I would say it depends on the kind of humor the author is working with. Many dark humor books are able to pull it off, for instance, because dark humor is often situational. You can just describe the situation, and it's funny (i.e.: someone has uncontrollable rectal Niagara Falls and is in pain but it's funny). However, if the humor is visual, description may not always work. I mean the kind of visual where camera angle is in play. For instance, we only see a man's torso and the man is moaning, so we assume he's getting the head, but then the camera zooms out and we see the full body of the man and it is revealed that he is getting a leg massage by a professional. Or when the humor is in the way a line is delivered or the character's facial expression. An author can describe the voice tone and the expression, but I think the humor hits much harder when it is shown. What do you think? Does humor work in books just as well as it does in TV shows and movies? What type of humor is hardest to pull off in books?
by FewLife4809
4 Comments
Books can be incredibly funny, but the tools of humor in a book are different than those in film or on stage or in song or in any other medium. Some things will translate, some will not.
Really depends how the humor is done. I’ve always noticed that books almost always even get a smile out of me with dialogue humor, but rarely with written humor.
Discworld books frequently make me laugh out loud, moreso than any comedy films of the last decade.Â
I very much recommend Apathy and Other Small Victories for an example that succeeds in situational comedy, funny dialog and funny prose.