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cover of episode David Zucker: Hollywood Director Explains The 15 Rules of Comedy | How I Write

David Zucker: Hollywood Director Explains The 15 Rules of Comedy | How I Write

2025/7/2
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How I Write
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David Zucker：作为导演，我总是告诉演员让台词自己发挥作用，避免刻意搞笑。选择演员时，我会看他们之前的表演，而不是让他们来试镜。在剧本创作过程中，我们遵循一些规则，模仿严肃电影，通过颠覆观众的期望来制造喜剧效果。喜剧的关键在于制造惊喜，这个道理我从《迪克·范·戴克秀》中学到的。任何能引人发笑的惊喜都是有效的。我们通常观看严肃电影，从中获取灵感。喜剧创作并不容易，有很多可能出错的地方。在喜剧中，通常需要一个直男角色和一个搞笑角色来相互衬托，如果所有角色都试图搞笑，反而会适得其反。我强调不要承认笑话的存在，要保持微妙，这会使笑果倍增。我们的电影节奏来源于我们在肯塔基炸鸡剧院的现场表演经验，保持观众持续发笑比让他们停下来再重新开始更容易。现在我写剧本时，如果看到任何超过六行的对话，我都会觉得太长，会努力删减。我们会通过观众测试来确保电影能持续引人发笑。比笑话更重要的是故事，故事必须是可信的，并且观众会对角色产生共鸣。仅仅聪明是不够的，必须要能引人发笑。如果一部喜剧电影缺乏引人入胜的情节或角色，观众就会觉得无聊。很多喜剧电影最终都是爱情故事，观众只关心爱情故事。通过大量的实践和失败，我们不断提高自己的技艺，当我们失败时，我们不会把责任推给别人，而是反思自己做错了什么。我父亲曾经告诉我，我学到的每一个教训都付出了金钱的代价。

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David Zucker, director of Airplane!, Naked Gun, and other comedic classics, shares his rules for comedy writing. He emphasizes surprise, avoiding "joke on a joke," and the importance of a strong story over simply clever jokes. Audience testing is crucial for ensuring consistent laughs and maintaining a fast pace.
  • Rules for comedy writing date back to 1972
  • Importance of surprise in comedy
  • "Joke on a joke" should be avoided
  • Audience testing is crucial
  • Story is more important than jokes
  • Pacing is key to keeping the audience engaged

Shownotes Transcript

I interviewed David Zucker, the director behind Airplane!, Naked Gun, and some of the funniest movies ever made. What makes this conversation fascinating isn't just the behind the scenes stories, but how he breaks down comedy writing like a science. We talked about his specific rules for making people laugh, his "flywheel theory" of pacing that keeps audiences laughing non-stop, and why they test-screened Airplane! so many times. If you want to understand what actually makes something funny, whether you're writing, performing, or just curious about the craft, this conversation will show you the discipline and technique behind comedy that looks effortless. Enjoy!

Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible.

Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel X: https://x.com/david_perell

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