Erotic writing and comedy

[nickydra]

A better analogy would be pineapple and pizza. Many people love it. I grew up eating a lot of it because all my friends wanted it. But I prefer pizza with classics like pepperoni and sausage.

As AwkwardMD put it well above, taste in both comedy and erotica is highly subjective and personal, and for many, perhaps you, there's no overlap. For me there is. I think sex is a great field for exploring comedic subjects because it's a subject we're so worked up and silly about. The two subjects I write most about, incest and exhibitionism, are, in my opinion, good subjects for comedy. I don't expect everyone to agree with me about that. But when you ask "what is the value" of stories like this, it's that some people enjoy them.

I persist with the gherkins and cherries. The two concepts really are mutually antipathetic. Still, you may be right, in which case, fair enough. As we say in England, 'no accounting for it'.

I really am open to being convinced. I wouldn't have started the thread otherwise...however...

...I suppose I was hoping for some objectively convincing arguments to be put... but it seems this is another example of a situation where people claim that X must 'of course' be true because they think so.

 

[AwkwardMD]

...I suppose I was hoping for some objectively convincing arguments to be put... but it seems this is another example of a situation where people claim that X must 'of course' be true because they think so.

This topic is more like bicycle riding in that it is a skill to be learned or appreciated. I can say "I know how to ride a bike," and explain the biomechanical motions or the importance of balance, but demonstration of mastery is what matters.

Watching me ride a bike is worth more than me telling you I know how

 

[NotWise]

...I suppose I was hoping for some objectively convincing arguments to be put... but it seems this is another example of a situation where people claim that X must 'of course' be true because they think so.

You probably need to give up on the objectivity thing. Fiction-writing isn't science. What works very well for one writer and audience may fail miserably for another.

We had this conversation before, in the Authors Hangout. Opinions were divided. Some of us think that sex is fun, and laughter is a natural part of it. Some of us seem to see sex as tense and angst-ridden, and laughter as out of place.

Take your pick. Write it any way you want.

 

[KeithD]

I see apples and oranges being discussed. What are the elements of eroticism? What makes a scene/coupling erotic? Is that compatible with comedy? If so, what type/intensity of comedy? The question is about erotic writing, which isn't wholly the same thing as sex writing. To me, if you get any funnier than nanosecond amusement when you are in a state of eroticism, you are being kicked out of the state of eroticism and have to get out of funny to recover it.

 

[NotWise]

I see apples and oranges being discussed. What are the elements of eroticism? What makes a scene/coupling erotic? Is that compatible with comedy? If so, what type/intensity of comedy? The question is about erotic writing, which isn't wholly the same thing as sex writing. To me, if you get any funnier than nanosecond amusement when you are in a state of eroticism, you are being kicked out of the state of eroticism and have to get out of funny to recover it.

Not my experience. It seems that your state of eroticism is incompatible with amusement. Mine is not. Of course, it's the readers' expectations that count.

 

[KeithD]

Not my experience. It seems that your state of eroticism is incompatible with amusement. Mine is not. Of course, it's the readers' expectations that count.

Guess so. My eroticism is serious emotional stuff. The mental aspect of it is very important. When you combine sex with comedy, I continue to think that you aren't in the realm of the erotic.

 

[Hypoxia]

I try to inject much humor into my stories. A reader may not be masturbating to the jokes, but they will before and after, or so comments say. No, folks likely won't get off on, "A man like that shouldn't be allowed near cattle," but I'll take a derisive snort as a compliment.

 

[NotWise]

No, folks likely won't get off on, "A man like that shouldn't be allowed near cattle," but I'll take a derisive snort as a compliment.

But what about sheep?

 

[Hypoxia]

But what about sheep?

"Mary had a little lamb;
Couldn't make it with a man."

"Now I lay me down to sheep
I pray to Gawd the sheep's asleep
And if, perchance, the sheep should wake
Platonic friendship shall I fake."

Further humor would be censored, alas. Then I'd feel sheepish.

 

[Emirus]

Is erotic writing and comedy compatible?

Comedy is a very personal thing. What one person finds funny makes another one think “what the hell was that?” Also as far as Literotica is concerned there are writer’s here from all continents and some for whom English is not their first language.

Many jokes don’t travel. American humour to the UK is one example as is the other way round. If you do try and put comedy into a story make it basic.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I see humour as a spice. It doesn't usually work as the main ingredient (exceptions exist, I loved "Terrible Company") but it can really enhance an erotic story when used judiciously.

For example, humour goes very well with BDSM themes. A lot of comedy is about reversals and incongruity, and BDSM provides those. The powerful CEO turned into a servant, the respectable lady tormented with a remote-control vibrator during some formal occasion. For some, the humiliation of being laughed at is a highly erotic experience.

At the same time, one of the common failure modes of BDSM is becoming too pompous; acknowledging the inherent humour and working with it can protect a BDSM story from becoming unintentionally funny. Humour can also do that for other kinds of stories which are at risk of being too serious.

For example, my story Counting to Eleven is named for a scene that starts with a BDSM cliché, the submissive counting aloud and thanking her mistress while being spanked. She's supposed to get a dozen strokes, but when they get to twelve she keeps saying "Eleven, thank you miss!"

YMMV, but I thought that was cute, and apparently so did most of the readers. It's one of those reversal/dissonance things I mentioned: ostensibly Linda is in control, hurting Kate, but in fact Kate's enjoying it and is controlling how long it goes on.

Red Callum, Sweet Cate is a body horror story/poem about a sexually adventurous lad who meets a gruesome end.

Catherine laughed—her hair bound him—her lips smacked and sucked.
"I did promise I'd fuck you. Now, my darling? You're fucked."

And then The Floggings Will Continue, based in an old workplace joke: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves". In that one, a saboteur creates an absurd situation and uses it to manipulate people into taboo-breaking behaviour. I don't think this one would've worked at all without the absurd aspects.

 

[Maeven_quinn]

Ha, hello, I'm a neuroscientist! Well, at least my first post-grad degree was neuroscience. Think I've forgotten more than I ever knew.

I agree it is extremely challenging to write something the is at the same time, both erotic and humorous. I think it's possible to write something that is funny, and has erotic moments, or something erotic that has funny parts. But to consistently simultaneously be both is difficult. Not impossible but difficult. As someone else said above, add in the fact what is erotic and what is funny are both subjective, and you've got another level of difficulty!

Is that a neurological reason? I mean, sometimes laughter can be a turn on right?

 

[Hypoxia]

Is that a neurological reason? I mean, sometimes laughter can be a turn on right?

Laughter is one of the greatest aphrodisiacs. Get-em laughing, and they're easy meat.

 

[KeithD]

Eroticism and sex are not the same thing. Eroticism is arousal emotion, not just Tab A in slot B. I continue to hold that anything funny puts arousal emotion in suspension; it doesn't either enhance it or is compatible with it. You can have moments in humor in the build up of eroticism, but during those moments, eroticism has been lost and has to be picked up again after the humor has passed.

Maybe someone can cite a Literotica story that was able to sustain erotica and comedy together, simultaneously, in a continuum--not in alternative separate phases.

 

[RetroFan]

You can definitely have sex scenes in stories that are erotic and funny at the same time.

For example, in one of my stories the main female protagonist - a middle aged woman - has a husband who has lost interest in sex with her. Unknown to her, the husband - a very strange man with some weird obsessions - secretly goes to a brothel where he dresses up as a cowboy, with the prostitute who services him wearing horse riding gear like she is competing in dressage.

This is both funny and erotic.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Forgive me for this thread resurrection, but I looked for this on purpose.
I've a thought of doing a sitcom parody erotica, and was wondering what everyone thought of the idea. I'll read this whole thread later today.

 

[Mr_Neb]

I took a shot at a humorous erotic story in one of the first stories I ever posted on Lit. I'll let others be the judge as to how successful I was.

https://literotica.com/s/pussy-house-1972

 

[Rob_Royale]

I will check it out.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Writing amusing scenes into stories is pretty easy, but the leap from amusing to truly getting laughs is really hard, I think. People with that talent seem to be few and far between.

Regardless, I do love some humor mixed into a sexy story. Maybe a contest would encourage more authors to try something for the humor category?

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

I don't mind some element of humour in a story - indeed, I try to add some lighthearted dialogue myself - but ultimately, I’m here for the sex, not the comedy.

It's the same in porn - I find any kind of parody porn to be a) not remotely amusing and b) detrimental to the sex.

I want the sex in any story to be serious and (usually) a bit nasty. The leap from sitcom story to hardcore fucking seems a bit of a stretch.

Having said that, others disagree.

 

[jaF0]

Oh C'mon Margaret, it isn't that hard.
Yes Frank, that's the problem, it needs to be harder.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Almost every SitCom I can ever remember watching could have easily added a healthy dose of explicit Funky Monkey with little effort. Sam Malone's exploits on Cheers could have very easily been XXXplicit XXXploits on screen. Friends? Add the benefits they always eluded to.

Hell, even the Flintstones could have been swingers. There could have been a cave behind the quarry that served as a dungeon for Bedrock. Just the name 'Bedrock' alone implies rocking the bed.

George needed a raise? Send Jane or Judy to get a rise out of Mr. Spacely.

And ya' just KNOW Married With Children was a porn sitcom looking for a screen to appear on.


Parts of 'Young Lady Chatterly' were almost as funny as erotic.

There are porn versions of this online, especially the cartoons. One memorable one was an incestuous oral coupling of George Jetson with Judy. The Flintstones are particularly popular too, as are The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Scooby-Doo is another favorite. Somehow Velma gets much of the attention. There are women who do real-life cos-play as Velma. Anyway, weren't those kids supposed to be in college or something instead of driving around in a van all night?

 

[LiverpoolMaster]

Take your pick. You can either have what are, all the frills taken away, basically jokes about sex... or you can try in vain to work humour into actual, believable portrayal of sex.

In vain, I suggest, unless you're going to be the world's first person ever to combine the act of laughing with the act of having an orgasm...

 

[gunhilltrain]

I don't mind some element of humour in a story - indeed, I try to add some lighthearted dialogue myself - but ultimately, I’m here for the sex, not the comedy.

It's the same in porn - I find any kind of parody porn to be a) not remotely amusing and b) detrimental to the sex.

I want the sex in any story to be serious and (usually) a bit nasty. The leap from sitcom story to hardcore fucking seems a bit of a stretch.

Having said that, others disagree.

God, I didn't realize how old this thread is. Robroy1968 started it up again a couple of days ago.

This has explicit sex although I think it's funny anyway. The young narrator is seduced by his girlfriend's aunt. He's not sure he wants to go through with it but he does it anyway.

https://classic.literotica.com/s/bronx-park-east-ch-07

I realized halfway through writing it that it's a take-off on The Graduate. Aunt Julia in fact favorably compares herself to Mrs. Robinson.

Then he's too polite to just leave afterwards, so he sits around with her in the living room while she talks to him, drinks rum, and plays entire albums on the stereo (it's 1974). He's worried because he's not sure when his girlfriend is going to come back. (She shares the apartment with her aunt.) He timed it just right because his girlfriend is entering the lobby just as he is leaving.

 

[SteelPoint]

Take your pick. You can either have what are, all the frills taken away, basically jokes about sex... or you can try in vain to work humour into actual, believable portrayal of sex.

In vain, I suggest, unless you're going to be the world's first person ever to combine the act of laughing with the act of having an orgasm...

Yes, difficult to see how anything can be erotic - i.e. arousing sexual thoughts - if it's also comic - i.e. arousing laughter. Difficult to maintain an erection with your diaphragm wobbling ten to the dozen. The two are mutually incompatible.