Story based jokes for stand up

when writing story based gags has anyone got any tips for this because I find it easy enough to write the beginning and get the punchline at the end but its just in between the set up and punchline, do you just keep it mildly amusing or just make sure you don't waffle for to long or should I just tweak it to my own preference any advice/tips would be great? also on one or two of my gags people have worked out the punchline half way threw any tips on throwing them off the scent or just edit it alot or take out keywords? sorry for all the questions . thanks for any advice ,Ben.

There's 3 main approaches.

1 The Shaggy Dog

Tell a long none funny, but exciting/interesting story before ambushing your audience with a surprise punchline.

The Good Luck Mr Gorsky/Neil Armstrong is a classic example.

2 Meta/Mega joke.

Make up a list of interrelated jokes that build up towards an over all punchline.

e.g. So this page 3 model robbed me, she had a pair of 38s and a real gun. The police asked me to describe her face, she had a face I asked...

etc etc.

3 Just tell a long joke, but break it into 3-4 parts and split it up with jokes.

some good stuff there sooty thanks. one other thing I have trouble with is if im out and about I can write and write loads of stuff on my notes part of my phone and when I get home and edit it on my computer fine but if I got a rare day where im not doing anything and I sit infront of a computer with a blank canvas I can't write/think of anything any tips to conquer that or just keep going how I am?

Quote: Benp @ May 1 2012, 11:18 PM BST

some good stuff there sooty thanks. one other thing I have trouble with is if im out and about I can write and write loads of stuff on my notes part of my phone and when I get home and edit it on my computer fine but if I got a rare day where im not doing anything and I sit infront of a computer with a blank canvas I can't write/think of anything any tips to conquer that or just keep going how I am?

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If you're inspired most when you're out, then go out instead of sitting not doing anything at your computer.

Good advice.

I get very few ideas staring at a screen.

But maybe start asking yourself questions?

There are quite a few techniques you can employ when writing jokes and especially stories. I would do as Sooty said and ask youself questions around your given subject e.g:

Topic: having a shower
Emotion: I love having showers

Questions:

Why do I love having showers?
What do I do in the shower?
What would be a bad thing to do in the shower?
What couldn't I do in the shower? online shopping, etc.
What would the world be like if we had no showers?

A crap subject I know but, you get the idea ask questions and answer them with as much information as possible looking at both sane and insane questions. Ideally mine it from every angle. You can then start to look at misunderstanding the question, punning on the question, changing the context and so on i.e showers as in taking showers and then baby showers.

I don't know why people have baby showers when they're pregnant, they're too small for adults to use. GROAN.

Anyway I hope this has been of some use, All the best,

Jason.

Couple of things, firstly whenever I suffer from writer's block it's generally from a lack of "input", to create jokes you need to be having lots of thoughts about subjects, this is why when you out and about and being stimulated by things you see, sounds you hear etc you are coming up with ideas.

If I'm really stuck for "input" I'll open a random page on Wikipedia, read through it and see if it sets off any ideas in my head, whether it be about the actual subject of the page or a phrase or even a particular word.

Secondly, when writing a longer bit of material you still need something for the audience to laugh at every 10-20 seconds (30 at a push), it doesn't necessarily have to be a "joke" but just something for them to find amusing, perhaps a turn of phrase, a funny word or a surreal idea or image that you conjure, without derailing the flow of the overall bit of material.

If you can't find any "jokelets" to place along the way then just consider making it a shorter joke, IMHO there's no point in stringing out a hilarious one-liner into a mediocre minute of stand up.

Oh and thirdly, if people are working out the punchlines halfway through a joke then the joke is too obvious, you need to find a way of misdirecting the audience either through ruthless editing (don't give them time to work it out) or camouflage (lead them more in the other direction before the old switcheroo).

Not so sure that you have to have so many jokoids.

I mean someone like Stewart Lee seems to manage with very few, but then he's Stewart Lee and I'm not.

What Tony said.

Look at what "story telling" comedians do. They hang jokes off the narrative. This can be wordplay riffing off the story or a surreal aside or anything that's funny. But then they keep coming back to the narrative again.

All you have to do is make it an interesting story and keep at least titters if not laughs coming a few times a minute and then ending on a huge laugh, all while being likeable, engaging the audience and not tripping over the microphone stand.

Simple

Getting laughs is often about momentum, if you keep them laughing at regular intervals it makes the individual laughs a bit easier to get, the longer you leave the audience not laughing then the harder it is to get them laughing again, hence the saying "the longer the set up, the funnier the punchline has to be".

It's a bit like pushing a car, if you keep pushing, even just a little bit and keep the car moving it's relatively easy, but if you stop pushing and the car comes to a halt it requires a lot more effort to get it moving again.

Quote: Tony Cowards @ May 8 2012, 2:29 PM BST

It's a bit like pushing a car, if you keep pushing, even just a little bit and keep the car moving it's relatively easy, but if you stop pushing and the car comes to a halt it requires a lot more effort to get it moving again.

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...which is one of the many reasons I stopped driving my car onto the stage.

thank you for all the advice. thanks tony some top notch advice. is it normal for the majority of it not to be really that true, most of my storys are probably 10% of truth with the rest made up or twisted in a way (or end up in a rant half way threw then screwed up and thrown in the bin), do audiences suss out bullshit easily or have you just got to act it well enough? (hope that makes sense)

In my experience audiences don't care whether it's true only that it's funny.

Take a notepad with you everywhere. I wish I had taken that advice.
The funniest stuff is the kind of thing you couldn't write. It just happens.

Yea I do that anyway if I'm at work I write it in a notebook because I ended up with pockets full of bits of paper with stuff written or if I'm just out I put it in the notes bit on my mobile.