Analogy is one of the 11 Funny Filters. It works wonders for structuring humor. It’s also a great way to add jokes to any comedy writing.
The way it works is, you come up with two subjects and then find commonalities.
If you’re working on a piece and have a subject already, you have your first one. You just need a second one.
Let’s say you’re writing about aliens visiting Earth. For your second subject, find one that’s analogous. It will help if it’s relatable, personal, maybe intimate or shocking, or on the list of the 51 Inherently Funniest Things list (this will cost you $20 to see. I hide it here).
You want a subject that fits, that has some contrast, but not necessarily polar-opposite contrast—that’s Irony, not Analogy.
Let’s say the second subject you come up with is visits from out-of-town friends or family.
Your next step is to list all the tropes associated with an out-of-town-friends-or-family visit: you feel like they judge your house even though you did a lot of work cleaning and setting out the good dishes, you make up a bed for them, you show them your hometown sites, they take over your time, they stay too long, the uncle creeps on your daughter, etc.
Then you do what’s called “mapping”: You map the things from your list of tropes onto the first subject: you feel like aliens are judging us even though we did a lot of work creating human society and culture (we spent thousands of years on that!), we make a nice place for them to stay at Area 51, they sneak into somebody’s bedroom and give them the anal probe.
Jokes reveal themselves.
You can see sustained Analogy at work in the “Post-Date Presser” sketch on A Black Lady Sketch Show, which compares a date with a sports contest.
You can see Analogy in a lot of Onion pieces like this one, comparing Donald Trump’s criminal accusations to the criminal accusations against the Central Park Five.
Analogy is where the writers of Friends did their best work. In season two, they compare Joey moving out of Chandler’s apartment to a romantic breakup.
Try some Analogy in your work!
Loved the anal probe bit. Inevitable yet funny nonetheless. Great technique for pushing the imagination...
Brilliant post Scott! Another great tool to add to my collection. Looking forward to look for places I can apply this to my set.