Story – Robert McKee's Creative Storytelling Magazine Issue 005 – Drew Carey | Page 17

MCKEE
INTERVIEWS
RUSSELL BRAND
bolic language. So yes, certainly
I recognize types.
RM: Yes. So, somebody who is
not stepping forward and taking power, such as an individual walking down the street with
a certain eccentricity, wouldn’t
necessarily draw your interest.
RB: No. But I do torment the audience at the beginning of shows.
I do get out, and then there are…
RM: Individuals?
RB: Absolutely. And then there are
certain systemic things that occur
regularly. I say, “Well, I know this
type of person.” A certain type of
young boy that’s ultimately innocent, a certain type of male, a
certain type of older women, and
actually always people in electric
wheelchairs. I get in that electric
wheelchair with them, and I sit
on their lap and I drive it. People
love it. People love the relief of
like, “Oh, my God, he’s going to
fucking crash the wheelchair.”
People are so excited when
sometimes it doesn’t crash. It’s
not so good when it does crash.
There have been lawsuits, but
what are you going to do? You
can’t be double in a wheelchair.
You’re already in a wheelchair, so
what are you worried about if we
did crash? What have you got to
lose? I’m the one that can walk—I
should be worried, so shut up.

RM: To get back to the actual
interview, jokes are two parts—
setup and punch.
RB: Yes.
RM: If I see people who have
problems trying to write comedy, it’s that they focus on the
punch first. It’s all about getting the wit; it’s about the language; it’s about the gesture. If
it’s a piece of business or whatever, they ’re always in search
of the punch. It’s the punch,
the punch, the punch. Then
they want to work backwards
to the setup. I argue with them
that no, no—if you’ve got a great
setup, you’ll find 10 different
ways to punch it. Pick the best
one.
RB: Yeah, you’re right.
RM: That energy gives them the
setup, and the anger or whatever the subject is. When you
have a really powerful setup,
you can punch it many times
over without setting up again.
RB: Yeah, yeah, it’s all in how you
deliver it.
RM: So it’s really all about the
setup.
RB: Completely. There is a disproportionately high number of comedians that are good at mathematics. I’m unfortunately not one

Story Magazine // Issue 005

of them, and I think it’s because
it’s all about arithmetic to comedy; it’s about formula and the
establishment of it. I’m working
on a script at the moment with
Jemimah, as a matter of fact. The
important thing is the establishment of this context and making sure that people are going to
know it.
If you’re doing a joke about a
person that’s overly dependent
on New Age nonsense and astrology and believes in that kind
of hocus-pocus stuff, you have
to make sure that you’ve properly established that. Otherwise,
your jokes later on in the script,
when that person gets into trouble as a result of that belief, will
not pay off.
For me, it’s like the context of
the joke is very, very important
to make sure that you establish that, “Oh no, not only is this
happening, but it’s happening to
this person.” Tina Fey does that
lovely joke—a normal person
will laugh at a man dressed up
as an old