About Authenticity

Some people stay away from comedy writing books because they fear that learning a certain process for coming up with jokes or learning a joke formula will lead them to only write one kind of joke: A formulaic one.

Even other authors of comedy writing books argue that by writing jokes “by the numbers” they will end up lacking authenticity. For example Jared Volle writes in his book “Playfully Inappropriate”:

“Joke formulas have a similar problem. The “real you” is stripped away while completing steps that have nothing to do with your unique sense of humor. Broken Assumption joke formulas typically require these steps:

1. Begin with a topic.

2. Brainstorm a list of possible assumptions that the audience will create.

3. Choose an assumption and then invert it.

4. Write the setup so that it forces the audience to create the safe assumption from step 2 and write the punchline to break that assumption using the inverted assumption from step 3.

At exactly which step are you supposed to be unique and different?”

Naturally I disagree with this.

Yes, if you start with generic topics and don’t dig in to find your personal Angle of Attack or find your unique Subtopics, you maybe will write generic jokes.

Is that bad? Not necessarily. Not for practicing your joke writing, no.

If you are just looking for assumptions and second assumptions to fulfill in a topic, you will probably end up with jokes that can be told by anyone and get a laugh.

But again, is that per se a bad thing? Absolutely not. If you look at one of the best oneliner comics ever, Tim Vine, he writes perfectly crafted jokes that can get a laugh even if you just read them. But add to that his perfomance, they truly come alive and you would be wrong to call his sets lacking authenticity.

A good way to look at the Formula and the processes to come up with jokes is to compare them with snowflakes: All snowflakes are created by the same rules of physics. For example every snowflake has six sides. But because each snowflakes’ journey through the air is different, the sides will be unique to that specific snowflake.

Writing jokes is the same: Every joke is structured in a similar way. Each one is supposed to have sudden cognitive shift. But in the end, each joke says something different or expresses something in a new way.

Hopefully something uniquely you.

The Misunderstanding

I think, where joke formulas are misunderstood, is that you are not supposed to start with them.

The Formula isn’t your starting point when you want to write the joke. The starting point is not even the Joke Idea.

The starting point is what you want to say.

Let’s go back to the start: What is the definition of a joke?

“A joke conveys information in a funny way.”

And a good grasp of the Formula will help you express your own, original, thoughts in a funny way that much faster.

Remember the quote at the top of the chapter “How to Write a Joke”?

“A comic says funny things. A comedian says things funny.”

You might have problems with authenticity if you tell every joke that you come up with with no regard of if the joke actually suits you and your personality. And in the beginning that will happen no matter what. Because you are just starting out, trying your hand at this comedy thing. These are the only jokes you have and that is more than okay. These are your practice jokes.

You wouldn’t fault a basketball player for practicing shooting hoops from the three-point line over and over, right?

The same applies when you go looking for assumptions you can subvert. These are the fundamentals of writing jokes. Practice them any way you can. When you have them down cold, you can express yourself through your joke writing so much more easily.

And I believe anything you come up with is fundamentally you. Could have someone else come up with it? Maybe. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that you created something. And that in itself is something to be immensely proud of.