Is there a stigma against puns?

I'm just wondering if it's taboo to use puns in stand up or you can get away with it, to give an idea of the kind of thing I'm thinking around here's a few from the 5-minute set I've developed;

"I've always been a keen a big fan of Ethnic cleansing Africa (beat) I mean if there's anywhere that needs more showers!"

"I think a lot of celebrity's get it hard (beat) there just good at making sure there's no witnesses"

"I got arrested because my wife was stoned (beat) apparently you can only do that in the middle east now"

I think it needs more hamster-mime and perhaps some bits along the lines of that guy from the 80s who used to take a shit on the stage.

Basically, you're a part-time c**t at best.

There should be a stigma against the incorrect use of their

Tim Vine seems to be doing ok.

Maybe there should be legislation against puns? Some form of pun-itive fine perhaps?

However, puns can bring joy to many (Marc P) and a stigmatism surrounding puns is short-sighted..,

Contrived wordplay is far more irritating.

Quote: The Drifter @ 26th February 2014, 11:36 PM GMT

I'm just wondering if it's taboo to use puns in stand up or you can get away with it, to give an idea of the kind of thing I'm thinking around here's a few from the 5-minute set I've developed;

"I've always been a keen a big fan of Ethnic cleansing Africa (beat) I mean if there's anywhere that needs more showers!"

"I think a lot of celebrity's get it hard (beat) there just good at making sure there's no witnesses"

"I got arrested because my wife was stoned (beat) apparently you can only do that in the middle east now"

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I love a bad pun - and a bad pun is a good pun. They can work in stand up, but a lot depends on the material itself, your delivery, the rest of your set, the audience's expectations etc

Often a pun will get a groan - but hell, if a line doesn't get a laugh then I'll take any involuntary physical reaction.

You'll also occasionally do a pun that takes a few seconds to be spotted and then just generates a 'F off' response... But any stand-up has to develop a thick skin, so deal with it.

And even though this isn't in critique, regards your 3 examples:

The 1st could do with rewriting/reordering IMO, maybe something like "I got in trouble for starting a charity providing showers to central Africa - in hindsight I shouldn't have called it Ethnic Cleansing."

The 2nd I either don't get or strikes me as far too weak.

The last one's fine - but drop the 'now' from the end.

Quote: The Drifter @ 26th February 2014, 11:36 PM GMT

I'm just wondering if it's taboo to use puns in stand up or you can get away with it...

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Some of us can make a living just about getting away with it...

Quote: Tony Cowards @ 28th February 2014, 12:49 AM GMT

Some of us can make a living just about getting away with it...

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But to do so you've got to get quite speedy on your feet, eh Tony...

I think like one-liners they should be used sparingly, like a seasoning. If you depend entirely on puns and one-liners than you better make them good.

I saw Gary Delaney live the other week.

He did virtually a full hour of nothing but two-line gags, and it was bloody hilarious.

A well delivered pun can be just as funny as a more long-winded, structured joke.

Quote: NateSean @ 9th March 2014, 9:51 PM GMT

I think like one-liners they should be used sparingly, like a seasoning. If you depend entirely on puns and one-liners than you better make them good.

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There's a lot of truth in this, although Tim Vine, who I love, has made a career on some pretty ropey jokes that he has learnt to "sell" really well.

The big problem with puns is that people seem to think they are easy but what they forget is that writing bad puns is easy, writing good puns is very, very hard, it's not just a case of taking two words which sound alike or a phrase which can be interpreted in two different ways, a good pun or wordplay joke involves some consistent logic in the two stories and not just having two random ideas smashed together.

Wannabe stand ups also forget that what looks like a great pun written down might not work when spoken out loud, I often see comics saying words in a way that no one in real life would just because they are trying to shoe horn it into a pun.

Eg. Something like "I went to the Reading festival, waste of time taking all those books with me", works okay written down but it's never going to fly on stage.

Quote: The Drifter @ 26th February 2014, 11:36 PM GMT

"I got arrested because my wife was stoned (beat) apparently you can only do that in the middle east now"

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My re-write, for what it's worth, would be something along the lines of...

My wife got stoned the other night, (beat) still it's her own fault for having an affair in Abu Dhabi.

(I'd try this onstage and see how it went down, if I thought it needed tweaking I'd possibly change the punchline although, initially, my thought is that "affair in Abu Dhabi" is quite pleasing to say and hear as it has a nice rhythm and is alliterative without being annoyingly so).

I don't think there is a stigma against puns. Although (like all matters of taste) some people don't like them. I like them if done well, but I think wordplay can wear thin easily if it doesn't work consistently - more than other styles of stand up.

Puns look easy, and perhaps ones that don't very well are, but to write twenty minutes of puns and wordplay that doesn't bore the audience or let the energy drop is tough - not many comics manage it (although some make a career of it: Tim Vine, Milton Jones, our very own Tony Cowards, Gary Delaney).

But if you are looking for lessons on the Art of the Pun Tony is a very good place to start.

If you are looking for an easier approach to stand up try being young and cool and telling anecdotes about how laddish you are in an exaggerated way.

Puns are great, although the response (even if positive) is always more of a groan.

I don't know if the pun itself is the joke or it's the delivery.

Personally I've always taken punning (is that even a thing?) with a lighthearted, not too serious tone. Some people I know, writers and performers, use puns as their actual comedy.

It doesn't do it for me but then again I'm only one man. I'd normally say pun away, as long as you don't take yourself too seriously with it.