting aside classic joke formats the Sopranos characters use when breaking each other’s balls (“Ginny Sack is so fat…”), laughs typically come from: 1.) The Situation - the joke is not a punchline of dialogue but some incongruity in the world of the story (think Tony losing it at the sight of Bobby Bacala entering Junior’s kitchen dressed in tightly fitting hunting gear). 2.) The Use of Parallelism in the Dialogue - any conscious structure placed on the dialogue. Even something as simple as repetition (think Paulie always explaining his joke again after saying it the first time) can elevate written dialogue above our daily, meandering, unstructured speech - giving it that quippy, witty quality you described. There are so many types of parallel structures too! From reframes (grandma’s not coming to the party >becomes> “So, what? No fucking ziti now?”) to Enthymemes (“Hey, I don’t even let anybody wag their finger in my face.”). I’m working on a new video series to start releasing soon that will cover many of these, and various bits from The Sopranos will surely be included in the examples! I might also start a Substack to write about them faster than I can produce video content, if anyone’s interested. Stay tuned & Happy New Year!
Most helpful video on dialogue I've ever seen, thank you so much!
Awesome! I’m glad it was useful. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Brilliant! Hope you can do one on Better Call Saul!
These videos are pretty incredible, they’ll blow up in due time
Hey, thanks for the generous words! Appreciate the support.
please make more!!
This is really great content - all your videos are. Thank you for your work.
Thank YOU for your kind words! It’s much appreciated. This year, I hope to increase the quantity without sacrificing quality.
This is one of the best analysis of The Wire that i've ever seen, keep up the good work man.
Appreciate you saying so, Vicente! Thanks for watching!
Excellent channel, thank your for your videos! I'd love to have a video about witty little quips, jokes in non-comedies. Maybe The Sopranos could be a good frame for that?
A great topic! And one I hope to explore further in 2023. Humor is an essential tool in winning the audience over, and it’s used in just about every genre. Jokes are, of course, difficult to write and highly subjective, but I think there are some useful patterns to be found in studying serious, “realistic” dramas like The Sopranos.
Early thoughts: Setting aside classic joke formats the Sopranos characters use when breaking each other’s balls (“Ginny Sack is so fat…”), laughs typically come from:
1.) The Situation - the joke is not a punchline of dialogue but some incongruity in the world of the story (think Tony losing it at the sight of Bobby Bacala entering Junior’s kitchen dressed in tightly fitting hunting gear).
2.) The Use of Parallelism in the Dialogue - any conscious structure placed on the dialogue. Even something as simple as repetition (think Paulie always explaining his joke again after saying it the first time) can elevate written dialogue above our daily, meandering, unstructured speech - giving it that quippy, witty quality you described. There are so many types of parallel structures too! From reframes (grandma’s not coming to the party >becomes> “So, what? No fucking ziti now?”) to Enthymemes (“Hey, I don’t even let anybody wag their finger in my face.”).
I’m working on a new video series to start releasing soon that will cover many of these, and various bits from The Sopranos will surely be included in the examples! I might also start a Substack to write about them faster than I can produce video content, if anyone’s interested.
Stay tuned & Happy New Year!
This was honestly enough for me to subscribe