Joe Toplyn

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Galleries
    • “Late Night with David Letterman”
    • “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”
    • “Monk”
  • Events
  • Media Page
  • Contact

Tag Archives: Black Friday

Joke About Black Friday Shopping

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Joe Toplyn

The joke:

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, and the crowds are huge. Over 600 people are in line waiting to get into some stores in California…and those are just the shoplifters.

How I wrote it:

I wanted to write a joke about Black Friday because it’s an annual event and it was in the news again. But the event by itself has only one topic handle: “Black Friday.”

So I used my Punch Line Maker #2: Link the topic to pop culture. To do that, I brainstormed associations of “Black Friday,” one of which is “crowds of people at stores.” That association called to mind other stories in the news, which were about crowds of thieves and shoplifters stealing from stores in California. So I wrote a punch line that links Black Friday shopping to the mass robberies in California.

When I fine-tuned the topic, I used my Joke Maximizer #3: Backload the topic. I did that by moving “the crowds are huge” to the end of the sentence. Those words in the topic relate most directly to the punch line.

I also backloaded the angle, for a different reason. I moved “in California” as close to the punch line as possible. If I put it earlier I thought my audience might guess the punch line, and my Joke Maximizer #5 is “Don’t telegraph the punch line.”

I close the number 600 because it’s large but plausible. If the number were large but implausible, say 6,000, then I thought it would distract the audience. And a distracted audience may not laugh as much at the punch line when it arrives.

Posted in Joke Writing Workshop | Tags: Black Friday, California, robbery, shoplifting, smash-and-grab, theft | Leave a comment |

Joke About a Naked Man

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Joe Toplyn

The joke:

In NC, police at a shopping center arrested a man on Black Friday who was sitting in a car naked. Police said the naked man reminded them of Small Business Saturday.

How I wrote it:

When I read this fertile news item I thought, “There has to be a joke in there somewhere.” The reason I thought that is because the handles “Black Friday” and “naked man” each have a lot of associations.

To write the joke I started with Punch Line Maker #1: Link two associations of the topic. The handle “Black Friday” has as one association “Small Business Saturday.”

As I brainstormed associations of the other handle, “naked man,” I borrowed a technique from my Punch Line Maker #5 and visualized the topic. I formed a mental picture of a naked man sitting in a car, noticed his penis, and imagined it as exaggeratedly, humorously, small.

I got lucky that not only “small,” but also “business” could refer to the man’s penis. So “Small Business Saturday” made a strong laugh trigger to link the two topic handles.

To make the joke as funny as possible, I used my Joke Maximizer #3: Backload the topic. Specifically, I worded the topic so that the elements that the punch line depends on the most–“Black Friday” and “naked”–came as close to the end of the topic as possible.

I also used my Joke Maximizer #11: Don’t be too on-the-nose. An on-the-nose version of the joke would have ended something like, “Police said the man’s penis reminded them of Small Business Saturday”; not as funny.

Posted in Joke Writing Workshop | Tags: Black Friday, naked, North Carolina, Small Business Saturday | Leave a comment |

Sign up to get more tips and offers from Joe.

Joe’s Tweets

Joe Toplyn 9 hours ago

Today President Biden is hosting a Fourth of July barbecue at the White House and giving a speech. And this is interesting: Biden says he wrote the speech about the Declaration of Independence using the very same quill pen he loaned to Thomas Jefferson.

Joe Toplyn 12 hours ago

This joke about the Fourth of July...how was it written? Learn how in my two-minute Joke Writing Workshop: bit.ly/3abpVTs

Joe Toplyn 2 days ago

Air New Zealand is adding six sleeping pods stacked up like bunk beds to some of its airliners. The sleeping pods will be available in three sizes: Regular, Full-Size, and Mile High Club.

Joe Toplyn 3 days ago

It's the Fourth of July weekend. So if you love to see lots of fireworks and explosions, just go to the airport and watch people when they hear their flights are canceled.

Joe Toplyn 4 days ago

Two women were arrested at a Bangkok airport after 109 live animals were found in their two suitcases. On the bright side, airline officials said the animals had more room in the suitcases than they would have had in economy class.

Joe Toplyn 6 days ago

An Idaho man broke a Guinness World Record by walking 3.4 miles while balancing a guitar on his chin. But this is weird--then Guinness gave him an expensive new guitar, with no strings attached.

Categories

Pages

  • About Joe
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Media Page
  • Photo Galleries
    • “Late Night with David Letterman”
    • “Monk”
    • “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”

Recent Posts

  • Joke About the Fourth of July July 4, 2022
  • Joke About Revlon’s Bankruptcy June 20, 2022
  • Joke About the Series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” June 6, 2022
  • Joke About Overpriced Beer May 23, 2022
  • Joke About National Teacher Appreciation Day May 9, 2022

Pages

  • About Joe
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Media Page
  • Photo Galleries
    • “Late Night with David Letterman”
    • “Monk”
    • “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”

Archives

  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • February 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014

Categories

  • Joke Writing Workshop (348)
  • Late-Night Writing (13)
  • Writing Tips (12)

WordPress

  • Log in
  • WordPress

CyberChimps WordPress Themes

© 2014 Joe Toplyn. All Rights Reserved.