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Monthly Archives: July 2016

Joke About Pokemon Go Player Crashing

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Joe Toplyn

Setup: Man Crashes Into a Cop Car While Playing Pokemon Go

Punch Line: The good news is he found 3 in the holding cell.

Writer: Ray Topper

Joe’s analysis of the joke

Posted in Joke Writing Workshop | Tags: cop car, crashing, Pokemon Go | Leave a comment |

Joke About Smoking Outside Starbucks

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Joe Toplyn

Setup: Starbucks Bans Smoking Within 25 Feet of Stores

Punch Line: It’s impossible, within 25 feet, there’s already the next Starbucks.

Writer: Marco Arrigoni

Joe’s analysis of the joke

Posted in Joke Writing Workshop | Tags: smoking, Starbucks | Leave a comment |

Why Do People Not Like Puns?

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Joe Toplyn

A lot of people hate puns. They think puns aren’t funny. And often they’re right.

That’s because many puns lack one or more of the characteristics of a good joke.

For example, here’s the pun that, as I write this, has received the most votes on OneLineFun.com: “I’m glad I know sign language, it’s pretty handy.”

“I'm glad I know sign language, it's pretty handy.”

The reason that joke isn’t funny is because its topic—“I’m glad I know sign language”–isn’t true.

A good joke topic is true.

If you start a joke with a topic that your audience doesn’t believe, they’ll be focusing on that lie instead of paying attention to your joke.

Silvio Berlusconi signing

Your audience won’t be engaged by a topic that’s not true. Instead they’ll be thinking, “That guy doesn’t know sign language. He’s only saying he does to set up some tricky punch line to show us how clever he is.” Thus distracted, your audience won’t laugh.

Or take this next joke, #20 in an article on CollegeHumor.com entitled “20 Puns Even People Who Hate Puns Will Admit Are Good”:

A wall of china plates

The punch line of that joke–the photo of the plates–is visual. A visual punch line can theoretically get a laugh. But that visual punch line won’t because it’s not surprising.

A good punch line is surprising.

In a well-constructed joke, the topic and the angle (also known as the setup) lead the audience in a particular direction. The laugh comes when the punch line veers off suddenly in a new, unexpected direction.

But in the joke above, the setup (the words “Great Wall of China”) and the punch line (the photo of the plates) are both visible at exactly the same time. There’s no surprise in that, no sudden revelation of a truth, just, again, a demonstration of the writer’s cleverness.

But a punning joke that is well-constructed can get a big laugh.

For example, I wrote this joke and posted it on Comedywire.com:

Sheen pun

One reason that joke got a lot of votes is that it follows the rules of good joke-writing. The topic rings true: celebrities actually did pose for those photos. Who would make up an odd news item like that?

And the punch line is surprising. The wordplay–“crabs”–arrives at the very end of the joke, only after the topic and angle have misdirected the audience.

So don’t hate puns and other wordplay jokes. They’re not all bad, just the ones that are badly written.

3d2

Finding a play on words in the joke topic is what I call Punch Line Maker #4. Learn five other Punch Line Makers, and many more comedy creation techniques, from my book, “Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV.”

Posted in Writing Tips | Tags: charlie sheen, hate puns, hate wordplay, how to write puns, I hate puns, play on words, puns, puns are annoying, puns are bad, puns are dumb, puns are not funny, puns are stupid, why do people hate puns, why do people hate wordplay, Why Do Puns Make People Groan?, why people hate puns, why some people hate puns, wordplay | 3 Comments |

Joke About the Spice Girls Reunion

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Joe Toplyn

Setup: Spice Girls planning a reunion in 2017

Punch Line: To appeal to millennials they’ve added a new member, Pumpkin Spice.

Writer: Glen

Joe’s analysis of the joke

Posted in Joke Writing Workshop | Tags: Spice Girls, Spice Girls reunion | Leave a comment |

Joke About Scented Candles and Cancer

Posted on July 10, 2016 by Joe Toplyn

Setup: Scented candles may cause cancer.

Punch Line: Especially if you use them to light your cigarettes.

Writer: Brian Gershowitz

Joe’s analysis of the joke

Posted in Joke Writing Workshop | Tags: cancer, scented candles | Leave a comment |

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Joe’s Tweets

Joe Toplyn 23 hours ago

Yesterday was National Blame Someone Else Day. I was all set to write a great joke about it yesterday but Elon Musk distracted me.

Joe Toplyn 2 days ago

Today Elon Musk put his deal to buy Twitter "temporarily on hold" because he's concerned about the number of fake accounts. He said he could tell some accounts were fake because their tweets actually made well-supported points in a calm and respectful manner.

Joe Toplyn 3 days ago

This week NASA said that the James Webb Space Telescope has achieved perfect optical alignment. Apparently that involved focusing the telescope on a distant galaxy and asking it "Which is better? This?...Or this?...This?...Or this?

Joe Toplyn 4 days ago

Until recently North Korea claimed it had a perfect record in keeping out the coronavirus. But on Thursday North Korea reported its first coronavirus infection. Kim Jong Unhappy.

Joe Toplyn 5 days ago

Yesterday a former chemist for Coca-Cola was sentenced to 14 years in prison for stealing trade secrets for China. The Pentagon was very concerned. Apparently the Chinese were developing a powerful new missile propelled by Diet Coke and Mentos.

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