Scribble Kibble The Animation Show It’s got a dog!
Gooood evening everybody!
Afternoon.
Morning.
Whenever you are.
This is the first episode in a brand new season of Scribble Kibble.
Over the next two months I am testing out a new show format, and if it does well there
is some great fun in store.
If it doesn’t, then I cut it down to the basics.
Today’s feature is a series I’ve desperately wanted to talk about because you probably
haven’t seen it and it’s fantastic.
Sublo and Tangy Mustard is an animated comedy series with original humor, dorky characters,
and a theme song that’ll get stuck in your head.What’s interesting is after you watch
all of the episodes, when you look back at the humor you won’t be able to think of
a time it used pop culture references, memes, or meta 4th-wall breaking jokes.
That’s why it feels so fresh!
The jokes are character or situation based.
Any time Sublo awkwardly inserts himself into a conversation, that’s character humor.
He tries so hard, but he’s just a doof.
The fact these two stay in their costumes during normal social events creates situational
humor.
There’s also jokes that are just clever - like the sandwich shop’s name being Sub-Par.
The benefit of writing this way is nobody needs to know what the hot memes were back
in 2017 to get the jokes.
Five years from now all of those JoJo references will be outdated - even right now probably
half of you have no idea what JoJo means.
But jokes based on the characters and their lives don’t expire.
Like Twinkies.
Good jokes are like Twinkies.
Haha, I’m getting all excited about comedy writing.
So the thing is, no matter how much you study it, there’s no surefire formula for how
to write something funny.
But you can still learn by example.
Let’s look at how Aaron Long writes a Sublo and Tangy Mustard episode.
First, he keeps a record of all funny things, episode ideas, awkward situations, and silly
names he thinks of.
If you’re a writer you must do this.
Don’t expect to remember your funny idea when you wake up in the morning, or after
you finish this video - write it down immediately.
You’ll never use most of your ideas, but you need a pool to pick from.
Aaron sorts the idea notes into a master document, grouping them by theme.
He looks through them to see what ideas might combine in interesting ways to make an episode.
When he’s got something good he writes a three line synopsis of what the episode is
to make sure it has a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Aaron creates a draft episode script based on the outline and highlights what he likes.
As a result he can see what parts are pointless dialogue to be rewritten or thrown out.
By the time the script is finished, a third of the original will be gone.
Get rid of that filler!
Especially as an animator, filler means more work for you.
That’s the Sublo and Tangy Mustard writing process.
The full blog post about it is linked below.
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S: And on that note, here to tell us how to write funny jokes, it’s Piemations!
P: Ayyyy.
S: Okay, I have to know: Are you a guy with a pie on his head, or a bird?
P: It varies.
S: Oh my gosh!
Well how should I draw you then?
P: Oh.
Um.
Guy with pie on his head!
S: You’ve done a ton of parody animations and some very clever original animations.
The one thing they all have in common is that they are funny.
How do you come up with your jokes?
P: You write what you think is funny and hopefully other people think it’s funny as well.
S: What do you think makes something funny then?
P: I usually shoot for two kinds of jokes.
It’s either something completely unexpected, or, in most cases, violent.
Random violence is pretty funny.
P: The only rule I ever really follow is the rule of thirds.
Comedy comes in threes.
You do one thing, and then you do it again.
But then the third time you subvert expectations and do something completely different or some
sort of different take on it.
S: What is one of the most important things that someone should do when they’re writing
comedy?
P: You have to keep a visual idea of it.
A lot more goes into specifically animation comedy than dialogue.
Especially timing.
Timing is one of the biggest things, and if you don’t have timing right any joke can
fall flat.
S: Have you ever studied any funny animations to see what you like, didn’t like, that
sort of thing?
P: I watched the Angry Birds movie and enjoyed it and I didn’t know why.
So I actually went back and watched that movie three or four times through to figure out
why it was funny to me.
S: What’d you decide?
P: It does have a lot of slapstick.
Um.
I think that’s it!
S: (laughs)
P: Most of the dialogue is abysmal, but the slapstick was really well animated.
S: Thanks for being on the show!
What’s coming out soon on your channel we can look forward to?
P: Suction Man Cup 3 and on the Mashed channel they are releasing a Spyro parody I did a
lot of animation for.
And by a lot I mean all.
S: That’s going to be great.
People are going to love that.
P: I think so.
I didn’t write it, so it’s not my style of comedy.
It’s very close.
S: I’m thinking maybe we’ll see some slapstick.
P: (pause) Yeah.
S: Excellent.
Alright!
Piemations everybody.
Stay subscribed for the full interview on Saturday.
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I challenge you!
To an offhand drawing match.
For the next episode, draw this image with the opposite hand than you normally use.
Email your drawing to art@scribblekibble.com and include your name for credit if your art
gets picked!
That’s our show, stick around for fan art and music and all the info on who made what.