Nine Examples

Before we dive in in to how to write a joke, I want to show you nine examples of different forms a joke can take.

Cartoon

Oneliner

“There’s nothing so tragic as seeing a family pulled apart by something as simple as a pack of wolves.”

Dialog

From “The Golden Girls” Season 5, Episode 10 “All That Jazz”:

Dorothy: Rose, what are you listening to?
Rose: A relaxation tape. The rain is supposed to relax me.
Dorothy: Is it working?
Rose: Not really. I keep worrying that I left my car windows down.

Wordplay

I googled “how to start a wildfire”. I got 48,500 matches!

Poem

The Life of a Food Critic

The table unstable, the waiter unable
The salad a pallid affair
A soup like a scoop of gelatinous poop
And smack in the middle: A hair

The stew I review with just two words: It blew!
But to list all the faults one by one
Is something I’ll do the next time I’ll pass through
Until then I love you, your son

Barjoke

An exercise for people who are out of shape: Begin with a five-pound potato bag in each hand. Extend your arms straight out from your sides, hold them there for a full minute, and then relax. After a few weeks, move up to ten-pound potato bags. Then try 50-pound potato bags, and eventually try 100-pound potato bags. Once you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag.

Absurd Humor

Two muffins in an oven. The first one goes: “Hot in here, isn’t it?”
The other one says: “AAAAAAH! A TALKING MUFFIN!”

Physical Comedy

The clown Grock is sitting in front of the piano and tries to reach the keys but he sits too far away. So he gets up, rolls up his sleeves… walks around the piano and tries to push it nearer to his seat.Source

Prop-Comedy

Carrot Top shows the audience a spray can with a dictionary attached to it and explains, that with this the kids wouldn’t misspell their tags anymore.Source