I performed stand up comedy for over a year and I can relate to this (but I've got a computer science background). I was a one-liner instead of a story teller (even though I wished I was a story teller). Here's how my background in computer science helped:<p>* Getting a joke to work best often requires A/B testing<p>* I tried to choose my best jokes objectively. I'd watch my videos and keep track of the jokes that got the laughs consistently. I then wrote a program to sort jokes by the best ratio.<p>* There are lots of rules (though they are fuzzy). This kind of reminds me of programming language syntax. Like you should attempt to make the punchline the last part of the sentence. Start with your funniest joke, end with your second funniest (this rule might be reversed, I can't remember).<p>* Try to be as concise as possible. Usually if you can cut out words your joke will be more effective. This reminds me of removing DRY violations in code.<p>* Some jokes are <i>really</i> technical. They'd consistently get a laugh if every word was said in the exact tone and order they're supposed to, but if anything about the joke changed, it wouldn't "compile".<p>* Like programming, it'll probably take 10 years to get good at it (see <a href="http://norvig.com/21-days.html" rel="nofollow">http://norvig.com/21-days.html</a> )<p>* Sometimes you'd think of a tag for an already existing joke. A tag is a joke that only makes sense in the context of the immediately preceding joke. This is like adding a feature to a legacy code base. It often requires refactoring and maintenance.<p>I like the way Marc Maron put it: One liners are the Math majors of comedy. Story tellers are the English majors.
Clever humor, a product of wit, mental sharpness which usually comes with the ability to make correlations quickly and creatively.<p>Mathematicians are trained to understand systems and manipulate it with the confines of certain rules - which is not unlike taking social system, beliefs, etc, and applying logic creatively and insightfully to create witty humor!
I don't think the current generation of Simpsons writers would be the best group of writers to put this comparison to, but rather to the writers of shows like Futurama (which as I'm sure many devotees will know, consisted of a staff of mathematicians that actually developed proofs for plot continuity and one-offs).<p>Though, I don't think mathematicians really is the ideal here (hell, I'd even go one further and put magicians ahead of mathematicians). I prefer Conan O'Brien's observation that comedy is most similar to music and how musicians often make good comedians (and why stand-up comedy is inundated with musical comedians <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_comedians" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_comedians</a>). Because comedy is about character, point of view, timing and rhythm more than it is about formula.<p>There are plenty of comedians out in the world that make a living having read their share of formulaic stand-up books, tell their lazy formulaic jokes, get their easy laughs, collect a paycheck and burn out into obscurity or languish in D-List infamy. Or more relevantly, write mediocre episodes of an animated sitcom that stopped being funny 12 seasons ago aimed at a fan-base that watches out of habit.<p>Mathematics can provide the latter, but the former takes an approach that goes beyond the mathematical. That isn't to say that great mathematics can't produce great material, but like the mathematics of the Eulers, the Pythagorians, the Euclids, The Turings, and so many others, it takes subverting the problem at a slightly different angle.
Yeah, I find plot construction in fiction writing to be very similar to doing software development. There's a general high level outline that you start with, then as you follow the story the complexity increases as you have to tie in disparate story lines.
Interesting book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Humor-Study-Logic-ebook/dp/B0042JU7F8/" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Humor-Study-Logic-ebook/dp...</a><p>Mathematics and Humor: A Study of the Logic of Humor by Paulos, John Allen
There is a notable book called Laughter by French philosopher Bergson. Its argument is that comical effects are reducible to something mechanical (mathematical) (mis)applied on some living thing.<p>This could be a better explanation than what I read here and in the article.