Comedy is not for the weak of heart

Have you ever watched the Simpsons, and said to yourself "Hey! I can do that!"? If so, then you would be terribly, terribly wrong. Comedy is a harsh mistress. There is nothing worse than writing a complete comedy bit, which seems like it is hilarious, only to realize upon reading it back, it is either not funny, or someone has done it better. It can destroy your soul.

To illustrate this point, I give you some random bit I worked on once.

Breaking up 101 (conflict resolution): It's not you, it's me
Breaking up 102 (Philosophy): I feel like our lives are guiding us towards different objectives.
Breaking up 103 (Statistics): There are plenty of other fish in the sea.
Breaking up 104 (Statistics): (pre-req: breaking up 103)We've grown apart. You were on your way up, while I was on the down and outs. We are still roughly parallel, but the ever so slight tangent is carrying me irrevocably towards an asymptotic relationship with the "x axis" I guess I'll see you at the bottom of the bell curve.
Breaking up 105: (oceanography):Not necessary to complete if breaking up 103 has been completed.
Breaking up 106: (poly sci):You're the devil.

Now, it passes the funny test in my opinion. Not hilarious, but chuckle worthy. I especially like the last comedy beat. The problem is that Every fucking college student since 1981 has had a similar, if not exact replica of this bit hanging on their wall, in poster form. I wish I could tell you that this was immediately apparent, but that would be a lie. So caught up was I, in the process of funny production, I didn't realize that I was raping a dead horse. In my defense, this is easily the most hackish bit I have ever written. Yet I keep it around as a reminder.

Once more to the Grindstone, dear hacks!