Giant Robot Invasion! – Home of Comedy Writer Matt Willard

DC Comics’s “Countdown” event was considered a universal pile of suck…but could there be a moment that made it all worthwhile? Find out in Today’s Really Kickass Moment!

Didn’t catch my roast of Noah Antwiler, AKA The Spoony One? Now you can watch it right here!

This monologue was an epic project in the making. Since I didn’t have a video camcorder like the other roasters did, I knew the monologue had to be the strongest point of my roast. Here’s a basic play-by-play of how it came together:

1. I wrote down as much as I knew about Spoony, citing references to his work and other facts. I organized these into categories like People, Places, and Things for a better overview. These facts were written down as normal statements, which I could then tinker with to provide setups for my jokes. This is partly the reason why some jokes may seem strange when compared to “normal ones” – they were tailored for the audience at the Spoony Experiment.

2. I then picked 25 good facts to turn into jokes. Thus began a long process of finding the right kind of wording for each joke to match my style of humor. Joke writing takes a while – the right words will determine if your joke is passable or a real gem.

3. Once I had my jokes, I organized them into a point-by-point monologue, where one point transitioned into the other. This meant I had to cut a few jokes I rather liked. You can’t just slap any old joke in there – it’s gotta be coherent.

4. I rewrote each joke into a conversational tone to make them sound more natural during recording. This meant saying the jokes over and over again until, again, I stumbled on the right wording. Spoken humor, like stand-up comedy, is a far different beast than written humor, so it has to be treated accordingly.

5. When I was satisfied with the new rewrite, I recorded each joke as a seperate line to mix together into the final product.

6. I gathered a bunch of images and a background song, then mixed them all together with the recordings in my movie editor. After that, I outputted the final video and sent it off to the roastmaster for integration into the full roast.

This roast, while not as involved as my Space Quest 5 series, was still challenging in its own way. I had a blast, and I’d love more opportunities to do this kind of work in the future. (Feel free to drop me a line if you know anyone who needs to get burned!)

I join forces with several prominent forumgoers of The Spoony Experiment to roast Noah Antwiler (The Spoony One) for the three year anniversary of his website! I really enjoyed writing this roast, and I’d love opportunities to write more in the future. Thanks for all the years of entertainment, Spoony!

I’ve been a bit tardy, but trust me, I’ve got some new stuff to make up for it. First off, I continue with my Nights Into Dreams comic book review over at CBO Productions . Even the joy I get from insulting bad comics doesn’t make me feel better about how long it took to get this review out. I guess I should try harder to focus on my work and finish what I

Next, we have a guest post about the Sega Master System over at vintage tech blog Retro Thing. Yes, I was one of those children who had a Master System instead of a NES. It’s not my fault – my dad bought it when I was real young. It’s not like I could set up the situation before I was born. “Yeah, we’re gonna have to get an NES instead of that Master System deal. Oh, and when I get to elementary school, I want everyone to be my friend so I don’t sit alone at lunch.”

Enjoy, and stay tuned – I’ve got a lot more stuff in the works, and I’ll always let you know here when something new comes up. (At least, when I remember to update.)

If you all didn’t catch it when I first posted the link like an obsessed social media hound, another new article is up on DirJournal.com. In this one, I talk about the Internet and why people are jerks on it. Really, if everyone adopted my poise and grace, the Internet would be a much nicer place to be. (Even better, Timecube would only be an item you find in a video game.)

Go ahead and read it here! And while I’m at it, go ahead and check out my guest post at AllFreelanceWriting.com, Becoming A Freelance Writer In 5 Easy Steps. (NOTE: Steps may not actually be easy or useful.)