shortest words possible and the monologue, as a whole, is marked
by compression. Remember, "brevity is the soul of wit"--never
forget it.

4. Vividness

If a successful monologue writer has in mind two gags that are
equally funny he will invariably choose the one that can be told
most vividly--that is, the one that can be told as if the characters
themselves were on the stage. For instance, the words, "Here stood
John and there stood Mary," with lively, appropriate gestures by
the monologist, make the characters and the scene seem living on
the stage before the very eyes of the audience. That is why the
monologist illustrates his points and gags with gestures that
picturize.

Every gag and every point of great monologues are told in words
that paint pictures. If the gag is supposititious, and the direct
right-here-they-stood method cannot be used, the point is worded
so strikingly, and is so comically striking in itself, that the
audience sees--visualizes--it. [1]

[1] Walter Kelly, "The Virginia Judge," offers a fine example of
the monologist who makes his words picturize. He "puts his stories
over" almost without a gesture.

Unlike the playlet, the monologue does not have flesh-and-blood
people on the stage to act the comic situation. The way a point
or gag is constructed, the words used, the monologist's gestures,
and his inflections, must make the comic situation live in vivid