Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Consistency and Targeted Material

My exploration of humor and laughter is targeted, but my approach isn't a straight line from A to Z. On any given day, I may find myself posting on the health benefits of humor, the benefits in improved communication humor offers, or politicians who seek out humorists for their speech-writing teams - or an entire post dedicated to the understanding of physics your dog must intuit in order to steal the peanut butter and jelly sandwich from your 4-year old.
If a humorist or comedian has made someone laugh, and if they are consistent in delivering material, then people know where to go when they're looking for a specific brand of humor. You don't want to waste people's time by writing all over the place. If I were to share a recipe for duck in my blog, it better be delivered in the context of a funny story or my readers are going to think I'm smoking something funny rather than writing about something funny. 

No matter how funny something is, it isn't funny for everyone. Targeting your material to a specific audience saves precious time delivering the wrong material to the wrong audience. 

Posting a blog often feels like blind science, especially if the comments are disabled. For the most part, the audience remains "unseen". Irrespective of whether or not you can see your audience, a blogger should follow the same rules of stand-up comedy (consistency and targeted material). Just because you can't see your audience, doesn't mean you can broadcast incoherently and expect success - Unless, of course, incoherence is part of your "act". 


In summation your honor, I believe there is coherency in my posts. Even though it feels like I'm telling a joke in the forest. 

If you tell a joke in the forest, and nobody laughs, was it a joke?

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