How To Write A Good Joke: 11 Steps (with Pictures) - WikiHow

1. 1 Consider your joke structure. There are a couple of different ways to write and deliver jokes including the traditional set up and punchline, one-liners, or short stories. [4]
   • One liners can be an extremely effective format. Two elements you can incorporate into these are surprise and twisting word meanings. One liners can be traditional set up and punchline types of jokes.[5]
   • Jokes as a short story are another effective method. However, remember to keep them short! A good example of a joke wrapped in a short story is: “There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed a desire to become a "great" writer. When asked to define "great" he said "I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, wail, howl in pain, desperation, and anger!" He now works for Microsoft writing error messages.”
2. 2 Write the set up and punchline. Every joke, no matter what structure you use, has a set up and a punchline. The set up and punchline will sometimes contain elements of surprise based on assumptions, twisting words, or playing on ironies.[6]
   • Remember "less is more." As you prepare your set up and punchline, remember that you will want to tell your joke in as few words as possible. Avoid unnecessary details and phrases. BJ Novak's joke “Battered women: sounds delicious” and the joke “What did the cake say to the knife? You wanna piece of me?” are examples of jokes that demonstrate the “less is more” strategy. Any other details would have caused the jokes to fall flat.
   • Your set up should be one or two lines, or a few lines for a story. It prepares your audience by creating an expectation and giving them the details they need to understand the punchline. The joke about the dead cactus is a good example of this. The comedian sets up the joke with the lines “I bought a cactus. A week later it died.”[7]
   • The punchline is the “funny” part of your joke that will make people laugh. It builds on the set up and is only one word or one sentence. It often reveals the surprise, irony, or word play to your audience. Again, the dead cactus joke is a good example of a short and funny punchline. After setting up the audience with the details of his plant cactus, the comedian tells us: And I got depressed, because I thought, Damn. I am less nurturing than a desert.” .”[8]
3. 3 Heighten the joke's surprise factor. Elements such as familiarity, exaggeration, and irony will enhance your joke.
   • A good example of exaggeration and irony is the story about the young man with great aspirations. Most listeners will expect that he fulfilled his wish to write “stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, wail, howl in pain, desperation, and anger!" through novels or short stories. Instead, the surprise is that “He now works for Microsoft writing error messages.”
4. 4 Add tags or toppers. Tags and toppers are additional punchlines that build upon your first punchline.
   • You can use tags and toppers as a way to get extra laughs without writing a new joke or needing to set up any material. For example, you could add a topper to the short story by saying “In fact, he's the one screaming, crying, wailing, and howling in pain the most.”
5. 5 Practice your joke. Before you tell your joke to friends or any audience, practice delivering it.[9]
   • You'll need to find the joke funny for your audience to feel the same! If you don't find the joke funny or somehow off, revise it until it works for you.
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An example of a joke you can tell is “What do you call an episode that flies a plane? The Pilot!”.