Does anyone know who judges the stuff we send in ?. Obviously I think the captions I have sent in are far funnier than the actual winners[ as we all do !!!] , so I just wondered who these faceless entities are. [ God bless you all if you are reading this, you do an admirable job ]. What is their average age ?, What audience are we aiming at ? . You could argue that funny stuff is funny stuff, irrespective of who is judging it. Not so. On a recent pole of Talk Sport listeners, " My Family " was voted best ever sitcom, ahead of " The Office " and " Father Ted " so it's always good to know what you are aiming at.

Just to repond to my own message, When you have written something in the league of Father Ted Pete, maybe then you can then claim to be an authority on funny, just a thought.

I am judging much of the comedy on here and in the case of your work I am reaching for my black cap now...

Conker Media Ltd run the site, their staff judge some of the comps (particularly the caption comps), there are also guest judges too (e.g. Henry Normal) and also the rating system where site members can rate each others work.

Sometimes those ratings alone produce comp winners and sometimes it's a combination of the user ratings and the judges.

Either way the site is run by Channel 4 and sponsored by Nintendo so the 'House Style' tends to be 'topical/light-hearted' with a penchant for Reality TV and Celebrity related material (unsurprisingly perhaps... !!)

Frankie

quote:

Originally posted by Kent Pete:
When you've written something in the league of Father Ted Pete, maybe you can claim to be an authority on funny.

There is no authority in comedy. It's too subjective. What's funny for one is tedium to another. Everyone's opinion is valid as long as it is taken as that ... simple opinion. We are all experts in what is funny to us, but there the expertise ends. Just ask any commissioner why their 'dead certs' experience such drastic successes or failures.

As to who judges our comedy? The first and most important person is yourself. Without the ability to be harsh with your own work, your output will be diluted in impact. It is a perpetual task and an ever-evading skill that we can never master but control to increasing degrees. One answer to this is find a writing partner who is a friend as well as a critic.

I absobloominlootely agree with finding a writing partner if at all possible. It doesn't mean you are tied to each other (unless you are into that sort of thing)but it does help having someone to bounce off.

My bouncy castle got a puncture anyway.

Wow Kent Pete! You really are a curious kitten!

If you think your work is funny then it is - just maybe only to you. Comedy is subjective and the judging on this site is as random as I've ever seen.

I always take my work out of the equation as I know I could be biased but when i see some winners and the runners-up I often think the order should be a lot different. With captions, apparently, you get kudos for making a joke out of something that isn't obvious - unlike most other captions comps out there.

I just enjoy going through the process but you aren't the first to ask this question.