Читать книгу Comedy Made Easy - David Kline Lovett - Страница 14

The set up is the story, the first part of a joke leading to the payoff, or punch line. The punch must contrast the setup with the unexpected. That punch contrast is what makes a joke funny. The setup is what gets the attention of the audience. Setups are informational and introduce a general theme. For the most part, a setup is realistic and factual, in contrast to the punch line that is exaggerated, crazy, and made up.

The setup is the opening section of the joke. It leads to the funny, or punch. The setup explains what the comic is talking about. It’s like a sentence as it needs to be complete on its own. The setup should tell a story that the audience can follow and comprehend. A setup’s entire purpose is to lead the audience clearly to the promised land of the laugh. The setup needs more than anything to be understandable. It needs to be basically factual; otherwise the audience won’t believe you. You can embellish, but the basic story must be true. For example, you can’t talk about your dead mother who died when you were five and a minute later say you just had dinner with her last Wednesday.