Hi.  I don't understand why some people think something is funny and other people don't.  If you are making up a parody, what do you do to try to make it funny, and what makes you laugh at it, and what makes you think something is not funny when other people do or the other way around?

:)
Harmony, I'm not a pro like many writers at AmIRight, but heres my advice.
Pick an original song, find its meaning then go as far off topic as you possibly can.
Chances are someone will get a chuckle, but there will always be someone who doesn't think it's funny.
They either won't let you know, won't tell you why(the AmIRight Onester), whine, or offer you some advice.
Just write without worries and you'll be fine.

There is humor in all things... but just as only a talented sculptor can bring the statue out of the rock, some are more skilled at bringing the humor out of certain things.  Also, humor is subjective -- what makes me fall out of my chair laughing might not get so much as a half smile from someone else and vice versa...  and not because the one who didn't laugh didn't "get it" just because it's not what tickles that person's funnybone. 

If I could answer that question, I'd been making a living as a stand-up! Humour is entirely subjective and also very personal...as MooRocca said, you can't make everyone laugh. When I'm writing a parody, I can only go on what makes me smile. People in compromising situations, celebrities laid bare, surreal stories, animals doing stupid things, double-entendre...these all make me smile. I could make a list as long as my arm of Amiright authors who have me in fits of giggles regularly, but two in particular (Spaff and Claude Prez) are consistently brilliant in my eyes. Just write about what you know, look for a new angle, and most of all, have fun!!

An easy method of humor is to take the original song and writing a parody around it on the most mundane topic imaginable (for example, The Onion www.theonion.com has made quite a bit of mileage out of that in their silly articles)

An easy method of humor is to take the original song and writing a parody around it on the most mundane topic imaginable (for example, The Onion www.theonion.com has made quite a bit of mileage out of that in their silly articles)


Interesting thought.  I guess in parody terms, that particular type of Onion humor might translate to setting a mundane or ridiculous theme to a 'serious' piece of music, as in Johnny D's 'Alopecia Chorus'.

If you are making up a parody, what do you do to try to make it funny, and what makes you laugh at it, and what makes you think something is not funny when other people do or the other way around?

I tend to find most things funny... there is definitely a funny side you can see to almost any scenario, if you look at it from the right angle.  I try and make even unfunny parodies have a certain humour or wit to them in the wordplay: just because a subject is serious doesn't mean you should never raise a smile.  Guess I'll never do well in politics ;)