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How to Write a Joke. Want to be the life of the party? … Or the business meeting? … Or
the hostage situation? A great joke can put any audience in the palm of your hand. You
will need A sense of humor A tape recorder An honest friend and an audience. Step 1.
The best jokes come from personal experiences and observations. So search your own life
for funny memories, and carefully observe the world around you, staying on the lookout
for events and situations that tickle your own funny bone. Step 2. Do some research.
Read other jokes and pay attention to how the words are arranged. Listen to other jokes
being told, and study their delivery. Pick the jokes apart. See how they’re structured.
Listening to comedy albums is a great way to learn. Pay as much attention to the audience
as you do to the comedian. What are they laughing at—and why? Step 3. Write a setup. Most
jokes consist of two parts: the setup and the punch line. The setup is usually a question
or observation about someone or something that’s more or less straightforward. Step
4. Now write a punch line. The punch line is an unexpected and humorous response to
the setup. A good punch line should flip your audience’s assumptions on their head. Timing
is essential to a good joke. Experiment and adjust your timing to get the biggest punch
from your punch line. Step 5. Ninety percent of a joke’s success is in its delivery.
Record your joke so you can hear how it sounds to others. Practice it with a funny, honest
friend. Hone the joke by changing words and adjusting emphasis. Step 6. Now that you’ve
got your setup, punch line, timing, and delivery down, it’s show time—go find an audience
and knock their socks off. Just make sure everybody goes home with the right socks!
You get it ? Right socks ? Anyway … Did you know Laughter evolved from “play-panting”
among cavemen, but humans didn’t fully develop the facial muscles to control it until 2 million
years ago.