Hi,
I'm looking for advice,
For a long time now I've been writing set up and punch jokes as I've learned to from many different books.
However I've recently started actually watching good stand ups and its dawned on me they don't do this at all.
They are more like set up, punch,open palm strike, yoga-flame and tag.
Now I have to unlearn everything and start again from scratch.
This makes me a sad clown.
Has anybody got any advice- for the love of god.
I just want to make people laugh 
I would if I knew what you were talking about
Quote: Mr Anderson @ September 15 2013, 10:50 PM BSTI just want to make people laugh
Exactly. So follow your instincts and find your own way. Some of your stuff will bomb horribly, some of it won't. Learn by doing.
Quote: Mr Anderson @ September 15 2013, 10:50 PM BSTHi,
They are more like set up, punch,open palm strike, yoga-flame and tag.
Are you sure this was a joke book and not a martial arts instruction manual??
Seriously, just start writing and see what comes naturally to you.
Mr Anderson, the joke does not need to end with one punch, it can have things afterwards like an afterthought, a call-back, and perhaps a further afterthought. I don't know which books you've been reading, but there are some which recommend this procedure.
You don't have to unlearn anything, to use a musical analogy you've learnt the notes and the scales and now you just need to utilise those to make your own compositions.
All you need to do is camouflage the set ups and punchlines so that they are not too obvious to the audience, by working them into stories or conversations or whatever style you want.
I'd argue, that ALL good stand ups have plenty of set ups and punchlines, it's just that they might be very well hidden so that it appears that they don't have any, they are "just" saying funny stuff.
Exactly.
Watch a video of succesful standup and then note where the laughs come in.
I can pretty much gurrantee it'll be setup-punch, it might be hidden in whimsy or stream of conciousness.
Quote: Mr Anderson @ September 15 2013, 10:50 PM BSTThey are more like set up, punch,open palm strike, yoga-flame and tag.
I am extremely intrigued to learn what a "yoga-flame" is.
Hey Jennie your yoga sucks, your downward dog has hit rock botton
Quote: sootyj @ September 17 2013, 3:23 PM BSTHey Jennie your yoga sucks,
Way to kick a girl when she's down, Soots. 
You wanted a yoga flame
So I flamed your yoga
Quote: Mr Anderson @ September 15 2013, 10:50 PM BSTThey are more like set up, punch,open palm strike, yoga-flame and tag.
And I'm more like set up, punch, love wave, trouser burp, left apple, track down, bullshitty guy, you learnt off, stab face, stab face, urinate face, tag and leave.
Hi,
Thanks all for the sterling advice,
To be clear what I had been doing was writing jokes which shatter assumptions of set ups- kind of like this;
I was walking past a rubbish bin and it had a sign on it saying 'Littering is disgusting'.
Well excuse me for giving birth to a bunch of kittens in the middle of the high street!!
Well maybe that needs some work, but I don't think that I could then do another set up and then punch and then another set up and punch. I mean it can be done by people like Jimmy Carr and that Scottish guy Boyle, but really for most people its hard to get the audience howling in pain of laughter with that format I think. I personally am more a fan of Dylan Moran and also am amazed by Ross Noble's style, oh and Danny Tosh is my latest discovery- but I'll be damned if I know what they are doing on stage!
I think as one of you said I have learnt the scales so now it's simply a case of hiding the set ups and using more attitude and povs.Also the comic afterthought approach.Five or six comic afterthoughts to that joke is what I need to work on, and the same applies to the 100 or so stand alone jokes I've written that might get a feeble chuckle.
Anyways thanks for the advice everybody.
I met Dara O'Bri(a?)n the last week and tried to get some advice from him.
Alas he was not so forthcoming as ye, he said he'd ask questions which he knew would lead to comic gold, but I presume he meant from the audience- which doesn't really help with the writing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwUlIfqOVBc
Yoga flame at 0:53
Quote: Mr Anderson @ September 20 2013, 6:51 PM BSTI met Dara O'Bri(a?)n the last week and tried to get some advice from him.
Alas he was not so forthcoming as ye, he said he'd ask questions which he knew would lead to comic gold, but I presume he meant from the audience- which doesn't really help with the writing.
Without wishing to put words into Mr O'Briain's mouth, I would assume that he's talking about the writing process, when you have a comedic thought you then need to ask yourself questions such as, who's saying this (is it me, my opinion, or would it be funnier from someone else? A character?)?
Why are they saying it?
What do they have to benefit from this?
Where is it happening (can you make it funny by switching the location)?
When is it happening (would it be funnier if it happened at a certain point in history)?
Ask yourself as many questions about the initial thought as you can and try to come at it from multiple directions. Comedy is often a common thought in which the comedian points out the incongruities because he/she has viewed it from a slightly different angle.
I hope this makes some sort of sense, it's a bit of a rambling explanation!
Thank you Tony,
You're advice really helps a lot .
I wrote it down.
I'll come at the initial thought from more angles bukakee style.
And don't worry- I'll being thinking of you when I'm doing it.
Also thank you Nogget re the afterthought thought.
I have bought Logan Murray's book on kindle and hard copy and the after thought idea is definitely the way to leave the audience in warm pools of their own wee wee.
Alas the brain runs dry after the first line as I find it hard to use a punchline as a set up. And by that I mean....nope still can't do it.
Oh I've also got a copy of Sally Hollyway's book which is brilliant but again it seems to cater towards the wordplay a lot- which is admittedly great for generating initial one liners.
What I'm trying to avoid is the old vaudevillian i.e. Bob Hope style.
But its so simple and easy to slip back into.
But I do think that coming at a subject with different attitudes and perspective seems to be a lot more current and headlineristic.
Once again thanks a lot- and sorry for my late reply-
I really have been crestfallen for the past few weeks.
That's not a collapsed lung joke. Seriously I'd never make that joke.