—Thanks to Anna for this idea.

It’s been mentioned here before: Too much Dark, Heavy RP tends to drag down RP all together. Even incredibly dark stories like The Road have moments of levity and joy. An equally problematic style, one that we haven’t delved in too deeply, is the “Super Happy Fun” style. The character who is always up to wacky, zany hijinks! The goofy, funny, not-a-serious-bone-in-his-or-her-body that is always doing something comical.

Funny is good. Comedy breaks up emotionally heavy moments into something palatable. But all comedy, all the time, does not allow for any significant character development. As fun as it may be to play the goofy character, it is not necessarily fun to play with the Goofy Character.

Think back to grade (primary) school. There was the Funny Kid and the Class Clown. The Funny Kid knew when it was a good idea to be funny and when to be quiet. The Class Clown, as funny as he or she could be, got the class in trouble. The Funny Kid knows when the joke is old. The Class Clown rarely does. It is infinitely preferable to work with the Funny Kid than the Class Clown.

But wait Bricu–some of you might say–Comedy is a defense mechanism against a tragic, chaotic home life. And I reply. Yes, learning to be funny can be a coping mechanism for addressing terrible and traumatic events. That is still different from being the Class Clown. A number of comics and comedians talk about how they survived school because they were funny. But when they talk about their experiences, one will notice that they say, “they knew when to be funny.” This implies that they also knew when to be serious.

Comedy has its place in RP. The point is to balance the comedy in a fashion that will not annoy the people you RP with. Here are a few quick pointers:

In the spirit of full disclosure, I need to point out that I tend towards darker, meaner stories (I blame my Irish sense of melancholy, the Vertigo Line and Marvel Comics). I try to rely on banter to bring the tone up. How do other people the Funny Kid and the Class Clown?