Step By Step to Stand-Up Comedy Chapter Two

Joke Writing:
The Joke Prospector – Mine

The Joke Prospector has two parts, the Joke Map and the Joke Mine. In the Joke Mine, you’ll explore the secret passageway beginning with a Setup and discover how to write a Punch for it. Simple as 1, 2, C.

SAMPLE

Joke Writing:
The Joke Prospector – Mine

Digging into the Joke Mine, you’ll learn to write jokes by going through a secret passageway that leads from setup to punch. Most people don’t know about this passageway, and even when you do get to know it, its many twists and turns will still take you to the most unexpected places. That’s the fun of a journey through the Joke Mine. Like Alice in Wonderland when she went down the rabbit hole, you’ll find a world that gets “curiouser and curiouser.” How do you explore this secret passageway?

Secret #4
You explore a joke’s passageways by asking questions.

Asking questions is the best way to stay focused on your search for a good tunnel. Beginning joke writers often get stuck saying the same things in their heads over and over again, such as, “What’s funny about this? What’s funny about this?,” or “Where’s the joke? Where’s the joke?” That gets you nowhere.

If you’re ever going to find a tunnel that leads to pay dirt, you have to hunt around the mine a little, not just stand in one place scratching your nuggets. Your mind needs a constant supply of new information to sift through in search of humor. This flow of information stops when you’re stuck in a self-talk loop. But asking questions forces you to come up with answers, and each answer will take you farther along your way or even lead to a completely different tunnel. You can’t know ahead of time which tunnel will lead to a punch you’ll like, so the trick is to ask lots of questions. If a particular answer doesn’t lead to a joke, at least you’ll know that you examined that tunnel and decided not to go in that direction. Any exploration is better than being stuck saying the same thing over and over again. Any exploration is better than being stuck saying the same thing over and over again. Any exploration is better than being stuck. . .you get the point.