HOW TO MAKE A JOKE IN 5 STEPS

Are you easily frightened? Because I am.

 

I remember this one time when I was going home and it was midnight. I went inside my house and it was so dark and so creepy, when suddenly, our dog started barking at me.

I said "Shhh! Please stop, Shhh! Or you'll wake the neighbors"

But then I noticed that our dog wasn't barking at ME...but at something behind me.

So, I turned around and there I saw an old man, his face was pale, he was wearing a worn out suit and he had no legs...he was floating.

And in a low and raspy voice the old man said. "Hey...you don't have a dog"

And I shouted. "Oh My Gosh You're right! I don't have a dog"

I turned around but when I did...the dog was gone.

THAT'S when I got scared.

THAT. was one of the most tolerable jokes I've ever written.

I've always liked making people laugh (if you don't then get a heart), I've always been the class clown, the punching bag and the receiving end of mine and everyone's jokes and you might think to yourself, "Oh, you must be incredibly annoying", I am but that's not we're discussing here.

I've never had to analyze how I make a joke because I've always felt it came naturally to me and other people but after graduating film school and doing all sorts of freelance jobs which I had to either be funny or write jokes.  

I've been faced with the dilemma of "How do I really make my jokes?" and I had to come up with something because this time there are real stakes now, I'm not just annoying my math teacher to make my class laugh, I had to do it to feed myself now.

And after many years of writing and directing for a comedy web series doing stand up comedy and working with the literal title of "Comedy Brainstormer" (which I had to do Stand Up comedy to get it), I've finally made my own comprehensive list of HOW TO MAKE A JOKE IN 5 STEPS (hey, it's the title).

(This is a video of me doing stand up, I'm handsome I know)

This will help you if you're writing comedy sketches or short films, doing stand up or just literally coming up a joke to share at a party with friends (if those still exist by the time of posting this) so you won't have to recycle year old jokes you heard from your uncle when your were a kid.

And you might say that a joke is no longer funny when it's explained and you're right but let's do this anyway

So let's get down to business...to defeat the Huns.

1. MAKE THE SUBJECT NOT JUST RELATABLE BUT GENERIC

 

Keep the inside jokes within your friends inner circle (that is if you have friends...Okay, I'm sorry for the harsh words).

The subject of what your story or joke is about needs to be general, something everybody knows. You can make it about something in pop culture but the easiest subjects are the ones that literally anybody no matter what age, gender or social class can relate to.

In my joke, it contains many easy set ups. 

"I was going home and it was midnight."

Use general terms, like house, home, apartment and not the actual name of your building to just be one and done with the setting of the joke. 

"I went inside my house and it was so dark and creepy"

After that, now set up the mood; it was dark and creepy, it was bright and happy, it was noisy and chaotic. This is to make the audience one with the mood of the story.

"When suddenly, our dog started barking at me"

" I saw an old man, his face was pale, he was wearing a worn out suit and he had no legs...he was floating."

When mentioning a person, animal or anything doing something, make it do something that it's intended to do like a dog barks, a cat meows and a ghost floats.

And you might think that the details are all too general, You're right, they are on their own but if you put them all together, it sets up almost all of parts of the story that the audience needs to know to relate to it without it being too wordy or messy. Having a generic topic and vague enough details keeps your joke clean and to the point so that the audience won't get bored.

And another thing this does is setting up an idea of normality in the audience's head that everything is at it seems because everyone of your characters is doing it's job, this gives way for subverting their expectations a whole lot more effective when delivering the punchline.

2. DETERMINE WHO YOUR CHARACTERS ARE

 

When I analyzed how I make jokes, I've noticed that there are always two types of personalities that embody characters in not just jokes but also in comedy sketches or even films: The Common Sense and The Non-Sense character.

The Common Sense Character

In movies, tv shows and in jokes this character is Jim from The Office, Beca from Pitch Perfect, Stu and Phil from the Hangover movies and its the students from the Substitute Teacher sketch from Key and Peele.

This character is that the audience relates too the most because they stand as the passive reactor to the joke or even the victim of the joke, of how much ridiculous and insane the situation in a joke becomes, this character's reactions or misfortunes for being essentially the butt of the joke assists the effectiveness of the joke.

The Non-Sense Character

Again, in movies or tv shows and in jokes this character is Michael from The Office, Fat Amy from Pitch Perfect, Alan from the Hangover movies and in the Substitute Teacher sketch from Key and Peele, it's the Substitute Teacher

This character IS the joke, they set up the situation or cause the problems that build the whole joke. They are another passive reactor but in a whole different way that they are unaffected by the situation they are in or they created, for them everything is normal and their totally fine by it.

BUT you may ask "What if in a comedy sketch or film all of them are Common Sense characters?" or "What if all of them are Non-Sense Characters?", well listen here wise-ass.

If ever all of the characters are Common Sense Characters, then the situation they are in is the one that's Non-Sense. And if they're all Non-Sense Characters then it's either the situation or the audience is the victim who has Common Sense.

"And I shouted. "Oh My Gosh You're right! I don't have a dog""

For example, In my own joke, with my character being scared of the fact that they don't have a dog instead of being scared with an actual ghost, I am the Non-Sense and the audience who (hopefully) laugh are the Common Sense characters.

3. LEAD THE AUDIENCE TO A TRAP

Now that you have your situation and you have your characters, now is the time to create what happens in your joke.

And it has to be obvious so that your audience can easily follow and even make predictions in their mind of what's about to happen,.

"But then I noticed that our dog wasn't barking at ME...but at something behind me."

With this line along with me already establishing that it was midnight, dark and creepy, my audience can easily predict that something scary is about to happen, with even no context you can assume that when my character is about to turn around and see something creepy.

"So I turned around and there I saw an old man, his face was pale, he was wearing a worn out suit and he had no legs...he was floating."

Then I double down by saying this line to make the audience know that they're predictions were correct and that a ghost was behind my character.

And even when I don't actually say the word 'ghost', the details of the old man being pale, his clothes are worn out and had literally had no legs create the image further in the audience's minds more effectively that me just saying ghost.

I know I said to be generic but this is a pivotal part of the joke that transitions you to the punchline, so you need to reel in the audience more by making them invest more in the story due to them already building what they think it is in their heads.

Just always remember to THINK like the audience, to put yourself in their place and when you tell the details of your joke, you're making the same assumptions as they are.

4. CREATE YOUR PUNCHLINE

You might think that this is the most difficult step of making a joke, which in a way it is but in having the generic subject, clear details, characters and the audience thinking that they know where the joke is going. All you have to do is say anything but what they are expecting of your characters to do.

And in my joke, it's not the part of my character turning around and being scared of the dog, it's this line:

"And in a low and raspy voice the old man said. "Hey...you don't have a dog"

As soon as the ghost of the old man stopped behaving as a ghost would normally do is the moment where I've subverted the expectations of the audience. 

This works because even though the audience know that you are telling a joke and is waiting for the laugh, you've lead them in a path that strays so far from a joke that when you tell the punchline, it's so unexpected that they laugh.

After the initial punchline, all you have to do is think what will your character do next.

If your character was a common sense character, he would've been weirded out by what the ghost said but in my joke I found it a lot funnier to make my character an unexpected Non-Sense character that reacted to what the ghost said with this:

"And I shouted. "Oh My Gosh You're right! I don't have a dog"

5. CREATE YOUR SECOND PUNCHLINE

This is probably the most important step for me in making jokes, this step is what sets apart your joke and makes it unique.

When you've gotten a laugh, it always help to add more to your initial punchline or create a second one in a natural way to keep up the momentum of the joke.

You achieve this by either doubling down which is what I did:

"I turned around but when I did...the dog was gone."

"THAT'S when I got scared."

By not making my Non-Sense character see the ridiculousness of his reaction and continue to double down on it, it gets more laughs. 

This is easy to do if you know your characters well enough that you even if they subverted the audience reactions, you know how they'll continue to react as the joke continues.

Or if you don't want to double down, you can subvert them again by creating a new element by adding either backstory, let's say that in my joke I revealed that my house was actually FULL of ghosts but I'm freaked out when a ghost dog appeared.

But when adding details it has to make sense in the world that you created, random things like aliens or an angry step mother cannot appear because you may have subverted their expectations but it's to an extent that they cannot connect the dots.

I know that there are still lots of elements that help into actually performing the joke like hand gestures, pauses and mannerisms and also in writing jokes into comedy sketches or scriptwriting but as for making a joke I hope I've helped you in some way or another.

And now that I've finished writing this, my unfunny and unstable neighbor who recently bought a gun will finally set me free.

Why didn't I just call the police or alarmed you that I was trapped? Would YOU have learned anything if I did?

Also he's right behind me.

Okay bye, I love you.