Joke Writing: The Ultimate Free Guide To Joke Structures

The hardest part about learning how to write stand-up comedy is knowing where to start. Broken Assumption jokes solve that problem. They’re simple, powerful, and they teach you the core of comedy: surprise.

For new comedians, Broken Assumption jokes aren’t just another tool. They’re foundational. This is why they are one of the first joke structures new comedians learn when learning how to write stand-up comedy. In this article, I’ll give you examples of well-written jokes, show you how they work, and then give you a proven way to write jokes for any situation.

Examples of Broken Assumption jokes

• When you’re single all you see are couples… but when you’re a part of a couple, all you see are hookers. (Jim Gaffigan)
• There are Nazis again. I don’t care for them, and you may quote me on that. These new Nazis, “Oh Jews are the worst. And Jews ruin everything. And Jews try to take over your life. I’m like, You know what mother****er, my wife is Jewish! I KNOW all that! How do YOU know all that!? (John Mulaney)
• [Audience member] “I’d leave my husband for you!” “… but I don’t want your husband.” (Dean Martin)
• [while snow-skiing with his family] I hit two trees and fell down a ditch. And that was just walking from the lodge. (Bill Engvall)

Why Broken Assumption Jokes Useful For Learning How to Write Stand-Up Comedy

If you’re just starting out, Broken Assumption jokes are the best training ground you can find. Here’s why:

• They’re simple. The structure is crystal clear: setup → audience makes an assumption → punchline flips it. No complicated formulas. No guesswork. Just a straight path to the punchline.
• They build confidence fast. When you write these jokes, you can see where the humor comes from. That means you don’t waste time wondering if something is funny because the punchline jumps right out at you. Getting laughs early gives you the momentum you need to keep going.
• They teach you the heart of comedy. Every joke, no matter how complex, comes down to one thing: surprise. Broken Assumption jokes make you practice surprising your audience in a way that feels playful and clever. This skill is incredibly using for writing stand-up comedy.
• They’re adaptable. Once you know the pattern, you can drop it into almost any topic: dating, work, family, school, whatever. That makes them useful for any topic or comedy routine.
• They set you up for advanced joke types. Broken Assumption jokes help you build to writing stand-up comedy jokes of all types. Once you learn how to surprise the audience with playful punchlines, you’ll find it way easier to write exaggerations, contradictions, misdirection, and even long-form stories.

So how do these jokes actually work? Let’s break it down.

Free Video Lesson For How To Write Stand-Up Comedy

Here’s a free video lesson where I break down Broken Assumption jokes step by step.

Before we dive deep into how Broken Assumption jokes work, take a moment to try out a few for yourself.

Writing Prompts For Broken Assumption Jokes

Here are 5 great joke writing prompts for you to try out. These prompts all strongly imply something with the setup so that you can write a punchline that breaks the assumption.

Take your favorite setup from the list below and write a punchline. You can scroll down to find hints for what to try in each setup.

1. The restaurant menu said, “chef’s special.” Turns out that means…
2. The wedding invitation said, “black tie optional.” So I…
3. My spouse said that we need more excitement in the bedroom. So I…
4. My teacher said there are no dumb questions. So I asked…
5. My boss said, “We’re like family here.” I guess that means…

Do this now: set a timer for 2 minutes and write. Do not overthink.

When you’re done writing, let’s see if you naturally applied any of the tools and writing strategies below.

How To Write A Broken Assumption Joke

1. Spot assumptions in the setup.
2. Find a new meaning (often the opposite of the assumption).
3. Imply the new meaning with your punchline.

SPOT ASSUMPTIONS

First, we figure out what is being implied by the setup. We want to know what assumptions are being made that we can break. In the first example, it’s clearly implied that “chef’s special” would be “a special dish.” The audience will assume a high-quality meal.

NEW MEANINGS

An easy way to complete this step is to use a But Statement. But Statements are sentences that start with the normal part of the joke (the normal assumption), add “but,” and then end with the inappropriate/weird part of the joke (the broken assumption). Like this:

“(Thing that implies normal assumption), BUT (something that breaks the assumption)”

So in our example, we can use this:

“The menu said ‘chef’s special,’ BUT they really meant __.”

Now, instead of brainstorming ideas for what to use, we can playfully fill in the blank. This helps your natural, comedic voice come through. When we fill in the blank, we end up with answers like:

• The food is expiring soon.
• Something special is growing on it.
• “Chef’s special” actually means “The chef IS special.”

Last, we simply write a punchline that implies the new meaning.

PUNCHLINES

Let’s take the idea that the food is expiring soon. Now our job is to find a punchline that implies the food is old. Easy, right?

We can use punchlines, like:

• “Turns out ‘chef’s special’ means ‘whatever expires at midnight.”
• “It’s so special the health inspector took pictures.”

Hints For Writing Prompt

If you got stuck on the prompts above, here are a few nudges to get your ideas flowing:

• The restaurant menu said, “chef’s special.” Turns out that means… (We did this in our walkthrough)
• The wedding invitation said, “black tie optional.” So I… (ask yourself, “What else is optional,” and then write a punchline that implies it)
• My spouse said that we need more excitement in the bedroom. So I… (What are some non-sexual things that are exciting? For example, a fog machine and lasers. The less sexual your solution is, the funnier it’ll be.)
• My teacher said there are no dumb questions. So I asked… (This setup invites you to try out the dumbest question you can think of)
• My boss said, “We’re like family here.” I guess that means… (Use your punchline to suggest something about your family, such as “We don’t get along.”)

These prompts are great ways to start writing Broken Assumption jokes. Each prompt implies something specific to the audience. The punchline can then surprise the audience by changing the assumed meaning.

If you liked this exercise, the workbook has 50+ prompts like these that cover both conventional joke writing and storytelling. Click here to order Playfully Inappropriate & the workbook on Amazon.

2 More Writing Prompts

We’re about to jump into how Broken Assumption jokes work. Here are a few setups that you can work on in this section to enhance your learning. As we go through the process, come back to these setups to see how they apply to real jokes.

• The flight attendant said, “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.” So I…
• The waiter said, “The kitchen can make that any way you like it.” So I…

Now let’s dig deeper into how Broken Assumption jokes work.

How to Write Stand-Up Comedy: Broken Assumption Jokes

Every time you speak, you’re giving the listener information about the who, what, where, when, why, or how of your story.

Some of this information is EXPLICIT, meaning you actually say it. The rest is IMPLICIT, meaning the listener assumes it.

Take a simple sentence: “I went to the grocery store.“

The sentence explicitly tells you WHO (“I”) and WHERE (“grocery store”), but not WHAT, WHEN, WHY, or HOW. So 2 pieces of information are explicit (in bold)

Who – What – Where – When – Why – How

Next, you make assumptions: You know GROCERY STORE, so it’s IMPLIED that I want to buy food. You likely assume that I drove a car or walked as well. Now you have 4 pieces of information (the assumptions are underlined):

Who – What – Where – When – Why – How

Why = “needed to buy food” How = “probably drove his car”

Now let’s apply this to writing stand-up comedy.

Shifting Interpretations Inside the Joke

I call the break from the assumption to the new interpretation “shifts” because the punchline shifts the original understanding of the joke. The safety of the joke comes from the first interpretation. The punchline breaks one of the assumptions created.

Steve Martin Example

Take this setup from Steve Martin:

I gave my cat a bath the other day… they love it. He sat there, he enjoyed it, and it was fun for me too.

As an audience member, here’s what we EXPLICITLY know:

Who – What – Where – When – Why – How

And here’s what we can safely assume.

Who – What – Where – When – Why – How

Where = “the bathroom” Why = “the cat was dirty” and How = “He put the cat in the bath”

Now the punchline will break one of our assumptions.

I gave my cat a bath the other day… they love it. He sat there, he enjoyed it, and it was fun for me too. The fur would stick to my tongue, but other than that… (Steve Martin)

Setup/Punchline (How-Shift): He put the cat in the bathtub vs. He licked his cat.

Writing Exercise

Before moving on, what assumptions can we break in our earlier setups?

In the flight attendant setup, there’s a big opportunity to break how much we “sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.” Let’s write a punchline for each of these three ideas:

The flight attendant said, “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.” So I…

• Reclined my chair into the lap of the guy behind me. (Sit back)
• Took off my pants. (Relax)
• Asked the pilot to do a loop-de-loop. (Enjoy the flight)

Bill Engvall Example

Here’s an example from Bill Engvall. Notice what information you assume as you read through.

[Golf] So finally, on about the fifteenth tee, I hit the drive of my life… And I watch this ball just go and go and . . . kind of hit this guy in the head. And I felt bad, but he overreacted, I thought. I mean, it wasn’t like a square hit; it just kind of glanced off his head. But he goes whippin’ his car off the freeway, like “here we go!” Mr. Attitude!

Setup/Punchline (Who-Shift): A person on a golf course vs. A person driving on the highway

This is a “Who-Shift.” Engvall hides the true identity of the guy he hit with the ball until he reveals that it wasn’t actually another golfer (or assumption), but a driver. He didn’t talk about the when, nor do we make assumptions about it. The when is entirely left out.

Examples of Broken Assumption Jokes

Now let’s quickly look at a variety of examples for each type of Broken Assumption joke. Remember, when you write stand-up comedy, you can shift any of these to create a punchline.

WHO-SHIFT

When you’re single all you see are couples… but when you’re a part of a couple, all you see are hookers. (Jim Gaffigan)

“My pronouns are He, He, He… because I identify as a comedian.” (Jimmy Carr)

WHAT-SHIFT

Cross-country skiing is great if you live in a small country. (Stephen Wright)

Here’s a great example from Jim Gaffigan about weddings.

“Weddings started off as these crude medieval ceremonies where daughters were exchanged as property. Over the course of centuries, they got worse.”

In this example, Steve Martin uses two Broken Assumption jokes. The first time, he feigns disbelief that people thought he was being dirty. The second time, he surprises the audience with something even dirtier.

“She Had The Best Pussy” (Steve Martin)

WHERE-SHIFT

“I’ve been getting into astronomy. I installed a skylight in my house. The people who live above me are furious.” (Stephen Wright)

WHEN-SHIFT

[while snow-skiing with his family] I hit two trees and fell down a ditch. And that was just walking from the lodge. (Bill Engvall)

WHY-SHIFT

I believe you should place a woman on a pedestal – high enough so you can look up her dress. (Steve Martin)

Here’s another great example by Dean Martin.

HOW-SHIFT

I gave my cat a bath the other day… they love it. He sat there, he enjoyed it, it was fun for me. The fur would stick to my tongue, but other than that… (Steve Martin)

Leave Out Some Info

Notice that WHEN is often undefined. This is the most common piece of information to leave out because it usually doesn’t play a role in the story or joke. In my example, I say that I “went” to the store, so you know it’s in the past… but that’s all. If the actual date/time doesn’t matter, either don’t mention it or use a short phrase like “The other day” or “I once went to …” Both Steve Martin and Bill Engvall skipped the “when” in the examples. They keep it very generic so that they can move on to more important information.

In the setup, the listener picks out what they think will be important to understand the punchline. By editing out the WHEN in our joke, the comedian makes it easier for the audience to figure out what information will be important to the punchline. Do not give the audience too much info or they will have to sort through tons of information to understand your joke.

Writing Exercise

Now let’s tackle the last setup: “The waiter said, ‘The kitchen can make that any way you like it.’ So I…”

This setup is hinting toward a punchline that plays with “any way you like it.”

• The waiter said, ‘The kitchen can make that any way you like it.’ So I said, …”
• Make it free.
• Can I have a stuffed-crust pizza topped with anti-depressants?
• Make me a burger that fixes my emotional unavailability.

Summary: Broken Assumptions

• When you speak, you are giving the listener both EXPLICIT and IMPLICIT information about the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of your story.
• The audience creates assumptions based on the explicit information. These assumptions are then broken in the punchline.
• “When” is often left out of material or quickly brushed aside with a comment like “lately” or “awhile back.”

Learn How To Write Stand-Up Comedy Jokes With Faster & Funnier:

• Broken Assumption Jokes
• Exaggeration Jokes
• Misplaced Sincerity Jokes
• Contradictions Jokes
• Rule of Three (List Jokes)
• Puns
• Meta-Jokes
• Omitted Punchlines
• Specificity Jokes
• Callback Lines
• Self-Depreciation Jokes

Now check out these stand-up comedy writing exercises to get your funny bone warmed up. The easiest way to learn how to write stand-up comedy is to start with prompts that provide comedic tension and give you quick wins… and that’s exactly what these comedy writing exercises do!

If you want to learn how to write stand-up comedy, check out Playfully Inappropriate (2nd Edition) and the Playfully Inappropriate Workbook on Amazon. The book and workbook will teach you a really easy way to write any type of joke.

Did you know that Broken Assumption jokes are designed to imply something playfully inappropriate? Click here learn how the mechanics behind every single joke.