Comedy Made Easy. David Kline Lovett
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at End
It is important to put your funny line, word, or phrase at the very end of your joke. If the key word isn’t last, you will be stepping on your laugh or speaking while the audience is laughing. YOU DON’T WANT TO DO THAT. Talking when your audience is laughing will train the audience to not laugh.
For example, let’s use the famous joke by Henry Youngman: “Take my wife…please.” This is a classic joke and is perfect to use for learning. If he were to say “Please take my wife,” the joke doesn’t work. The punch word or phrase simply must go last.
Exaggeration
What helps with the second story is to make it big. Exaggerate as much as you can. The first story needs to be realistic and believable. In fact, if you are talking about yourself, your setup must be basically true. You don’t want to say you are single and five minutes later talk about your wife. With the second story all bets are off, the crazier the better. We love a good fish tale. An audience wants to believe the unbelievable. Make your second story bigger, harder, faster, louder, smellier, more colorful, and stronger.
Surprise
The basis for any joke is a surprise at the end. When the audience knows exactly where you are going it’s just not going to be as funny. It’s the shock that generates the laugh. It shows that you are intelligent for writing something that the audience didn’t expect to hear.
Persona or Point of View
Persona, or point of view, is a specific emotional attitude that a performer utilizes for their entire act. An example is Rodney Dangerfield, who never got any respect. His act was a perfect example of self-deprecating humor, which was his overall persona. Sam Kinison’s point of view was simple. He was angry, loud, and hostile. When a comic has a consistent persona or point of view, it is easier for an audience to follow and keep up with what the comic is saying.
Two-Step Humor Model
1. Write about a common problem, something at which you are annoyed, something about which you have hostility, and state it in the first story. Make sure it is a common annoyance so your audience will relate.
2. Create an unexpected ending or surprise.
Conclusion
Any good building has to have a solid foundation; the same goes with a joke. With a foundation or structure you will have an easier time writing your jokes. With these basic structure techniques you will be able to build your jokes with ease. The 123 joke templates at the end of the book will help you do this.
Definitions: Basic Structure
| Pick Your Topic: | what you are going to talk about. |
| Association List: | a list of things that are related to your topic. |
| Attitude: | an emotion; anger, love, joy, hate, hard, easy. |
| Targets: | where or to whom your joke is aimed. |
| Punch Premise: | negative aspects about a narrower aspect of your topic. |
| Setup Premise: | the opposite of the Punch Premise. |
| Setup: | a clear, well-understood preamble for the joke. |
| Assumptions: | what can one assume regarding the setup. |
| Class of Two Stories: | the setup and the second story with the surprise. |
| Punch line or Second Story: | the payoff; the surprise line that generates the laughter. |
| Punch at End: | the last word or phase of your joke, where your audience laughs. |
| Exaggeration: | stating something excessively. |
| Surprise: | the funny is in being tricked or surprised. |
| Persona or Point of View: | perspective of the comic’s character or thinking. |
| Two-Step Humor Model: | hostility and twist at the end. |
Time To Play
Pick a topic and make an association list of at least ten items. Write a first story (setup) about one of the associations. Make your assumption the opposite of what you believe about your topic association. Then write a second story (punch line), telling your truth about the first story.
Here is an example:
Topic: my ex-wife
Associations: making love, shopping, fun times, horror, frustration, cheating, stealing
First story: my favorite time to make love with my ex-wife was…
Second story: when she wasn’t home
Your turn:
Topic ____________________
Association List
First story:
Second story:
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