TODAY'S NUGGET: Duck Soup (1933) - The Importance of Laughs in Parody (Inventiveness)

[Quick Summary: When inept Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) is appointed dictator of Freedonia, he faces two enemy spies from Sylvania (Chicolini and Pinky).]

I love, love, love Airplane and Naked Gun, but could never figure out why that writing doesn't come naturally to me. 

Seasoned comedy writer Ken Levine explains that these are parodies/spoofs (vs. what he writers, which is more character based comedy):

Here are the pros and cons of parody/spoofs:

Pros: You can draw laughs from anywhere, any style.  Puns, wordplay, physical comedy, shock humor, absurdity — anything is fair game.  All the things you normally pitch in a room and wish you could do you CAN do.   And parodies give you a target right from the get-go. 

Cons: You’re only as good as your last laugh.  Stories are hard to construct because they mean nothing — just a coat rack to hang jokes.  So there’s no emotional investment.  The only thing keeping the souffle from collapsing is laughs.  So they better be damn good and lots and lots of them.

So what brings on the laughs? Inventiveness is definitely one key.

In this scene* from the Marx Brothers' famous Duck Soup:
- There is no real story.  It's just laughs.
- Note how inventive this reversal is: Chicolini and Pinky want to get inside the house --> both DO get inside the house --> then both end up outside.

In a longer shot, Chicolini pulls away and presses the buzzer on the door.

We now see a hedge in the foreground; Chicolini and Pinky hide behind it as the butler comes out of the front door and looks from side to side. Pinky dives for the front door, followed by Chicolini, goes in and slams the door in Chicolini's face while the butler looks behind the hedge. Chicolini hides behind the hedge again as the butler goes back to the door, finds it shut and goes off to the left.

Cut to show Chicolini as he goes up to the door, rings the bell and hides behind the hedge again. Pinky comes out and looks over the hedge, whistling. Chicolini dives for the door behind him and slams the door in his face. Pinky presses the bell and hides.

We see Pinky hiding behind the hedge as Chicolini comes out again and looks over it. The butler reappears in the background, goes in and shuts the door in the faces of Pinky and Chicolini.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I glad that I finally realize that I'm not just the joke-joke-joke kind of writer that parodies require to keep from collapsing.

Duck Soup (1933)
by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby

*There is no official script available.  This one that was publish is likely the best approximation, and was cobbled together from dialogue continuity pages and shot-by-shot viewings of the film.