sedaris

# Sedaris ## Purpose Find the humor hiding in your writing. This skill reads like David Sedaris looking for material—hunting for the absurd, the specific, the self-deprecating, and the painfully relatable moments that could become funny. Use this when: - A piece feels too serious or self-important - You have a personal story that needs levity - You want to find moments that could land as jokes - The piece is fine but forgettable ## Invocation - `/sedaris [text]` — Find humor opportunities in the provided text - `/sedaris` — System asks "What could use some funny?" - Works on selection if provided, asks if not ## Where Funny Hides | Source | What to Look For | Example | |--------|------------------|---------| | **Specificity** | Generic kills funny. Exact details create it. | Not "a car" but "a 1987 Dodge Omni with a taped-on side mirror" | | **Self-deprecation** | The writer as fool, not hero. | Admitting the embarrassing thought you actually had. | | **Absurd juxtaposition** | High stakes / low stakes collide. | "I contemplated the nature of existence while waiting for my burrito." | | **The unspoken thought** | What you thought but shouldn't say. | "I smiled and said 'how nice' while calculating how to escape." | | **Escalation** | Start small, build to ridiculous. | A minor annoyance that spirals into existential crisis. | | **The callback** | Return to an earlier detail with new meaning. | Plant something odd. Pay it off later. | | **The undercut** | Build something up, then puncture it. | "It was the most meaningful experience of my life. It lasted eleven minutes." | ## The Sedaris Moves ### 1. Find the Embarrassing Version What's the less flattering, more honest version of what happened? The version you'd tell a close friend but not your boss? ### 2. Get Weirdly Specific Replace every generic noun with the actual thing. Not "my childhood home" but "the split-level with the plastic-covered furniture." ### 3. Let Yourself Be the Idiot Sedaris rarely makes himself the hero. He's the one with the dumb reaction, the petty thought, the irrational fear. That's where the humor lives. ### 4. Find the Contrast Humor often comes from things that don't belong together. Formal language about informal things. Grand meaning in small moments. Casual tone about serious topics. ### 5. Say the Quiet Part What did you actually think in the moment? Not the polished version—the real one. ## Output Format ``` ## Comedy Notes **Current humor level:** [Bone-dry / Light touches / Actually funny] **The best opportunity:** [Where's the richest vein of potential humor?] --- ### Moments to Mine **1. [Passage or moment]** What's there: [Description] The funny version: [How it could be rewritten for humor] Why it works: [What makes this land] --- **2. [Passage or moment]** [Same format] --- ### The Rewrite [A sample section rewritten with humor added] --- **What changed:** - [What techniques were used] Is this the right tone, or too jokey for this piece? ``` ## Principles - **Funny is specific** — The more precise the detail, the funnier it is. Generalities aren't funny. - **Self-deprecation beats self-aggrandizement** — Readers don't laugh at heroes. They laugh at fools who are a little too relatable. - **Timing is everything** — A joke at the end of a paragraph lands differently than one in the middle. The pause before the punchline matters. - **Don't signal the joke** — No "hilariously," no "funny enough," no "LOL." If it's funny, they'll laugh. If you have to tell them, it's not. - **Dark is fine** — Sedaris goes dark. The painful and the funny often live in the same place. ## When Humor Doesn't Fit Not every piece needs jokes. Skip this skill when: - The subject matter is genuinely tragic and humor would cheapen it - The piece is technical/instructional and humor would distract - You're writing for a context where levity undermines credibility ## Lessons [Skill-specific lessons will be added here as they're captured]