More Things to Think About

Good to bad, bad to worse

“Marriage is a wonderful invention: then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.”

When we go back to Joke Theory, a joke is a mental attack that turns out to be benign so we need an attack. And it’s rather seldom that an attack is positive. So try to go from good to bad or from bad to worse. Additionally the surprise and the contrast between the assumption and the end is bigger if one starts positive.

Be as specific as possible

The devil is in the details. And as it turns out so are Joke Ideas. Comedy is sometimes described as painting a picture in the head of the listener. And details are what will make your comedy painting become alive. A car is not just a car but a Tesla. Because a Tesla says so much more than simply “car”. People know what it looks like, the kind of people who would drive such a car, etc.

But when I say be as specific as possible you still need to make sure the audience knows what you are talking about. There is such a thing as being too specific. Or do you know what a “Venturi 400 GT” looks like?

Comparisons

Think about comparisons whenever you are looking for a Joke Idea. And I’m not speaking about the clichéd “The [insert one group of] people do it like this, [insert other group of] people do it like that” - comparison but comparisons in general.

Keep an eye out for The Same, Not the Same and The Opposite.

The Same (Convenient Juxtaposition)

The Same applies when one thing is true in both parts in what you are comparing:

“Remember, when you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It is only painful for others. The same applies when you are stupid.”

“Life is like a box of chocolates. It doesn’t last long if you’re fat.”

Not the same

Not the same applies when something is different to humorous effect.

“My neighbor’s dog brings her the mail. Mine brings me the mailman.”

The Opposite

The Opposite is just that: Think of the opposite of whatever you are trying to make funny and maybe you will hit the jackpot.

“It turns out that if you bang two halves of a horse together, it doesn’t make the sound of a coconut.”

Similes and metaphors

When you are working with Comparisons you will probably at some point use a Simile or a Metaphor. It’s not necessary to know their definitions but it’s useful to have heard it at least once so here we go:

“A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things. Similes differ from other metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as “like”, “as”, “so”, or " than”, while other metaphors create an implicit comparison (i.e. saying something “is” something else).”

Simile

“A spa hotel? It’s like a normal hotel, only in reception there’s a picture of a pebble.”

“I met sweaty Sharon. It was so hot in that office. She looked like a bit of wet scrambled egg in a chair.”

Metaphor

“Marriage is a wonderful invention: then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.”

The Rule of Three

Two is the smallest amount of elements needed to create an assumption. Compare these two tasks:

1. Complete this: 1, … ?

2. Complete this: 1, 2, … ?

Only in the second one we can be reasonably sure what is asked of us because of the (apparent) pattern. And that’s what comedy writers have been exploiting for forever: The Rule of Three. The Rule of Three is called the Rule of Three because it takes only two elements to set up an assumption, but a third to surprise us.

Or as the wonderful comedian Richard Henning puts it in an article:The Article

“The first thing in the list introduces the idea, the second thing reinforces it, but then the third thing (using the comedic law of surprise) deviates from what is expected.”

Let’s look at an example by Jon Stewart:

“I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invite everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.”

And another one by Laura Kightlinger:

“I can’t think of anything worse after a night of drinking than waking up next to someone and not being able to remember their name, or how you met, or why they’re dead.”

So whenever you are searching for an idea, be on the lookout to go “Zig, Zig, Zag”.

Pullback and reveal

The term Pullback and Reveal originates from film making: The camera pans out and reveals more of the scene which changes the context of what we have been seeing, often to humorous effect.

Comedy writers do the same by revealing relevant information at the end of the joke.

“Apparently one in three Britons are conceived in an IKEA bed which is mad because those places are really well lit.”

So whenever you are reviewing all your gathered information, try to find opportunities for a Pullback and Reveal.

Brainstorm a (specific or random) second topic and try to connect it to the first one

If you have exhausted your original Topic, one thing you can do is to brainstorm a (random) second topic and try to connect the new elements to the original elements.

If there isn’t an obvious choice for a second topic (dogs/cats, travelling/staying at home, etc.) you could brainstorm a Recurring Second Topic like elections, the weather, holidays, seasons, etc. That way you might get a joke with an additional “topical” heft to it.

Small excursion: Topical Heft

In the eyes of the audience being topical, aka being able to joke about current events (news stories, responding to a comment of an audience member, etc.) is impressive and thus will respond with more enthusiasm.

It reinforces the “This is live!” - factor which creates a stronger bond between you and the listeners.