“Children grow up so fast these days. That’s the reasoning behind this latest addition to a beloved series of children’s books. It’s [HOLDS UP FAKE BOOK] Curious George and the hole in the wall of the girls’ locker room.”
That’s an example of a joke in a Desk Piece, a type of short-form comedy that’s popular on many comedy/talk shows. A Desk Piece is a segment of fully-scripted comedy that the host performs by himself while sitting at his desk.
Here’s how I wrote that joke. The process was very similar to that of writing a topical monologue joke, a process I cover in detail in my book Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV.
I started with the topic of the Desk Piece. The topic is typically a collection of things in a particular category, in this case “New Books.” Next I brainstormed a long list of angles off that topic, that is, types of real books. Here’s a partial list of those angles:
cookbooks * dictionaries * puzzle books * coffee table books * The Lord of the Rings * thesauruses * novels * atlases * children’s books * Mark Twain * celebrity memoirs * paperbacks * etiquette books * Curious George * biographies * encyclopedias * guidebooks * pop-up books * how-to books * photography books * manuals
To create the punch line I chose one angle–Curious George–and used my Punch Line Maker #3 on it, asking the question “What might a curious person do?” I answered that question using a surprisingly unwholesome association of “curious,” which is “spy on people.”
Finally I used my Joke Maximizer #9 (“Get specific”), devising a very specific Peeping George scenario, and arrived at the punch line: “Curious George and the hole in the wall of the girls’ locker room.”
“New Books” is what I call a Graphic/Prop Piece, one of the seven types of Desk Pieces I analyze in my own new book, Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV.
A footnote: I wrote that Curious George joke for Late Show with David Letterman in May 1998 but you’d never know it. It’s an example of evergreen comedy, comedy that has a long shelf life, usually because it’s not based on something topical but on a more lasting pop culture phenomenon.
If you’re preparing a writing sample to submit to a comedy/talk show, include a generous portion of evergreen comedy. That way your submission won’t seem too dated if it winds up sitting on the credenza of some head writer for months before it’s read.
I don’t know if this is an evergreen joke anymore…. Definitely a Letterman era schtick… 2 decades can change a lot.
If you’re saying that late-night shows don’t do as many Graphic/Prop Pieces as Dave Letterman used to do, I agree. I think the current shows are missing an opportunity there.
What if I’m trying to start a late night TV show in a close minded and conservative town? Do I care more about the ratings, or do I stay true to myself and allow myself to joke about damn near everything?
If you can finance your show out of your own pocket then you can make whatever jokes you want.
But if you hope to attract advertising dollars then, of course, you have to take the needs of advertisers into account as far as content goes. And if you want to attract more advertising dollars, you have to do comedy that lots of people want to see.
Ideally you can do comedy you’re proud of that your target audiences enjoy, too.
Beautiful joke, nice explanation. Thanks, Joe. (I’ll be curious to see how long it takes for this cover to become a meme that saturates FB.)
Thanks, Terry. As you know, a parody works best when its stylistic elements closely mimic those of the thing it’s parodying. A first-class production staff, like the graphic artist who nailed that cover artwork, really makes the writers look good.