Six years of satire
So it happened again. And I forgot to write about it. Back in January, the blog turned 6 years, and as with previous years, I'm assembling a selection of content that reminds me of what I've been focusing on over the last year. It's been a strange one.
On a personal level, I'm still working on wrapping up the books on Norwegian satire, which have been delayed due to the pandemic. My efforts to do an academic study of satire are formalizing, and at the same time, I'm working to set up a Norwegian website, which will focus on learning resources for up-and-coming satirists and humorists. I was also interviewed on a podcast on satire and rhetoric.
Inspired by the format of last year, I present –
Things that have happened
Kiwi med klar oppfordring til ansatte: Ikke vits om coronaviruset
Populære Instagram-kontoer beskyldes for plagiat
Studenten i tyskervits-saken har hyret inn profilert advokat
Universitetet i Bergen betaler erstatning til tysk student
Blyanter mot kalasjnikover
Frykter at humor og satire blir krenkelses-ofret
Dagbladet mener: - Tyskervits-saken burde ikke blitt så stor
Statsråden forsket på «Team Antonsen»: – Dialektbrukere blir sett på som dummere
Latterliggjør metoo-anklager på Instagram-konto for politifolk
Tyrkia raser mot fransk Erdogan-karikatur: – Rasisme
Rasismebråk på Kunsthøgskolen: — Prøver å rotte mine medstudenter sammen mot meg
Opprørt over porno-sketsjer på NRK
TV 2 måtte endre kronikk etter reaksjoner: - Vi bommet
Kazakh Organization Asks Award Shows to Disqualify ‘Borat’ Sequel
Norges ferskeste blackface-skandale og Andre runde i blackface-skandalen
Madhya Pradesh Court Denies Bail To Comedian Munawar Faruqui
AUF-toppenes show på Utøya: Sex-sketsjer og halvnaken dans
Sjømatsjef reagerer kraftig på «Nytt på Nytt»-harselering
Jay Leno etter 20 år: Sier unnskyld til asiat-amerikanere
Things I've written
Throwback theory: Character issues and stakes
Historieutvikling: Contour-modellen
The Fundamentals of Screenwriting – part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10
How to pitch to Netflix
YouTube channels for screenwriting
Pilot breakdowns of One Mississippi and Insecure
The Emotional Toolbox and Notes on The Emotional Toolbox
Et par referanser til galgenhumor fra norske drapsdømte
Things I'm inspired by
Search Party – pilot breakdown
Caitlin Kunkel on teaching comedy in Jordan
When it comes to politics, the UK suffers from a chronic disease. It’s called satire
When politics is the topic, laughter just might be the best medicine
It's 2020 – it's time to objectify the men
How comedy has pivoted from criticism of society, to focusing on anxiety and mental health
The “Just Joking”-argument
Study says The IT Crowd has the most laughs a minute
Jon Benjamin is British
Rick and Morty: The art of "alts"
Various satire writing tips from the web
Interesting online classes from Gotham Writers Workshop
Quotes to remember
Ramy Youssef on representation in comedy
Kumail Nanjiani and Ricky Gervais discuss taboo subjects in comedy
The first story-act, explained by a Pixar writer
"Rules make comedy fun, when there’s things you can’t do and there’s kind of loopholes. That’s when you start to really get creative." – Michael Che
"Tonight Show"-head writer Rebecca Drysdale on satire's normalizing function
"I don’t think there were a lot of jokes coming *at* Obama, honestly. And I used to talk about this. The jokes about Obama, I called 'flattery jokes'..." – Larry Wilmore on the challenge of political comedy in the post-Trump era
"Hvis formålet med politisk humor generelt og satire spesielt er å utfordre og kritisere makten, hvorfor skal politikere få lov å være med på humoristenes lag? Å inkludere polariserende personer og kontroversielle politiske holdninger ukommentert i en medial humoristisk diskurs, innebærer at mulige trusler mot demokratiet ufarliggjøres i det offentlige ordskiftet." – Kai Hanno Schwind om Nytt på nytt
"Satire har gått fra å ramme dem på toppen til å bli et språk som også de på toppen behersker." – Markus Gaupås Johansen
Things I aspire to write more about
So... to summarize. In the last year, I've continued to focus on (1) satire controversies and news, and (2) dramaturgy, theory and pilot breakdowns. I don't know if I could say that this is really a change of pace compared to previous years. If there are a few things I hope to give more attention in the next year:
Practical breakdowns and theory on of satire writing
Academic texts on satire
Analysis of satire pieces on the web
... and of course, I want to launch the Norwegian satire site and complete my book projects.
I've got a lot of half-written drafts on my Tumblr, so maybe it's time to just crank out some old content as throwback inspiration?
Let's see how it goes.
