the theory behind creating jokes and comedy sketches, explaining the fundamental structures of setup and punchline while revealing the secrets of absurd associations that make us laugh.
Just like in UX design, where we create intuitive user journeys through pattern recognition, comedy relies on understanding and manipulating familiar narrative paths to evoke laughter.
if the punchline is a surprise feature, it should delight, not confuse!
For example: The setup (“My grandfather had the heart of a lion”) makes us recognize the first pattern: Brave grandfather. The punchline (“and a lifetime ban from the Central Park Zoo”) makes us switch to the second pattern: Grandfather holding an actual heart of a lion. The “Heart of a lion” is the common aspect, one thing that has two wildly different interpretations, one element that belongs to two entirely unrelated patterns.
Build ob dual use words
write a joke, we need to find two patterns that are
that are connected by one thing. Then we can write a setup - a statement that leads people to recognize the first pattern, and a punch line - a statement that makes them switch to the second pattern.
To write a joke, we need to find two patterns that are connected by one thing. Then we can write a setup - a statement that leads people to recognize the first pattern, and a punch line - a statement that makes them switch to the second pattern.
The less two patterns belong together (the “farther” they are from each other, the more absurd their juxtaposition is), the funnier the joke will be.
example, “Cat” - “Paws” - “Dog” is a valid association, but it’s not funny or interesting, it’s too obvious. “Cat” - “Nine Lives” - “Video Games” is much better, because we don’t normally associate cats with video games.
need to be able to find absurd associations, surprising connections between unrelated ideas.
Comedy is search Comedy is search, you're searching through a network of ideas, trying to find find an unexpected connection between wildly different patterns.
there are many instances where there just isn't an interesting connection between patterns. That's okay, it simply takes time to run through a few dozen ideas until you find an interesting one.
For example, take two random topics "Athletes" and "Trains". List the aspects of each of these topics, and see if you can find a way to connect them, find something they have in common. Athletes are training (sounds like a train), trains can run on time (athletes run). So we end up in the same situation - absurd association between unrelated patterns. And from this, we can write a joke, like: Two guys walk out of a gym. Guy 1: Oh, man, I feel like I've been ran over by a train. Guy 2: I guess that's why they call it training.
The farther apart two patterns are from each other, the more different they are, the less they belong together, the more contrast there is between them - the funnier the joke will be.
Some jokes have multiple punch lines (called "tags"). To create a tag you need to swap more than one aspect, come up with more examples of applying one pattern to another.
the theory behind creating jokes and comedy sketches, explaining the fundamental structures of setup and punchline while revealing the secrets of absurd associations that make us laugh.
Just like in UX design, where we create intuitive user journeys through pattern recognition, comedy relies on understanding and manipulating familiar narrative paths to evoke laughter.
if the punchline is a surprise feature, it should delight, not confuse!
For example: The setup (“My grandfather had the heart of a lion”) makes us recognize the first pattern: Brave grandfather. The punchline (“and a lifetime ban from the Central Park Zoo”) makes us switch to the second pattern: Grandfather holding an actual heart of a lion. The “Heart of a lion” is the common aspect, one thing that has two wildly different interpretations, one element that belongs to two entirely unrelated patterns.
Build ob dual use words
write a joke, we need to find two patterns that are
that are connected by one thing. Then we can write a setup - a statement that leads people to recognize the first pattern, and a punch line - a statement that makes them switch to the second pattern.
To write a joke, we need to find two patterns that are connected by one thing. Then we can write a setup - a statement that leads people to recognize the first pattern, and a punch line - a statement that makes them switch to the second pattern.
The less two patterns belong together (the “farther” they are from each other, the more absurd their juxtaposition is), the funnier the joke will be.
example, “Cat” - “Paws” - “Dog” is a valid association, but it’s not funny or interesting, it’s too obvious. “Cat” - “Nine Lives” - “Video Games” is much better, because we don’t normally associate cats with video games.
need to be able to find absurd associations, surprising connections between unrelated ideas.
Comedy is search Comedy is search, you're searching through a network of ideas, trying to find find an unexpected connection between wildly different patterns.
there are many instances where there just isn't an interesting connection between patterns. That's okay, it simply takes time to run through a few dozen ideas until you find an interesting one.
For example, take two random topics "Athletes" and "Trains". List the aspects of each of these topics, and see if you can find a way to connect them, find something they have in common. Athletes are training (sounds like a train), trains can run on time (athletes run). So we end up in the same situation - absurd association between unrelated patterns. And from this, we can write a joke, like: Two guys walk out of a gym. Guy 1: Oh, man, I feel like I've been ran over by a train. Guy 2: I guess that's why they call it training.
The farther apart two patterns are from each other, the more different they are, the less they belong together, the more contrast there is between them - the funnier the joke will be.
Some jokes have multiple punch lines (called "tags"). To create a tag you need to swap more than one aspect, come up with more examples of applying one pattern to another.
