#realoriginal

Venturing into the writing/comedy world there is a lot of pressure to come up with original material. To be unique. Yet at the same time everyone is vying to be “The Next So-and-So”. I’m living in the La-La Land of contradictions. What I’m learning to embrace is that everybody has influences. We are social creatures; emotional creatures and absorbant creatures! I’ve noticed that comedy from my pre-teen to teen years is deeply engrained in my sense of humor and pops up in my own writing: Austin Powers, Billy Madison, South Park. 

I would like to argue that anything said from your own point of view and in your own voice is going to be original on account of there are no two of us alike. I was recently watching some old Adam Sandler stand up and I noticed it seemed to be very Jerry Seinfeld and maybe even Larry David inspired. I think it’s safe to say that these days that The Sandman is quite successful being ‘himself’ or a funny version of. Maybe Jerry or Larry were inspirations that lead to him finding his own style. This is all conjecture of course with my message being: let your heroes inspire you and help you to grow and develope your own unique voice. 

Originality isn’t something you come up with banging your head against a writer’s room wall. Originality is embracing what is floating around in your noggin as good enough. There’s no formula to being universally liked. Humor is as subjective as beauty is.