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Nov 24, 2023 · Discover how to write stand-up comedy in our latest article. Learn how to structure a stand-up set and how to go about writing your fabulous new comedy set.
- The Strengths & Weaknesses of Different Comedy Styles
- Video Link: Comedy Styles PowerPoint Lesson
- One-Liners
- STORYTELLERS
- OBSERVATIONAL VS EXPERIENCE BASED
- CURRENT EVENT HUMOR
- The second problem with current event humor has a short shelf life. It
- UNIVERSAL HUMOR
- SUMMARY & TAKE-AWAYS
- What Makes a Great Setup?
- A setup contains all the information an audience member needs to get
- It is VERY easy to slip into a “Comedian mind set” while writing. It will
- Summary: Setups
- Characteristics and Structure
- Structure
- them all wear dresses“
- WRONG KEYWORD PLACEMENT
- Length
- Another option is to delete any words that don’t support the joke. These
- Summary: Punchlines
- Tag Lines
- Summary: Taglines
- From Conventional Jokes to Comedic Stories
- How Audiences Process a Joke (And How To Boost Your Laughs)
- Constructing
- Reckoning
- Resolving
In this lesson, I’ll introduce you to various styles of comedy and give you a few examples of each style in action.
Here’s what you need to know before we dive in: You do not have to choose only one of these styles... especially early on. If you still consider yourself a beginner then play around with each style. Do a one-liner, follow it with a current event, then use that as a reason to tell the audience a short story. It’ll make writing more fun and give t...
One-Liner comedians use quick, snappy lines that have all the information you need to get the joke. They bounce around from topic to topic with little or no segue. The best things about one-liners are also the worst things about them: They don’t require long setups, segues, or even logical sequence. You can easily jump from one joke to another....
Storytellers tend to be better at expanding their original material than one-liners but not as good at coming up with as many premises. A storyteller takes a single premise and makes it into an entire, logical story. The premise doesn’t necessarily unfold as you’re going along. Usually the story starts as a single joke that snowballs into an entir...
There’s a continuum in comedy between observational humor and experience based humor. Where you are on this continuum will likely change throughout your set, but most comedians tend to be pulled towards one side or the other. Observational humor is based on your view of the world. It’s about taking everyday things and putting them into a new light...
Current event humor is exactly what it sounds like. It deals with what’s going on in the world today. Current event humor is a great way of leading off a show. Since the audience knows you haven’t been repeating this line for the past few years they’ll draw the conclusion that the rest of your material is coming off the top of your head as well. I...
gets dated very quickly. It doesn’t matter how well-written a joke about Michael Jackson is... The king of pop is dead. So are jokes about him.
Universal humor is where you’ll be spending most of your time. Universal humor can be used anywhere. Everyone will understand it. It works exactly the same in New York City as it does in whatever the capital of Kansas is. If you want to tour the country with your comedy act you must use universal humor. Local humor deals with what makes a us differ...
Don’t stress about what style of comedian you should be. Play around and let the style choose you. You are allowed to jump between styles inside the same performance. One-Liner jokes are easy to learn, but almost always sound unnatural Storytelling is more difficult to learn, but is a more natural and allows stories to build momentum. Observational...
This lesson will introduce a few important characteristics of setup lines. Later on, we’ll explore how audiences put together the setup and punchline to understand a joke. Punch lines are only funny relative to the setup. If the setup is weak, it won’t matter how good the punch line is, it’ll fall flat. You may have noticed when watching comedy tha...
the joke: words, gestures, voice, context, expressions, POV, opinions, mood, etc. It’s very easy (and common) to think of a setup as just words. Many studies have been done on communication and they all come up with basically the same number. Only 7% of communication is VERBAL. All the rest of communication is through tone of voice and body languag...
make you sound hack every single time. That’s because when we’re writing with a “Comedy mindset”, we make this unnatural mental switch to how we THINK a comedian SHOULD write. All of a sudden we put a filter over every idea. We don’t let anything get through the filter unless we think it sounds like a comedian. This means that EVERYTHING you write ...
Setups are how audience members “construct” an understanding of the joke Setups should be extremely easy to understand (clear and concise) Setups should not have TOO MUCH information in them Setups shouldn’t just “describe” a situation. It should also tell the audience your opinion or POV. Setups can be interesting and engaging by themselves. Don’t...
Punchlines, simply put, are the payoffs to your setups. The audience (and the audience ALONE) decides if something is funny. You’re the writer, not the judge. The first time you perform, you’re giving the audience your best guess at what will work. As you gain experience you’ll learn how to get really good at guessing, but it’s still a guess. You...
Like setups, punchlines need to be natural. If a punchline is unnatural or out of context the audience will sense how forced it is and your comedy will feel awkward. The punchline is where you find the surprise. All of comedy is based on some type of surprise. I think of it as ‘playful surprise.’ It’s not enough for a line to contain a surprise. It...
Keywords are the words in a sentence that define the meaning of the sentence. You can also think of them as “the word(s) in a punchline that make the punchline funny.” When C.K. said “...make them all wear dresses” the audience finally understood the entire meaning of the sentence. Before that they were all still waiting for more information. Not...
“I was reading about Bill Gates, the owner of Microsoft... He has 85 billion dollars. You know what you could do with 85 billion dollars? You could make them all wear dresses by buying every baseball team. Another characteristic of keywords is that they often end in a hard consonant such as “B (bu)”, “C (ku)”, “D (du)”, “F (fu)”, “J (ju)”, “K (ku...
Punchlines should be short and sweet. Think of the punchline like a whip. You want that extra snap in it to get the full effect. If your setup is too long, you’ll lose that extra snap to it. And the snap is what gives it its power. A whip works the same way a punchline does. It creates it’s energy with a quick movement- in then back out. There are ...
are extra words that were most likely left over from your first draft and no longer have any use. They were stepping stones. Leave them in the river and move on. The last option you have is to abbreviate words in the punchline. The easiest way is to use contractions.
Let the audience have the final say about whether a joke is funny or not Keep the audience demographics in mind (i.e., age, sex, religion, etc.) A punchline is a “playful surprise” Keywords define the meaning of a punchline and are usually at the end of a joke After the keyword, the audience should have all the information they need to understand t...
A tagline is a punchline on top of a punchline. It’s that simple. To go back to our conversation analogy it’s when you’re friend makes a crack and then you quickly reply with your own joke that plays off his. You’re using his punchline as your setup. Here’s an example from Mitch Hedberg: “You know when it comes to racism people say ‘I don’t care i...
Taglines are punchlines on top of punchlines Taglines aren’t just “alternate punchlines.” They use the last punchline as a setup.
This section will go over how humor is created in both conventional jokes and through comedic conflict.
Comedic conflict and joke-telling are not completely inseparable. A joke is simply a setup/punchline structure that is designed to create a comedic conflict. All jokes create comedic conflict, but not all comedic conflict is created from jokes. Understanding comedic conflict greatly increases your repertoire as a comedian. The audience isn’t passi...
Constructing is how the audience builds an understanding of a joke. As the audience listens to a joke, they take all the information (the comedian’s words, gestures, voice inflections, situation, etc.) and try to put it all together in a meaningful way. For example, take this setup (we’ll add the punchline later): A woman gets on a bus with her bab...
Reckoning is what makes a joke into a joke. The audience recognizes an inconsistency or a problem with their original understanding of the story – their prediction was wrong. The incorrect prediction forces the audience to rethink the setup. For example: A dyslexic man walks into a bra... The word “bra” breaks your prediction. You’ve heard enough ...
During the construction of a conventional joke, we gathered information about the joke and created a prediction. Moving into the reckoning phase, we learned that our prediction (or representation) was wrong. Resolving the joke is the last step. It answers the question, “If my first idea was wrong, then what’s right?” Think of it as the moment you...
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Whether you’re an aspiring comedian or someone who loves a good laugh, understanding the mechanics of a joke can enhance your appreciation for the art. And if you’re considering a stand-up comedy class, these insights are a great place to start. Happy laughing!
Aug 23, 2021 · How to Write Stand-Up Comedy in 6 Easy Steps. So, you think you’re funny? If you’re considering a career as a stand-up comic, get a pen and paper—a lot of paper. As any successful comedian will tell you, writing jokes day in and day out requires a serious commitment.
Let’s take a close look at two different “conventional” definitions for set-up lines and punchlines — one from a typical “stand-up comedy tips” blog and the other from an established and published stand-up comedy “guru”. Next >>> This lesson reveals the issues surrounding stand-up comedy set-up lines and punchlines.
- Steve Roye
Jun 24, 2024 · If your family and friends have told you that you are a funny person, you might want to try stand-up comedy! If you’re interested, writing stand-up is definitely something you can learn to do—all it takes is some creativity, practice, and the willingness to test your jokes in front of an audience.
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Jun 24, 2024 · The setup should be as short and tight as possible. You want to establish the context for the joke without rambling on too long. The Punchline: This is the big laugh line. The setup should lead the audience to one direction, and then you should surprise them by going off in a different direction.
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