Tag Archives: moon

Joke About a Younger Moon

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The joke:

A new study says that the moon is 85 million years younger than previous estimates. In fact, scientists say the moon is so young that Ghislaine Maxwell introduced it to Jeffrey Epstein.

How I wrote it:

I focused on this news item for joke writing because both topic handles, “moon” and “younger,” seemed to have many associations that might be linked to create a punch line.

The general idea of something being younger than expected led me to consider my Punch Line Maker #2: Link the topic to pop culture. What people currently in the news were younger than they should have been? The girls who Ghislaine Maxwell recruited–okay, allegedly recruited– for Jeffrey Epstein. So I created my punch line by substituting the moon mentioned in the topic for one of those girls.


Before I posted this joke, I thought about whether some outraged readers might protest, “Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficked underage girls. How could you possibly joke about that?” I’ll tell you how.

One basic technique for writing jokes that deal with a potentially disturbing topic is to steer clear of the most disturbing aspects of the topic. In the case of this joke, I did that in two ways.

First, I included “the moon is so young” in my angle, to be sure that the image in the audience’s mind when they read the punch line is of an enormous, round rock being offered up to Epstein and not an underage girl.

Second, I only refer to Maxwell introducing the moon to Epstein. I don’t call to mind any of the repellent details of what happened after that, like the sexual abuse.

Joke About Concrete Made With Urine

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The joke:

The European Space Agency says that to make concrete on the Moon, one useful ingredient could be human urine. They’re calling the project “One giant leak for mankind.”

How I wrote it:

This was one of those news items that makes you think, “There has to be a joke in there somewhere.” The item has several topic handles, like “concrete” and “urine,” with multiple associations that might be used to create a punch line.

But it took me a few tries to find an approach that worked well. First I used my Punch Line Maker #3 and asked the question “What might you make out of concrete that smells like urine?” Maybe a lunar base that smells like a New York City subway station?

I also asked the question “And what might they make on the Moon out of human excrement?” But that didn’t get me anywhere either.

Then I moved away from “concrete” and focused on the topic handles “Moon” and “urine.” I thought I might link the two by changing the well-known tagline for the movie “Alien” into something like, “In space, no one can smell your urine.”

Thinking of taglines associated with space must have reminded me of Neil Armstrong’s famous words as he first set foot on the Moon, which ended “One giant leap for mankind.” And I realized I could use wordplay, and my Punch Line Maker #1, to link that quotation to an association of “urine”–“leak”–and create my punch line.

So keep trying possible topic handles and Punch Line Makers until you find a combination that unlocks a solid punch line.

Joke About Apollo 11

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The joke:

Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. President Trump celebrated by telling Buzz Aldrin to go back to the moon where he came from.

How I wrote it:

One of the big news stories at the time was how President Trump tweeted that four congresswomen should “go back” to the “places from which they came.” The story was so big that I felt compelled to write a joke about it.

But instead of assuming that the Trump story would be the topic of the joke, I started by brainstorming on the phrase “go back” to see where that would take me.

I gravitated toward Punch Line Maker #2–Link the topic to pop culture–asking myself, “Who else in pop culture would President Trump tell to “go back” somewhere?

As it happened, another event that was dominating the news at that time was the Apollo 11 mission, which featured men landing on the moon and then returning to earth. When I realized that the association “going back” could link the Trump story to the Apollo 11 story, I had the basis of my punch line. I made the Apollo 11 story the topic because the wording of the joke seemed more natural that way.

I also checked my facts to be sure the joke would be clear, per Joke Maximizer #4. I confirmed that Buzz Aldrin had walked on the moon in Apollo 11 and was still alive. The internet makes it so easy to confirm information, why run any risk at all of botching a good joke?