I’m currently in the middle of writing Anti-Panto and it is tough work. The plot is all there; Cinderella meets North by North West. I’ve mapped out all the scenes and how I want them to play out, but now I’ve actually got to get in there and write the dialogue. The show IS a pantomime so I want to keep some of that  style of stuff, but it isn’t a family show. It’s older, and I don’t want to lose the audience by talking down to them. The brilliantly bizarre comic Mitch Hedburg once said of being a comedy writer: “My job is to think of something funny and then write it down. Unless I can’t find a pen, in which case I have to convince myself that what I thought of wasn’t funny.” He’s got a point. Trying to be funny is so difficult on a deadline.

I’m writing stuff and then realising that 5 lines have gone past without a gag, so I have to create one. When you’ve set your head to “funny” you can’t be sure what is laugh out loud good and what is simply amusing. This blog I’m writing right now for example is neither. I’ll pep it up with an old joke: do you say nee-ther or nigh-ther? Oh come on, you must use one! Comedy gold there. You see what I’m up against.

What is another word for synonym?

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