Dreams have a Price...

Each writer’s career begins with a dream, a fantasy, a goal that looms on the distant horizon.  “I want to write a novel.”  “I’d love to publish poetry.”  “I want to see my name on the screen as the author of a movie.”

My career began with a dream.  I wanted to make people laugh.  I wanted to write comedy.
But each writer must realize, too, that every goal has a price tag.  Admission to a fantasy is never free.  There’s research to be done, studying to do, and practice, practice, practice.  The cheapest, and usually the quickest, way to attain any desire is to pay the full price.  Do the work.

When I decided to become a comedy writer, I wanted to study the profession.  Bob Hope, I thought, had the most readable and useful material for analytical purposes.  His comedy material was funny on paper, pure humor.  Of course, Bob Hope’s expert timing and delivery enhanced any joke he was telling, but it was still a joke that could be read and analyzed.  Other comics, like Jerry Lewis could be funny, but it was more their antics that created the hilarity.  On paper, the material was not as useful to a student as Hope’s.

So, I studied Bob Hope.  I would audio tape his television monologues and then type out a transcript.  I’d analyze the joke forms, wording, rhythm, the arrangement of gags in a routine, and so on.  Then I’d put that monologue away for awhile.

In a few weeks, I’d select new topics from the newspaper and try to write new jokes using the techniques I’d learned from Hope’s latest monologue.  With this technique, Bob Hope and his writers became my mentors.

It worked.  I began writing for local comics, then national comics, then landed a spot on a television variety show staff.

Then it worked even better.  Bob Hope called me.

“I’ve heard about your writing and wonder if you’d like to do some gags for me for the Academy Awards.  I’m the host this year, you know, and I’d like to see if some of your jokes would work for me.”

This was a part of my dream that I didn’t dare dream, but here it was happening nonetheless.  I took a pad and pen out to my backyard and wrote a few hundred gags about current movies, celebrities, anything that would apply to the Oscars.  Naturally, I used the tricks that I had learned from years of studying Bob Hope’s comedy style.

Mr. Hope did ten of my jokes on the telecast and I was thrilled.  The following day he called me again and said, “I loved your material.  It looks like you’ve been writing for me all your life.”

“I have, Mr. Hope,” I said.  “Only you didn’t know about it.”

I’ve been writing for Bob Hope ever since.

There were two valuable lessons in this experience that all writers can learn and draw inspiration from:

The first is that there is effort involved in making any dream come true.  Dreams are powerful, but only when they’re reinforced by research, study, and effort.

The second is that if you do the work, you’ll reach your goals.