- Have you exaggerated as much as you can for the level of humor of that series?
- Do all of the gags have a setup, increased tension, and a sudden surprise at the end
(the payoff)? - Does the timing feel right, or is there a way to make your gag funnier?
- Have you twisted at least some of the running gags so that they remain funny and
don’t get monotonous? - Do your gags build throughout so that the funniest gags are near the climax of your
cartoon? This is especially important for short cartoons with little plot. - Will your gags be appropriate for your audience? If this is a kid’s series, are the gags
those that you’d want your kids to see and appreciate? If you’re writing for a series,
who is your audience? Are you writing for kids of a certain age only or for both kids
and adults? What do the executives who approve your script expect? Will an inter-
national audience understand the gags? - Are you using a variety of types of humor?
- Have you refrained from spelling out the joke so that the audience can bring some-
thing to the party? Is the joke still clear? - Focus on the dialogue, making it wittier with funnier comebacks. Remember to keep
up the conflict to heighten the repartee. - Have you used the funniest words (some with C’s and K’s), placing them in the fun-
niest juxtaposition and the funniest order? - Is your script sprinkled with gags throughout?
- Now forget the rules. Are your gags funny?
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