Scottoline and Serritella

Copyright 2019 by Gary L. Pullman

 

In I See Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses, mother-daughter team Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella are back, each contributing alternating essays—or, rather, “True Stories and Confessions.”

In doing so, the ladies employ a variety of techniques to effect humor about everyday situations to which their readers (presumably, for the most part, other women) can readily relate.

The essays tend to be short, about three to four pages, or 1,100 to 1,450 words, each. Many of the paragraphs are single sentences, but even the longer ones are typically no more than three of four.

Let's take a look at Lisa's “Lost and Found,” which weighs in at a bit under three pages.

Page 1

She starts with a rhetorical question, “Did you hear the news?” This question, of course, prompts another question in her readers' minds: what news? It also allows Lisa to introduce the topic of her essay, as she supplies the answer to her own question in the next sentence-paragraph: “They discovered a new organ.”

This fact is, very likely, news to many, perhaps most, of Lisa's readers.

Although her readers may be wondering when “they” found this new organ, Lisa surprises them by stating where it was located: “All this time, it was in your body.” (The “your” certainly personalizes her statement.)

Perhaps, as she writes her essay, Lisa imagines herself in a conversation with her readers as they (or at least Lisa) sip rose a glass of rose wine. If so, she must have imagined them declaring, “You're kidding!” because she states, “Not even kidding.” Imagined dialogue keeps the written dialogue natural.

Why hadn't they found the missing organ before now? Readers might ask. Lisa has an answer ready for them: “Maybe they were looking outside?”

Now, having introduced the topic, Lisa offers a few salient facts, as background: “Anyway [almost as if she's offering an aside, rather than context, keeping it casual], an Irish surgeon, Dr. J. Calvin Coffey, discovered that we have something in our stomach called a mesentery.”

Then, she hits her readers with a play on words, always a surefire way to get a smile, if not a belly laugh: “Before now, the mesentery was a mystery.”

Then, back to the surgeon: “Dr. Coffey teaches at the University of Limerick”—readers just know a pun is coming, and Lisa doesn't disappoint—“otherwise well known for its limericks.”

Having introduced limericks, Lisa offers the first line of a possible such poem, by way of example: “There once was a mesentery from Nantucket . . .”

Then, she defines her term. (Notice the way she breaks up the exposition as she interleaves a bit of nonsense with her straight talk?) “Evidently, the mesentery connects the intestine to the abdomen, and as Dr. Coffey explained, 'It keeps the intestine in a particular shape, so when you stand up, your intestine doesn't fall into your pelvis.” Lisa imagines a response from the peanut gallery: “Well, hell. That's a good thing.” She follows up the peanut gallery comment with a comparison: “It's like Spanks for your colorectal system.” Next, she personifies the mesentery by thanking it: “Thanks, mesentery!”

Lisa makes a claim and then offers a couple of absurd “reasons” to support it (a favorite device of humorists). “Meanwhile, I might be in love with Dr. Coffey [claim]. He has a way with words [absurd reason one]. And also if he could find a mesentery, he could find my car keys” [absurd reason two, which, being even more ridiculous than reason 1, tops the previous reason].

Page 2

We could continue to identify and analyze Lisa's techniques for effecting humor, because we're on only page 2 of a 3-page essay, but, instead, let's switch over to Francesca, who pens the next essay, the four-page “Happy Birthday to Me?”

Page 1

Like most humorists, she starts with a claim that announces her topic, planning one's own birthday. Her next sentence (paragraph two) grants a concession or two, and, in the process, acts as a “straight man,” setting up the punchline to be delivered in the essay's third sentence-paragraph: “Sure, there are years where a best friend or significant other steps up, but in my history, some years I planned it myself.” Then, the punchline, as Francesca admits, “Okay, every year I've planned it myself.”

After telling her readers that the task drives her “completely insane,” she repeats her assertion in different words: “I'm well adjusted eleven months out of the year, but when planning my birthday, I become my most neurotic self.” in her next sentence-paragraph, she intensifies her claim, declaring “It's agony.” She's creating suspense; her readers are expecting a big payoff (laughs).

Francesca changes gears, as she heads off in another, unexpected direction, and her readers put their laughter on hold, trusting the laughs will come, by and by, and that they;ll be worth the wait.

She contrasts herself with others. “I wish I could be one of those people who is like, 'It's mah birthday, bitches!” but I go in the opposite direction. I'm filled with anxiety and insecurity over every aspect of it, obsessively concerned that my guests won't have a good time.” (Notice that Francesca peppers her dialogue with slang—and eye dialect—keeping it real.)

Her readers might wonder what sort of friends Francesca has; they don't seem very supportive. To correct this notion, she blames herself for casting aspersions on them: “It's like I forget they're my friends.”

Francesca wants her readers to remember that she's in turmoil, so she shares a fantasy: “My fantasy is that someone would throw a surprise birthday party for me, but I don't know how anyone would pull it off in real life [why not, readers may wonder, and Francesca tells them], because I'm such a nervous planner, I'd beat them to the punch. They'd have to throw it for me two months in advance to save me from the stress spiral that sucks me in each year.”

Now, she gets down to the details of birthday party planning, as she sees it: “It begins with the venue. I know I should just relax, choose a bar I like, and ask everyone to show up.”

Page 2

We could continue to identify and analyze Lisa's techniques for effecting humor, because we're on only page 2 of a 4-page essay, but, instead, let's list the other details she presents: invitations and cake.

Now, let's contrast the mom's general approach to writing humor with that of her daughter.

LISA

Paragraphs of only one or two sentences.

Rhetorical questions introduce topics, set up punchlines, or transition to new topics.

Imagined conversation between friends, Lisa herself being one of them, alternating with the identification of a topic or statement of a claim, followed by information or evidence.

Much exaggeration, but also puns, plays on words, comparisons, definitions, a catalogue (list), and examples.

FRANCESCA

Both one-sentence paragraphs and longer ones, consisting of as many as seven.

Identification of a topic or statement of a claim, followed by information or evidence, alternating, at times, with the identification of a problem, followed by a solution.

Division of a topic into related subtopics, followed by information or evidence. Items in series disguised as rhetorical questions.

Much exaggeration, but also anecdotes, digressions, repetitions, and admissions of self-doubt, anxiety, and obsession.

 

 Endings

How a humorist ends his or her humorous essay is as important as how he or she starts it.

Lisa catalogues the strange items she finds in her belly button: dog hair, “little shreds of tissue paper,” and other “foreign objects.” Her discoveries make her feel a connection with Dr. Coffey, because “we have so much in common.”

Throughout the bulk of her essay, Francesca has been concerned with the planning of her birthday party. It is only natural that she would end her essay with a description of the party itself. She has a wonderful time, rediscovers the facts that her “friends are easygoing and wonderful,” and finds them to be helpful and supportive. One of them takes 'charge of the candle lighting” and gets “everybody singing.” The result, Francesca confesses, makes “the disco dust totally worth it.”

Sample of Funny Lines

It should go without saying that a humorist must be able to write funny lines. An effective funny line sounds like an aphorism and, like aphorisms, or proverbs, for that matter, funny lines must fit the occasion for which they're written, succinctly summarizing a situation or proving a claim or just stating something in a fresh and lively manner. Here are a couple of funny lines in I See Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses:

My couch had more toenails than my cat.—Lisa

New hobbies are a great excuse to go shopping.—Francesca