Joke Writing: The Ultimate Free Guide to Joke Structures

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 (written in green)

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 in red):

Who – What – Where – When – Why – How

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

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 creates a violation by changing one of the assumptions created. Conventional jokes almost always use these “shifts” to create humor.

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: He put the cat in the bathtub vs. He licked his cat

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! (Bill Engvall)

Setup/Punchline: 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 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.

BILL:

Who – What – Where – When – Why – How

GUY HIT BY BALL:

Who – What – Where – When – Why – How

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.

Recall that an audience needs to go through 3 stages to understand a joke: construction, recognition, and resolution. During construction the listener picks out what they think will be important information. 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 construct a joke.

Examples of Broken Assumption Joke Shifts

EXAMPLE: (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)

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

EXAMPLE: (2x WHAT-SHIFT): “She Had The Best Pussy” (Steve Martin)

EXAMPLE: (WHERE-SHIFT): 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 (Bill Engval)

EXAMPLE: (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 Engval)

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

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

Summary: Broken Assumptions

1. 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.
2. The audience creates assumptions based on the explicit information. These assumptions are then broken in the punchline.
3. “When” is often left out of material or quickly brushed aside with a comment like “lately” or “awhile back”