The Formula
The formula, the recipe, the structure of a joke is as follows:
“Disappoint an assumption by fulfilling a second assumption in a surprising and satisfying way.”
Let’s split this up again and match parts of the formula to the definition of the Mechanism of a Joke:
“Disappoint an assumption…” is the part we shift away from in the sudden cognitive shift. The assumption is composed of either prior knowledge or information that has been communicated in the first part of the joke.
“… by fulfilling a second assumption in a surprising and satisfying way.” is the part we shift to during the sudden cognitive shift and corresponds to “A joke adds information in a way that triggers a sudden cognitive shift.”
And more importantly, it also tells us how to achieve the sudden cognitive shift.
But let’s unravel it step by step.
Let’s define: Assumption
Simply put an assumption is something we accept as true or as certain to happen, without proof. And we all do this constantly. It’s central to our survival because we couldn’t live our lives without for example assuming that gravity won’t just stop working any second now. We assume that cars will stop when we have the green light or that people accept our money when we try to buy groceries.
Comedy writers use assumptions to trigger a sudden cognitive shift by fulfilling a second assumption which isn’t anticipated by the recipient of the joke. Some comedians use the word expectation instead of assumption. I prefer assumption over expectation because it is passive and thus something we all do without thinking about it. For me, expectation has the connotation of something you do actively. And I believe in order to create an effective sudden cognitive shift, it’s better if the audience isn’t even aware where they are going to shift away from.
Let’s define: Surprising
Surprising means just that: You didn’t see it coming. Because if you saw it coming there would be no sudden cognitive shift and thus no laughter.
Let’s define: Satisfying
Satisfying, in this book, means three things which have to be true at the same time for a joke to properly work. These three things are:
1) Humorous
2) Harmless
3) Compatible
Now we have already defined humorous as follows:
1) Cognitive - One has to think: “Oh this is funny.”
2) Physical - It needs to elicit a grin or laughter
3) Emotional - It needs to lead to a feeling of amusement
I know, I know… Why include humorous as a condition when creating a Formula for writing jokes? Isn’t that obvious? Well in this case it’s all about intent. Take another look at the horror example from the chapter about the Script-based Semantic Theory of Humor:
“I love your face. I love everything about it. That’s why I’m wearing it right now.”
This example works exactly according to the Formula. It creates an assumption that they admire our face in a normal way and then fulfilling said assumption by stretching of what we understand when hearing “love a face” in an extreme way to displaying said love by wearing the face.
So yes, we need humorous.
Let’s define: Harmless
Harmless basically means that the recipient of the joke enjoys the benign violation it has to offer. It also neatly explains why a joke can never truly be funny to everybody: It will always be funny to some, too benign for others and too offensive for the rest. On top of that it explains why some people laugh when watching a horror movie: They are emotionally distanced enough to the subject and that horror for them is a violation that is at the same time seen as benign/harmless.
Let’s define: Compatible
Compatible means that the result of the sudden cognitive shift or better said where we arrive after the sudden cognitive shift…
1) … makes sense in the comic world the joke creates.
Or differently put: Adheres to the rules of the world or the form of the joke. And by that I mean the following:
The world a joke creates doesn’t need to adhere to “normal” logic. Take another look at this Yo Mama - joke: “Yo mama so old, I told her to act her age, and she died.” No mama would die because she suddenly acts her age but in the comic world the joke creates it is the logical thing to do.
Absurd Humor sometimes breaks the rules of how a joke is supposed to work but thus adheres to Form and the rules of Absurd Humor. (See Absurd Humor in the Nine Examples)
2) … and doesn’t break the original assumption or exposes it as (completely) untrue.
If the end of our joke isn’t compatible with the beginning it will be surprising but not satisfying. Or at least not as satisfying as it could be. Let’s take a look at this joke by Tina Fey:
“In a study, scientists report that drinking beer can be good for the liver. I’m sorry, did I say “scientists”? I meant Irish people.”
Did you laugh? Maybe. But I believe that straight up lying in the setup by calling the people “scientists” and later changing it to “Irish people” hurts the enjoyment of the joke because we didn’t fool ourselves by interpreting something different than the writer meant.
No, we got fooled by having gotten wrong information on purpose. In a way a good joke can be like a crime novel: The clues have been there from the start but we just didn’t pick up on it. But if the author would just write something that turns out to be not true and simply finishes the crime novel by saying the gardener did it, we wouldn’t be happy. At all.
Now Tina Feys joke still works because:
We recognize the cliché “the Irish drink a lot” and “Irish people” also makes sense with the second third of the joke: A cliché irish person would try to justify his or her drinking by saying it is actually good for the liver. Secondly the structure of the joke is exactly how a joke is supposed to be structured: There is the setup and the surprise. It is just not as satisfying as it could be.
And finally: It is one joke. If the jokes before and after it a are properly compatible, the comedian can get away with it. If it’s just jokes which aren’t fully compatible I’d wager the audience would start to loose trust in what the comedian says and maybe even start to try to think about what is wrong with the setup. And an audience preoccupied with thinking and analyzing isn’t an audience that is laughing.
But let’s go back an take a closer look at the definition of compatible:
1) … makes sense in the comic world the joke creates (Or differently put: Adheres to the rules of the world or the form of the joke. Absurd humor sometimes breaks the rules of how a joke is supposed to work but thus adheres to the rules of absurdist humor.)
2) … and doesn’t break the original assumption or exposes it as completely untrue.
So 1) simply states that a joke can have its own logic and rules. If we take for example the before-mentioned “Yo mama”- joke:
“Yo mama so fat, she’s on both sides of the family.”
We all know that to be on both sides of the family simply by that amount of weight one has is an impossibility. But it being a joke it still makes sense in the comic world the joke creates.
And 2) “and doesn’t break the original assumption or exposes it as untrue” means that after the sudden cognitive shift has occurred the original assumption makes sense or even better now makes more sense because we can perceive the original assumption and the correct interpretation of the original information at the same time.
For an example let’s take a look at one of the shortest jokes ever by Henny Youngman:
“Take my wife… please!”
The original assumption is that the comedian wants to use his wife as an example and we assume the phrase continues along the lines of something like “Take my wife. She’s… an excellent accountant but still makes only 80 % of what her male colleagues earn.”
But by adding “… please!” he disappoints our original assumption and we understand that he literally wants us to take his wife off of his hands.
If that didn’t make it clear let’s look at this math problem: 2 + 2 = ?
If we answer with 2 + 2 = 5 the answer is surprising but not compatible.
The reasons for that are several: 5 doesn’t adhere to the inner logic of 2 + 2 which HAS to be 4 and it breaks the original assumption of what 2 + 2 should equal. Also when after 2 + 2 we are presented with 5 as the solution we can’t go back as the recipient of the joke and understand where we went wrong in our assumptions. All things “Take my wife… please!” let’s us do.
Let’s define: …by fulfilling a second assumption…
Fulfillinga second assumption basically means that you give an answer or a solution to the comedic problem which is surprising, yet logical.
A very simple example would be the following:
What is 2 + 2?
Most people would immediately answer with 4 and it would be correct but not surprising. So how do we fulfill 2 + 2 in a surprising way? Take a look at this:
2 + 2 = 1 + 3
We still get the sum of four but we are surprised. Not much, but it is not the first correct answer that comes to mind for most people. And even more importantly: We are still satisfied with it because the answer is compatible with the original problem/assumption. It is logical, yet surprising.
Perfect comedic examples of this are all the “Yo Mama” - jokes:
“Yo mama so old, I told her to act her age, and she died.”
“Yo mama so fat, she’s on both sides of the family.”
These jokes are telling you what they are going to do (Give examples on how old/fat/etx. yo mama is) and fulfill a second assumption in a surprising and satisfying way. The second assumptions which are fullfilled are different (and comedic) interpretations of “how old” and “how fat” yo mama is. We assume the answers to be in the realm of normal answers (old = years and weight = kilos), but we get answers that stretch the truth for comedic effect. Which the audience accepts and thinks of as compatible because they have been primed for jokes by the traditional joke structure that “Yo mama” - jokes follow.
Now the second assumption can either…
1) … replace the original assumption by creating a new image. Or by creating a connection between two things where the audience assumed wasn’t one. Look at this example:
“Rice is great if you’re hungry and want 2000 of something.”
2) … or fulfill a second interpretation of the first assumption.
“Take my wife… please!”
Final thoughts
So folks, there you have it. That’s how you construct a joke.
“Disappoint an assumption by fulfilling a second assumption in a surprising and satisfying way.”
Now to apply this hard-won formula we need to come up with a Joke Idea, which we can shape according to the Formula.
Joke what?
Joke Idea. But before we get to that, let’s first deepen our understanding a little bit by thinking about why we laugh sometimes twice at the same joke, why following a joke formula won’t make your material lack authenticity and then analyze a few jokes with our newly achieved understanding of how they work.
And even before that… you know it. You love it. It’s…
SUMMARY TIME
Grab your pen! Get some paper and now: Summary. Five sentences! Go, go, go!
THE ONE THING
Write down THE ONE THING which was most useful to you from the chapter.
Now think about one way you can incorporate THE ONE THING in your comedy writing right now. WRITE! IT! DOWN!
EXERCISE TIME
Remember YouTube? And when we watched a comedian you liked and tried to spot the sudden cognitive shifts? Good times. Please watch it again, but now be on the lookout for assumptions and if they get fulfilled or disappointed.