Jack Knox Report

Jack Knox Report Daniel Szajnzinger March 27, 2019

“Thanks, Obama,” that’s the quote I forced Jack Knox to say after I heard he received a phone call from him 4 days before his election day. Jack, a self-named “award-losing” columnist has been working in newspapers since he was 19. His experience as a columnist has led to being a mostly well-respected writer of the Times Colonist for 31 years. He believes in the importance of using a combination of comedic and serious writing, although not always at the same time.

While not always concentrating on humor he follows this idea, 80% of what he writes is serious, and the other 20% is funny because too much humor only makes people take you less seriously. Jack considers himself the Homer Simpson of writers, not because he’s an idiot with too much time on his hands, but because he’s an everyman. Jack said, “When I poke fun at myself I think people will see themselves in me.” He wants to be relatable, because what’s humor if you can’t relate to it?

Jack had about 15 rules he listed off throughout the interview and while that’s way too many to add to a 500-word article, there are a few points that I’ll touch on that I believe are important to comedy writing. It is important to think about, “Who cares?” when writing. Thinking about the audience isn’t just important to comedy, focusing on who you want to write for creates a following, happy audience, and a happy audience is a small to medium sized paycheck cause you’re still a writer. Another rule is using exaggerative language. For someone to enjoy a story it is necessary to be as expressive as possible, and this type of language can really push interest, and create excellent comedic timing. Exaggerative language not only makes a person laugh, but it can also be used to show the absurdity behind a dreary subject. It can make a person think that their ideas are absurd, or in some cases show that what a politician plans (Ex. building a wall to keep the Mexicans out) is stupid as hell. Finally, and likely the most important rule, have fun, because if you’re not going to enjoy your article, who will?

I hope you liked this article, but if you’ll let me quote Jack one more time, “Sometimes all you’ve got is shit in you, so give them the best shit you’ve got.” So enjoy my shit and thanks, Obama.