The Ten Commandments of Comedy. Gene Perret
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comedy is when you expect something to break and it only bends. Some people contend that comedy is a battle of wits with your audience. Each of you is trying to outwit the other. Generally, the comic wins and the audience laughs in acknowledgment of how they’ve been duped. There’s truth to that because most people in an audience try to write the finish of the joke before the comic can utter it. However, the comedian, with good material, preparation, and knowing where he or she is headed, should out-clever the audience.
Timing is an important facet of surprise. You want to give the listeners time to start thinking of a punch line, but not enough time to outdo you, the comedian. This is like trying to upset someone by pulling the rug out from under them. That’s certainly a surprise, but only if you time it right. Of course, if you tell the victims that you’re going to surprise them, you won’t be able to pull off the gag because they won’t step onto the rug. However, even if you do dupe them onto the rug, you still have to time your action properly. Pull it too soon, and they won’t be standing on it yet. Pull it too late, and they’ll be gone when you pull it. Pull it at the exact right time—surprise!
There are several techniques for generating the surprise.
One device comics use is to misdirect the audience—to lead them like the Pied Piper, then suddenly change direction on them. Henny Youngman’s classic, among the most perfect one-liners ever written, employed misdirection:
Take my wife … please.
The first three words lead everyone to believe the comic is saying, “Let’s use my wife as an example.” But no. With that fourth word, he lets his listeners know that he is literally pleading for someone to take his wife. The misdirection is wonderfully effective.
Consider also this line from Rita Rudner:
I love being married. It’s so nice to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.
It certainly starts out on a positive note, but Rita was only playing with our minds, misdirecting our thoughts.
Shock is another technique for creating surprise. Blue humor falls into this category. When stuck for an ad lib or a punch line, some comics use shocking language. It gets laughs because listeners are surprised that anyone would use that language in public. Insults are another form of shock laughter. Don Rickles may say to another performer:
I’ve known you for a long time, right? We go back a long ways. I must tell you in all sincerity, I never liked you.
We laugh at that because it’s shocking, surprising, that one person would so blatantly say that to another.
One actor who did a Mark Twain performance would enter from the back of the hall, unannounced and unnoticed by the audience. From there he would pronounce loudly:
This is the worst looking crowd I’ve ever seen.
People laugh and applaud at the unusual beginning of the performance. During the applause, “Twain” ambles to the front of the hall and onto the stage. When the applause dies down, he gazes out at the audience and says:
You don’t look a heluva lot better from up here.
It’s so audacious and shocking that it generates a very appreciative laugh from the onlookers.
Traditional comedy wisdom advises putting the key word at the end of the sentence because this technique enhances the element of surprise. It’s similar to cracking a whip: You can swing a whip as hard as you want, but it will not crack until you change its direction. It’s the sudden snapping of the whip in the opposite direction that causes the loud report. Similarly, your comedy will crackle when you have that surprise close to the end of the sentence. There is a book titled Marriage is Forever... Some Days Longer. It’s the last word that gets that whip to crack.
It’s not always possible to put the punch word at the very end of the sentence, but as the following joke demonstrates, it still helps to get it as near to the end as possible:
My friend is so cheap, he not only has the first dollar he ever made, but also the arm of the man who handed it to him.
Sometimes simply revealing keen or eccentric observations to an audience furnishes the surprise. The humorist mentions some phenomenon that should have been obvious, but no one except the humorist seems to have noticed it. The surprise is when the audience realizes that they should have seen this before. It’s true. It was right before their eyes, but they failed to recognize it so they laugh in surprise when the comic points it out. Jerry Seinfeld’s observation falls into this category:
You know what I don’t understand. Why do skydivers wear helmets?
George Carlin also asks:
Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?
Another simple way of furnishing surprise is by a sudden change of expression, pitch, or loudness. Sometimes a comedian can just make a face and it gets a laugh. It’s an expression we didn’t expect. Often a comic will speak in a normal voice and then shout for some reason or another. The change of volume is a surprise. As a standup comic, Jim Carrey peppered his routines with goofy, ridiculous faces and poses. They got laughs. Picture the antics of Harpo Marx. He never spoke professionally, but some of his sudden and surprising moves and faces were hilarious.
Another technique is to surprise the audience by allowing them to mentally complete your joke for you. Imply your punch line rather than coming right out and declaring it. Say it by not saying it. The surprise here comes from the audience automatically supplying your intended punch line and taking great pleasure in doing so. The following Henny Youngman gag is a good example of this technique:
I haven’t spoken to my wife in three years. I didn’t want to interrupt.
Notice that the comic doesn’t come out and say that his wife talks a lot. However, his meaning is abundantly clear. The audience “gets it.” They’re proud of having “gotten it,” and they laugh.
Here’s a brilliant Rita Rudner line that also illustrates this technique very well:
I was going to have cosmetic surgery until I noticed that the doctor’s office was full of portraits by Picasso.
Rudner doesn’t say why she changed her mind about having the cosmetic surgery performed, but the audience figures it out. Having figured it out provides a nice, pleasant surprise that generates laughter.
There are many other ways to amaze, astound, and surprise an audience. Each comic may develop his or her own arsenal of tricks. More than the specific techniques, though, the key element here is to remember that if you want people to laugh at whatever you’re saying or doing, there’d better be a surprise in there for them. It’s the First Commandment of Comedy.
II
THOU SHALT BE TRUTHFUL
Humor must be based on truth. Regardless of how wacky, bizarre, outlandish, or downright crazy your punch line is, it must spring from a truthful premise. Consider the following routine:
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