Why I HATE The Stand-up Comedy Term “Joke Writing”
One of the reasons that I simply despise the stand-up comedy term “joke writing” is because it automatically generates the expectation that the path to being funny on stage is the result of “writing” something on paper or using a word processor that will magically be hilarious when spoken on stage.
There are literally hordes of people who struggle week after week, year after year trying to pan through written “joke” after written “joke” and develop their “joke writing” skills, only to discover that most of their “jokes” don’t generate laughter when delivered on stage.
In my professional opinion, I believe “joke writing”, as it is visualized and implemented by most people is one of the most stagnating and limiting aspects of comedy material development, especially for those who are naturally funny people wanting to take a real shot at stand-up comedy.
Unfortunately, the whole flawed process of traditional stand-up comedy “joke writing” is so massively ingrained in society at large, it is difficult at best for many to open up to a different approach to developing comedy material that has nothing to do with “writing” anything that “reads” funny from a piece of paper.
Don’t get me wrong—stand-up comedy material DOES have a structure and a rhythm (which can and should be captured on paper for editing purposes).
But you DON’T have to know one damn thing about “writing” anything that “reads” funny. You DON’T have to know anything about double entendres, comparisons, callbacks or any other “joke formula” method to produce great stand-up comedy material for the stage (provided you are a naturally funny person in the first place).
And if you don’t believe a word of what I am telling you, I challenge you to do these three simple things:
1. First, read these standard definitions used as the basis for the traditional “joke writing” structure:
Set-up Lines: The unfunny informational parts or segments of a stand-up comedy joke.
Punchline: The funny ending of stand-up comedy joke. The last part of a joke or funny story that delivers the meaning and the bulk of the humor in a surprising way.
Tag Line: A punchline that immediately follows a previous punchline.
Now tell me how ANY of those definitions will help you in ANY way “write jokes” that are funny for the stand-up comedy stage.
Let me save you some time—those definitions do absolutely NOTHING to help anyone “write” a funny joke, much less develop comedy material that is funny for the stage.
That’s like learning the definition of a carburetor and then magically knowing how to install one.
2. Next, transcribe just one minute of ANY well-known stand-up comedian who is killing an audience. YouTube is the place to go.
Then read what you transcribed. You will find that 95%+ of the time, great stand-up comedy material won’t “read” funny on paper at all.
3. Then, take any stand-up comedy joke example provided in ANY of the popular books on stand-up comedy and then tell me how ANY of those examples are going to help “write” funny stand-up comedy “jokes” for yourself.
Again, let me save you some time—you can’t. Your own sense of humor wasn’t used to produce the “jokes” being used as examples.
That’s like someone showing you a picture of a carburetor and then you magically knowing how to repair one.
To me, there is a HUGE difference between “joke writing” and comedy material development (which is MUCH easier, MUCH faster and far MORE effective).
So, is there a place traditional stand-up comedy “joke writing”?
Absolutely—in the Smithsonian Institute, right next to the Model T Ford. But I will let you be the judge of that. 
Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny for Money
About the Author/Founder of the SCP Blog
Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and is a globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development and presentation strategies -- for entertainers as well as speaking professionals.Please check out the Featured Articles page for direct links to articles on this blog for pro comedians, comedy entertainers, and speaking professionals.
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I have to admit I love the term joke writing. But I think I write from a different place. I have this theory that people, like myself, who are the “joke writers” like myself have an innate talent for identifying the “punchline,” which I would simply define as the line they expect to be funny or get a laugh.
They see those lines in everyday conversation and build stories around them using their life and experience.
I see that “funny line” and write backwards to the set up or the setting. Bare in mind, every comic has a different name for the word “punchline.” Jerry Seinfeld in Seinfeld on Comedy calls the punchline the “cliff,” or unexpected turn you’re going to make the audience jump from. Greg Dean has a similar name for it, calling it the reveal.
But the one common element for all names for punchline seems to be some element of surprise.
I would suspect a lot of people, in fact most, write comedy the opposite way; they simply write a setup, setting or premise and their natural sense of humor usually leads them to that line or part of a bit that will get the laugh, AKA the punchline or cliff. Their own personal POV guides them to end up the same place I start.
But let me be more specific. When I hear the phrase, “till death do us part,” my I recognize it’s a punchline as my mind immediately says, what idiot would ever promise that? You know she’s eventually going to want to kill you. If I know that I can turn that “punchline” into a laugh, I usually then ask myself, “Is this really something I would say or bring up?” In this case, I’ve never been married so the answer is no. It’s just not personal enough.
I think one of the things that helps me is I very much enjoy coming up with new material. Joke writing simply works for me. Or as I’d define writing material backwards from the punchline to setup feels a little less random and more natural to me. It’s also easier because I see punchlines all over the place. But that’s the key, it feels natural and works easily for me. I would never push it on anybody. But, at the same time, if I recognize someone is a “one liner”/ Mitch Hedberg/ Steven Wright type of comic, I would never discourage them either.
That said, even if you write backwards Steve is still right, if you transcribe my act, it still wouldn’t be funny, even though I call myself a one-liner comic. The reason is that it’s usally more than the punchline itself that makes it funny. Let me illustrate with another example.
There was this line where I said a cop pulled me over and asked, “Do you know why I pulled you over?”
I said, “Was it arson?”
The first time I did that was at a place called Jennifer’s Coffee in Studio City. No reaction at all. I assumed there was no value in the line. But I must have still really enjoyed the concept because it resurfaced about a year later. The line is so rooted in my sarcasm and the darker side of my personality, that it usually kills. The night it didn’t I pretty sure I wasn’t coming off as myself. So unlike the one observation about marriage that really has nothing to do with me, that one stayed.
And now I know, if I can’t get a laugh with it, I know my delivery is a little off.
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