Tragedy is a type of comedy. And it's my favorite type of comedy.
But if you want inspiration for tragedy, you have to dig up those memories you've tried so hard to forget.
So let's get personal. (Everything about to be disclosed is 100% true)
In fourth grade, when I was taking the state board exams, in a silent classroom, I farted so loud that it literally scared everybody that was present, including the teacher. It was a loud fucking fart. And I wasn't even that humiliated. I thought it was funny. But what was so horrible was that after the test, Emily Kasta, my "girlfriend" at the time, dumped me because of the fart. I even remember asking her, "was it because of the fart?" And she said, "no," but I knew that was a lie. If I never farted, I probably would have married Emily. I cried like a little bitch on the bus all the way home.
Growing up, I always resented my younger brother because he was always better at sports, school and being a decent human being. But one time, in fifth grade, during summer camp, my brother was getting bullied by Tony Cullen. So I pushed Tony and told him to "fuck off." Tony then told the counselors that I pushed him and that I said the f-word. I really hated that guy Tony. So, after that, the counselors made me do 100 pushups (for the pushing and the cursing) in front of the entire camp. Everybody was laughing at me, calling me names and making me feel worthless, including my younger brother that I was originally trying to help out. Last time I help that little shit.
So, in high school, we used to play this game in the basement where one person would jump off the wall and try to see how far out into the room that person could land. So, one time, when I attempted to jump off the wall, my foot went right through the wall. I made a big fucking hole in the wall. I immediately knew that I would have to pay for it and I would probably get in a lot of trouble. So, I pretended that my foot was broken. I played it so well, too. I yelled, and cried in pain, but I didn't over-do it so it seemed unbelievable. Until, my mother (who is a doctor) took me to get x-rays. After the x-rays, my mother told me that I never broke my foot and it was okay. I tried telling her that my foot probably just healed. She didn't believe my bullshit and made me pay the four hundred dollar fee to fix the wall.
The first time I went down on a girl, she literally stopped me, told me it was the worst thing she had ever experienced, and walk out. That was fun.
And there's many more where that came from...
So why am I sharing these stories with you?
Because (I believe) in order to make something funny, and I mean actually funny, there needs to be some truth behind it. Larry David, writer of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, takes ideas from his every-day experiences. And he creates such honest, real, and funny television. I feel, in any kind of comedy, there needs to be some sort of truth behind it. And that's why I decided to share these personal, and humiliating stories. Because, now that I look back at them, they're hilarious. They're tragically hilarious. And that's what I want my film to be like.
