27: How to Write a Joke – Quick Fix Friday

In today’s episode of Quick Fix Friday, we’re going to talk about how to write a joke. Joke writing can come in handy, not only if you’re a comedian, but for speakers or anyone doing a presentation. Everyone loves a little humor in a presentation. What you might not know is that there is a structure to getting a good joke right….so lets take a look.

The basic joke has three elements and only two of them are really required.

• The setup –  which is talking about the situation or what people need to know about the joke in order to get it.
• The punchline – typically something unexpected that happens and is the funny part.
• The tag (optional) –  is typically an extra punchline, and sometimes it can be the funniest part.
• The callback (optional) –  which could be another joke later that references an earlier joke.

Some of the basic tips for writing a good joke:

• Keep it really short
• The setup should only contain what is truly necessary for someone to understand the joke
• If you have a funny word that’s in the joke, try and put the funniest word at the end of the joke
• If you’re going to have a list,  three things are the best number for a list, and you can throw something funny and unexpected as the third item on the list
• Write every single day!!

Let’s dive in.

Catch up on the interview and my top takeaways in these other episodes:

• Episode 25: Interview with Stephanie McHugh
• Episode 26: 3 Tips to Get Started in Standup Comedy – Top Takeaways from Stephanie McHugh

Resources Mentioned in the Episode

• Hapit – Habit Tracker (Apple users)

Read The Transcript Here

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Watch The Episode Here