Woody Allen: Spontaneity & Writing

“What people who don’t write don’t understand is that they think you make up the line consciously — but you don’t. It proceeds from your unconscious. So it’s the same surprise to you when it emerges as it is to the audience when the comic says it. I don’t think of the joke and then say it. I say it and then realize what I’ve said. And I laugh at it, because I’m hearing it for the first time myself.”

- Woody Allen

I thought this was a great quote. I think that’s why sometimes a joke can become stale. Because we’ve done it so many times and we lose the spontaneity of the joke.  That’s one reason why I enjoy crowd work so much because I never know where it’s going to go and I’m responding in the moment.  Even I find my own response funny because I didn’t expect it. I think that’s why I enjoy a comic like Bill Burr because it just feels so conversational and in the moment.  Sometimes I can get stuck in my set routine, but I feel when I go out on that limb those are the moments I appreciate most and have the biggest payoff.

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