I liked this little thread as it was because it has the double joke of my chiming in, but then also me actually succeeding in hijacking the comments to point back to me.
We were on a roll and then she had to go ruin it with this reply:
Jaimee [redacted]
Uh oh! Someone tried to make a funny. You’re not funny and you’re not awesome. Something/someone awesome is supposed to leave you in “awe” and the only person you leave in “awe” is your male babysitter.
so “awesome” means you leave someone or something in awe and i leave someone in awe, and that’s evidence that i’m *not* awesome… yikes. her insult comedy needs work but i dont want her to give up cuz she has the fire for it, she just needs to think out her material more so 1) it makes sense and 2) theres a disarming punchline to it (thats important cuz it changes the tone from just a catty reply to a sickburn in return fire).
For those of you wondering how to hit a proper comeback in a situation like this, here’s a quick crash course:
1) use your words: the crowd will never be on your side if you’re just cold. liven things up. “you’re not funny” is itself not funny and not creative. it’s not a burn, it’s just a bitch. a bullyish declaration that sounds more like an insulted sister poorly expressing her displeasure from a brothers taunting. something like “you’re about as funny as 9/11” delivers the punch on target. anything to give the statement a curve so the retaliation doesn’t look like it’s coming out of hurt, but out of dry observation.
2) stay on track: the “yes, and” rule of improv states that you never say no to the person starting the dialogue because then you’re just killing the scene. Ie: if I start off saying “hey Slim! fancy meetin YOU in this here Disco!” then you’re a dick who sucks at improv if your response is “Slim? My name is Barry and I’m the proprietor of this here alligator farm. Watchyou talkin bout disco, son?”. Instead, you say “yes and…”, meaning you take the premise your partner has set up and then you add to it. So how does this relate here? Take a look at how I totally did it right (go me): I was given a premise about going to a corner and I went with it. Now, my partner didn’t know where to go with it, so instead of “yes, and”-ing me, she shuts it down and does the “you try to be funny but you’re not and you suck” thing. This fails twice since the reply is lame just on its own, but gets uncomfortable when you add in that the premise is “you’re trying to be funny” when I was really just making an extension off of what was already said.
The right way to turn this into a burn (if you’re positive you can’t turn anywhere else with it) is to “yes, and” it by continuing the premise (that, duh, SHE started). A couple examples: she could change the meaning of “the corner” to call out my implication of what it meant, she coulda say something about what happened last time that calls me out as a big loser or sexually inept deviant, etc. Get the idea?
Work on it. JJ sure is. and she’s already improved and still getting better, I’m pleased to report.
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