Читать книгу Comedy Made Easy - David Kline Lovett - Страница 21

1. Write about a common problem, something at which you are annoyed, something about which you have hostility, and state it in the first story. Make sure it is a common annoyance so your audience will relate.

2. Create an unexpected ending or surprise.

Conclusion

Any good building has to have a solid foundation; the same goes with a joke. With a foundation or structure you will have an easier time writing your jokes. With these basic structure techniques you will be able to build your jokes with ease. The 123 joke templates at the end of the book will help you do this.

Definitions: Basic Structure

Pick Your Topic:	what you are going to talk about.
Association List:	a list of things that are related to your topic.
Attitude:	an emotion; anger, love, joy, hate, hard, easy.
Targets:	where or to whom your joke is aimed.
Punch Premise:	negative aspects about a narrower aspect of your topic.
Setup Premise:	the opposite of the Punch Premise.
Setup:	a clear, well-understood preamble for the joke.
Assumptions:	what can one assume regarding the setup.
Class of Two Stories:	the setup and the second story with the surprise.
Punch line or Second Story:	the payoff; the surprise line that generates the laughter.
Punch at End:	the last word or phase of your joke, where your audience laughs.
Exaggeration:	stating something excessively.
Surprise:	the funny is in being tricked or surprised.
Persona or Point of View:	perspective of the comic’s character or thinking.
Two-Step Humor Model:	hostility and twist at the end.

Time To Play

Pick a topic and make an association list of at least ten items. Write a first story (setup) about one of the associations. Make your assumption the opposite of what you believe about your topic association. Then write a second story (punch line), telling your truth about the first story.

Here is an example:

Topic: my ex-wife

Associations: making love, shopping, fun times, horror, frustration, cheating, stealing

First story: my favorite time to make love with my ex-wife was…

Second story: when she wasn’t home

Your turn:

Topic ____________________

Association List

First story:

Second story: