Comedy legend Tim Ferguson talks script, screen, and comedy-writing

Tim Ferguson – award-winning comedy legend, writer and, among many other things, Ambassador for MS Australia – reckons most Aussie screenwriters have got it wrong: they forget that there are two masks in the age-old symbol for drama, and one of them is laughing. They don’t know how to imbue their onerously serious scripts with lightness and laughter.

But, Tim also says, the art of comedy can be taught. Indeed, given Tim Ferguson has produced the definitive book about comedy writing, entitled The Cheeky Monkey – Writing Narrative Comedy, he is just the person to teach it.

2SER’s resident comedy nerd, Dom Romeo, caught up with Tim for Wednesday Drive, to discuss the finer points of adding comedy to scripts and screenplays – something he’ll be teaching over the next two Sundays (10am to 5pm, August 18 and 25).

And, he adds, if you sign up to take part, you don’t need to bring anything to the online sessions – just log on and learn how to spin comedy gold out of virtually nothing, thus altering your career trajectory forevermore.

The segment is introduced by host of Wednesday Drive, Sean Hatzinikolaou.

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