One of the things I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that it’s tough—if not impossible—to get the right information if you don’t know the right questions to ask.
I also know that many of the questions people consider “right” won’t actually produce much in the way of meaningful information at all.
So I’m going to tackle a seemingly simple and straightforward question in this article, which is:
How long should a stand-up comedy joke be?
Before I continue, let’s start with some background info related to finding the answer to that question.
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Stand-up comedy involves talking. Duh.
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Talking (verbalizing words and sentences) consumes time.
Note 1: If you’ve ever been exposed to a boring lecture, you know five minutes of the teacher talking can feel like an hour (or longer).
Note 2: There’s usually someone at the back of a comedy room who gives you “the light” when your allotted time on stage is up.
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Every stand-up comedy “joke” has a setup and at least one punchline. Delivering both takes time.
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There are 60 seconds in a minute. Duh again.
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Comedians who generate 0–1 laughs every 1–3+ minutes are bombing (aka engaging in public self-humiliation).
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Comedians who “kill” an audience generate an average of 4–6+ laughs every performing minute.
Note 1: You can verify this by watching stand-up videos of your favorite comedians on YouTube. Count the total number of laughs in a video and divide by the number of performing minutes.
Note 2: Top comedians often hit 8+ laughs per minute over extended parts of their set.
I haven’t broken any “new” ground with the info so far. Everything above is either known or easily verified.
So, with that basic info in mind, grab ANY popular stand-up comedy book (#ad) or other resource you’ve got and try to find the answer to this:
How long should a stand-up comedy joke be?
Realizing that this single question might be too broad, here are some related ones:
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How many words should a stand-up comedy joke be?
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How many sentences should a stand-up comedy joke be?
Can’t seem to find anything in those books (#ad) or resources that answers those questions either?
Now that’s odd—especially considering that virtually ALL those resources focus on “writing” in the traditional sense.
In other words, they zero in on words and sentences, almost to the exclusion of everything else, when it comes to “writing” stand-up material. Which is interesting because…
We don’t just use words and sentences when we talk—we express ourselves using congruent modes of communication (body language, facial expressions, voice inflection, tone changes).
Seems like that should count for something, given the fact that this is why talking takes less time and involves fewer words than writing.
We’ve already established that talking takes time (just check how many cell phone minutes you use in a week or month to confirm that).
Here’s another related question that might shed some light on how important it is to know how long stand-up comedy jokes should be:
If a comedian takes 60 seconds to set up and deliver a punchline (that actually gets a laugh), how many laughs can they get in a 3–5 minute routine?
Here’s the hard answer:
It doesn’t matter. The comedian is bombing. They’ll continue to bomb at that laugh rate, no matter how long they’re on stage. They need serious help if that’s the case.
So, back to the question at hand:
How long should a stand-up comedy joke be?
Now, there’s probably someone reading this who would say:
“Well, there’s no way to determine how long any specific stand-up comedy joke can be.”
And my reply would be:
That’s correct. You can’t determine how long any specific joke should be—and it wouldn’t be prudent to spend your time doing that, generally speaking.
However, structuring a stand-up bit or routine properly can have a huge impact on producing an act that delivers 4–6+ laughs per minute—if you take into account key factors like:
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Setup line length (talking before a punchline)
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Punchline length (talking to deliver a punchline)
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Punchline frequency (how many per minute)
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Punchline intensity (how long the audience laughs)
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Timing (giving space for the audience to laugh, etc.)
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Audience size and seating (affects frequency and intensity)
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Normal speech rate (how fast the comedian talks)
So maybe some better questions to look for in your stand-up comedy books and other resources would be:
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How do these factors affect the stand-up comedy material I’m developing?
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How can I use this info to my advantage?
Oh wait—can’t seem to find anything about these aspects in those popular how-to books (#ad) or resources focused on how to “write” stand-up jokes?
That’s odd, because…
Otherwise, how would anyone know how to produce—let alone edit—stand-up comedy “jokes” or material in any meaningful way to get 4–6+ laughs per minute from the start?
Like I said at the beginning, it’s hard to get the answers you want and need if you don’t know the right questions to ask in the first place.