DZ-116: Writing Physical Comedy

Listen if you're writing physical comedy and have no idea how to make it work on the page

Mel joins Chas to tackle physical comedy. We limited our homework selection to extended scenes (as opposed to moments and sight gags) in live action projects and – with the help of our Patreons – selected early sequences from BRINGING UP BABY, the pilot for HAPPY ENDINGS and that wonderful food poisoning scene in BRIDESMAIDS.

We discover how these incredible writers take their time (on the page) to set up geography, framing and running gags. We also get tips on judicious use ALL CAPS, ellipses and M-dashes to recreate visual gags… and when to just let a paragraph go long and draw attention to itself.

This episode brought to you by (drum roll) ArcStudio: go to https://www.arcstudiopro.com/draftzero for $30 off a pro subscription!

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

The words on the page and the repetition are mimicking the edit, so we can visualize the humor and the repetition of it.

— chas

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→ Read the transcript for this episode.

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CHAPTERS

• 00:00:00 – Cold Open
• 00:00:19 – What physical comedy scenes are we looking at?
• 00:10:27 – BRINGING UP BABY
• 00:31:44 – Thank you, Arc Studio Pro!
• 00:34:34 – HAPPY ENDINGS pilot
• 00:58:15 – BRIDESMAIDS
• 01:27:31 – Key learnings
• 01:33:56 – Thank you amazing Patreons!

FILMS

• BRIDESMAIDS (2011) — (w) Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig (d) Paul Feig
• BRINGING UP BABY (1938) — (w) Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde, Hagar Wilde (d) Howard Hawks
• GAME NIGHT (2018) — (w) Mark Perez (d) John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein

SHOWS

• HAPPY ENDINGS 1x1 "Pilot" — Anthony Russo, Joe Russo (d), David Caspe (w)

SCRIPTS

• Study the script: BRIDESMAIDS (2011) — Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
• Study the script: BRINGING UP BABY (1938) — Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde, Hagar Wilde
• Study the script: GAME NIGHT (2018) — Mark Perez

SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES

• Small and Large Physical Comedy: BRINGING UP BABY
• The Game of the Scene - GAME NIGHT
• ▶ How is this oner from GAME NIGHT so seamless?

LINKS

• Website: ArcStudio

RELATED EPISODES

• DZ-16: Masters of Time and Whitespace

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Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2025/dz-116/