4 thoughts on “Joke About Celebrities at the Inauguration”

  1. Dear Mr Toplyn,

    Your excellent book has helped me produce a range of excellent material that is always well received. Case in point: “When I went to the library, I noticed a number of huge, may I say, fat books on one topic–weight loss, shedding pounds, being lean…well, those books were anything but! Books promoting slenderness should be slender! No if, and’s, or buts!”

    Hope you write a sequel!

    -Izzy

    • I’m really glad you found the book helpful, Izzy. Thanks for telling me!

      If I write a sequel, what subjects do you think it should cover?

      Keep having fun with your writing!

      • Dear Mr. Toplyn,

        That is, indeed, a challenging question as your book is pretty comprehensive. Your book offers a somewhat algorithmic method to joke creation–which is fantastic! I would love to read more how one can fashion a joke that suits his/her style and can make that joke one’s own. Comedians make jokes—but each comedian has his or her style infused in the joke so that you can identify, without much guesswork, who the author of it was. So I would love to see how different well-known comedians craft a joke and how they add their won personal touch to it so we can all learn to be unique joke makers, not generic one’s. I can tell, for example, whether a joke came from John Oliver, Conan, or Colbert. How do you develop your own voice in joke making? Also, I would love to see more examples of the concepts illustrated in your book.

        Because your book is so excellent, I cannot think of any other ideas, but I will voraciously devour any future book you publish!

        Thanks Joe for bringing joy to the world at large!

        -Izzy

        • Thanks very much for your thoughtful suggestions, Izzy.

          My book focuses on how to write for a typical late-night host. Because most late-night hosts try to appeal to a mass audience, much of their comedy is similar. I actually think that if somebody read me monologue jokes delivered by Fallon, Meyers, Colbert, and Conan, it would be a challenge for me to identify which host told which joke.

          But you’re right, each host does have a slightly different style. For example, Fallon’s political jokes tend to be gentler, and Colbert’s more pointed.

          So if you’re customizing a joke for a particular host, or for yourself, just adjust the details, like the topic of the joke, the choice of words, the degree of brevity of the joke, and the associations assumed by the joke (e. g. what associations you think your audience will make when you mention President Trump).

          By the way, for more examples of my joke writing techniques in action, you can read the weekly blog I post on comedywire.com:

          https://medium.com/@comedywire

          Thanks again for your support!

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