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I highly recommend that you read the first two articles in this series before continuing, for obvious reasons. In the first two articles we discussed the element of surprise and a simple formula for constructing a joke. Based on that one formula alone, you could write an endless amount of jokes. This is fine if you’re happy with a series of unrelated jokes. You have a nice collection to choose from when it comes time to incorporating humor into your presentations or your cocktail parties. But what about taking it to the stage? Many comedians will stand up and rattle off random jokes, one after the other. That’s acceptable. You should strive to connect the jokes with a common thread. This makes it easier to remember and gives your show more depth than just rattling off one-liners. At some point you will want to start organizing your jokes if you have more than a handful. There are many ways to do this, from the card catalog to your daily blog. I like to save my material in several places so that if something happens to one collection I have a backup. You will want to start organizing your jokes by topic. And often topics will overlap so you may want to develop an organizational system with several layers. When you’re sitting down to write jokes (preferably every day) it can often be overwhelming to come up with random joke ideas. It is easier to start with a topic and devote your creative time to that topic. Let your creative juices flow. Write without thinking. Do some brain mapping – which is where you write your topic in the middle of the page and draw lines out from all directions. At the end of each line, write down a tangent of that topic and ideas can spin off from that. For example, you might pick today’s topic to be women’s magazines. Some spin off topics could be women’s ads, models, buying things we don’t need, the articles, etc. Remember that this is a creative process. This is not the part where you are worried about throwing out funny jokes. This is the part where you are looking for the insightful truth on which to base your jokes. When picking a topic, it is important to pick one that you have some strong feelings about. Don’t pick schools if you have nothing to say about schools. You are looking for topics that create emotions in you, and not positive emotions. Nobody cares about the things you like or that make you happy. We care about the stuff that makes you mad – the things you don’t understand – the ironies you find in the world around you. Bring out your inner sarcasm. In the comedy world we have four words that are commonly known as the attitude words. They are the standards by which you can apply your topics. They are as follows: WEIRD, HARD, SCARY, STUPID. Write them down. Memorize them. Tape them to your journal. You can create a lifetime of comedy with these four attitudes alone. Just take your topic and ask yourself what is weird about that topic, what is hard, what is scary, and what is stupid. If you don’t have an answer then you don’t have a basis for jokes. Move on to something else. When you ask yourself the question with your attitude words, then answer it. There is the basis of your humor. There is where you will start creating setup phrases. Make sure that what you find weird about your topic, others will also find weird. Your goal is to find things that people universally can relate to. And when you answer your question, you will assume that it’s a truth about that topic. For example, “You know what’s weird about relationships? Your dying to get in one. And once you’re in, you’re dying to get out.” That’s something that most people can relate to. You don’t want to say, “You know what’s weird about dating a chick from Yugoslavia?” Most people can’t relate to that. Find something more universally understood. Please understand that this will be hard at first. I have been a writer all my life and I had a really hard time when I first started trying to write standup comedy. And it hasn’t really gotten any easier. I’m just used to it. Now I know when to scrap something that’s not working without beating myself up over it. Now I know that I can spend hours writing just to get one good joke. But it does work if you keep at it.
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international joke of the Day |
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| Posted by Christopher M. Kohnen on 14-Aug-2005 | - you're not offended by the term "homo milk"
- you understand the phrase "Could you pass me a serviette, I
just spilled my putine."
- you eat chocolate bars not candy bars.
- you drink POP not SODA
- you know that a mickey and 2-4's mean "part at the camp!!"
- you don't care about the fuss with Cuba, its a cheap place to
travel with good cigars.
- Pike is a type if fish, not part of a highway.
- You drive on a highway, not a freeway.
- you have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.
- you know that Casey and Finnigan are not part of a Celtic
Musical Group.
- you are excited whenever an American television show metions
Canada.
- you know what a touque is.
- you design your halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
- you live in a house with no front step but yet the door is one
meter from the ground.
- your local paper covers the national news on 2 pages but
requires 6 pages for hockey.
- your know four seasons: winter, still winter, almost winter
and construction.
- you understand the Labatt Blue commercials.
- you perk up when you hear the theme from Hockey Night in
Canada.
- you are in grade 12 not 12th grade.
- "EH" is a very important part of your vocabulary.
- you actually get these jokes and want to send them to your
friends.
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