Two quick clips from Mark Lawson Talks To: Terry Pratchett.

Some of the best (and some of the hardest) times that I’ve had writing comedy have been spent doing so with different friends. There are so many different ways to work in a partnership of course, but here are three examples that ring true to my own different experiences.

The most fun is when you are just riffing on a subject as you do something else.

This clip is from a longer sequence in Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee with Brian Regan, and it’s well worth watching the whole episode. Together they write the strong beginnings of two stand up bits, just by making one another laugh. One of my own favourite routines had its genesis in a moment like this.

More often than not, writing with someone else is a lot like this.

The bit where Jerry outlines all his caveats rings true to me, as does the moment he gets up and looks out of the window, before moving a chair for no reason whatsoever.

Then there’s the chewing something as you think moments.

Have a look at this sketch from The Micallef P(r)ogram(me).

Sometimes it’s useful to see what bad writing would look like, and take it to the extreme just to highlight everything that’s wrong with it. If you haven’t learnt something from what you just watched, then it was a waste of your time watching it, and a waste of my time directing you to it.

Exposition it horrible to write, and painful to watch if done badly. I’d rather be confused for a bit than bored.