Friday, June 19, 2015

Killer timing: why comedy and crime writing share a secret weapon

When it comes to structure and plotting, standup and crime fiction employ the same tricks, explains bestselling author and ex-comic Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham:
Mark Billingham: ‘Attention has got to be grabbed.’ Photograph: Charlie Hopkinson
This July, at the Theakstons Old Peculier Harrogate crime writing festival, I’ll be talking to the acclaimed comedian Eddie Izzard. In fact, there is something of a comedy/crime theme running throughout the festival this year, with Lee Child interviewed by Rory Bremner and Fred MacAulay in conversation with MC Beaton. So why this comedy/crime overlap? What is the connection between the two? Is it just that a lot of comedians are fans of crime fiction, and crime writers like to take some time away from all that blood and bad behaviour to watch standup?

Having worked professionally as both a standup comedian and a crime novelist, my own theory is that writing crime fiction and performing comedy have far more in common than might first appear. While the subject matter of my novels could not be further removed from the stuff I used to trot out at the Comedy Store, the delivery of the material employs many of the same techniques.

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