How to Write a Joke for Stand-Up

Comedians say stand-up is the truest test for a comedy writer. If you can write a good stand-up joke, then you have the basic building blocks to write good sketches and scripts. Learn how to write a stand-up joke.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pen
• Paper
• Audio recorder

1. Get out a pen and paper and begin jotting down words that have meaning to you. To jog your brain, think of the different areas of your life, e.g. work, family, school, etc.

2. These words will become your topics. Pick one topic and write down 10 things you hate about it or 10 things you find strange about it. These don't even have to be complete sentences. It could be as little as a few words. For example, under work, you might put, "I hate my boss because he's always telling me what to do." Later on you can repeat this step for another topic.

3. The first thing any good stand-up jokes starts with is an emotion. By listing things you hate or find strange, you're already starting from an emotional place. Now take one of these phrases, such as, "I hate my boss because he's always telling me what to do," and try to think about how you can see this from a funny perspective. Maybe it's funny because telling you what to do is the boss's job. Write down 10 different ways your phrase can be funny.

4. Now you're ready to start building the joke. You need a set up. It could very well be that the phrase you came up with in Step 2 is your set up. Also the emotion that you selected is likely the beginning of your set up. For example, "I hate bosses because they're always telling you what to do."

5. Now you need to tag on the funny. The funny part for the joke, or the twist, should take the premise and turn it on its head a bit. So using the example we've been using, "I hate bosses because they're always telling you what to do. Why can't they just tell you what not to do. It would make things so much simpler."

6. Now to step the joke up a notch you need an act out. An act out is the part of a joke where the comedian literally acts out part of his joke. For our example, the act out could be a boss telling his employee not to sleep on the job. The employee then gladly obliges and takes out a bottle of liquor, a joint and an adult magazine from his desk.

7. Once you've done this to create a few jokes, record them. This way you can play them back to see if they sound right. You might have to edit word by word to get the best joke. An extra syllable can alter the timing.

Tips & Warnings

• Try writing a little everyday. It's like exercising a muscle.
• Use your everyday experiences to come up with joke material.
• Find a writing buddy to help bounce joke ideas off of.
• Always tell the truth in your jokes. You can be funny, ironic and wacky, but never lie about who you are. So if you're single, don't talk about your spouse. The joke never is as good as when it comes from a place of truth.

[my10cents]

on 4/12/2009 Very helpful advice. thanks:-)