There needs to be, among aspiring screenwriters, a reality show in which you postulate and prove that your chosen TV comedy episode is better than any other. I would offer up this Will and Grace episode as a pure and successful contender.
The rules of comedy writing are universal and straightforward. But genius (in this case four separate writers working in collaboration) is in the funniest concluding line after each point.
The title is perfect. It not only echoes the central theme but it IS the central theme: "Advise and Resent."
We all dislike personal advice given us. Rare is the non-hateful reaction to our loving family/friends' advice. Take the following couples and show how we hate advice: Will Truman (male protagonist) receiving advice on a recent blind date he lost, from his similarly gay bestie, Jack; Will's co-protagonist, his lovely faghag bestie, Grace (Debra Messing as the best female protagonist comedy has seen since Lucille Ball) receiving advice from her superficial, alcoholic, drug-addicted, gorgeous New York Social X-Ray, (pseudo assistant interior designer) Karen Walker, neighbour of Meryl Streep, married to an obese, never-seen billionaire, Stanley, about how to get her pushover boyfriend to be more decisive, re which restaurants to attend,what to do on a date.
We do three scenes each of each couple: initial acceptance of advice. Learning why that wasn't a good idea; final attempt to fix problem the advisors gave. One roommate, Will, has therefore a problem getting a guy; his roommate/bestie, Grace with the opposite problem, an overly attentive lovesick boyfriend.
Comedy is the most difficult genre, we all know. This episode with its rich provision of character traits and background relationship exposition, the genuine funniness of every single finished unit, with the best one-liners in television ending each scene, is art. Sorry. It is art. I wish to challenge viewers unfamiliar with the recipe, that they find any successful, funny (your laugh count is the true test) episode of comedy, ever, that succeeds in laughs. Out loud. better than this episode. The four writers succeed in imbuing characters with background details and quirks, while making you laugh, thus enriching the entire texture of their intermingling needs in life and from each other.
In the end, we see problem-solving in relationships explored through several different couples. The use of juxtaposition of opposites is a liberating tool, used more than successfully.
Romantic Comedy (every comedy is romantic comedy, in the Shakespearian definition, and indeed by any definition, if the standard is laugh count.) But succeeding like this episode does (even if you have never seen an episode of Will and Grace) teaches the aspiring comedy writer how the structure itself allows the greatest freedom to the comedy writer to be just that: funny.
