Look at the Picture
Can you visualize your topic?
“If your boss is getting you down, look at him through the prongs of a fork and imagine him in jail.”
“The man who invented Cats’ Eyes got the idea when he saw the eyes of a cat in his headlights. If the cat had been going the other way, he would have invented the pencil sharpener.”
Can you visualize a situation?
“I picked up a hitch hiker. You’ve got to when you hit them.”
“When someone close to you dies, move seats.”
Can you change the perspective? (Think like an animal, alien, object, different person, etc.)
“Do Transformers get car, or life insurance?”
Can you misinterpret an action or situation?
“Old ladies in wheelchairs with blankets over their legs? I don’t think so… retired mermaids.”
Can you transpose something from your topic it into a different context for comical effect?
“Do I believe in safe sex? Of course I do. I have a handrail around the bed.”
Can you exaggerate? (Speed up, slow down, make bigger/smaller, change colour, etc.)
“I always look skint. When I buy a Big Issue, people take it out of my hand and give me a pound.”
Can you deconstruct it?“The absurdity concealed in the mundane can be revealed by deconstructing something and examining its individual components.” The Cheeky Monkey: Writing Narrative Comedy by Tim Ferguson . Currency Press. Kindle-Version.
“What always staggers me is that when people blow their noses, they always look into their hankies to see what came out. What do they expect to find?”
Can you imagine what happened before or what happens afterwards?
“I remember the last thing my Nan said to me before she died. ‘What are you doing here with that hammer?’”
How did we arrive at this point?
“After that I worked in a pathology lab, and I was asked to leave after one of my reports said ’cause of death: autopsy’.”
“I’ve decided to sell my Hoover–it was just collecting dust.”
What would you do in this situation?
“Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares? He’s a mile away and you’ve got his shoes!”