Introduction

In the previous lessons I discussed your comedy talent. This lesson is focused on how you actually use your comedy talent to get laughs and is presented with three specific objectives:

• Help you understand what a punchline actually is relative to you and your sense of humor
• Demonstrate the attributes and word structure commonly associated with punchlines using a variety of examples from different types of comedy material
• Provide you with a solid “head start” as it relates to the process of “harvesting” your own original comedy topics.

If you actually know what a punchline is relative to you and your sense of humor, you can move more rapidly and confidently when you do begin the process of developing your own original comedy material for a stand-up comedy act or speaking presentation.

Please note that there is much more involved with creating, developing and delivering a tight and powerful stand-up comedy routine than is provided in this lesson or in this Your Best Stand-up Topics Made Easy course.

However, a thorough understanding of punchlines is a crucial step in the process of developing comedy material that will work well for you.

Note: The core information provided in this lesson is also provided in the Killer Stand-up Rapid Training Modules and the Interactive Writing Guide. This lesson provides a different presentation of that core material specifically for this Success Primer course.

Now, let’s start with a Resource Item you may want to carefully review before you continue:

Resource Item #1

Please review (or re-review) Lesson #3 in Training Module One in the Killer Stand-up online course:

The Truth About Set-up Lines And Punchlines

Now I want to redefine set-up lines and punchlines in a way that allow you to produce punchlines quickly and easily that capture your own unique sense of humor.

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New Definitions

Before I cover punchlines, let’s tackle the definition of set-up lines since they provide the foundation for every punchline:

Set-up Lines Redefined

Set-up lines: Set-up lines in spoken word comedy are simply all delivered lines that are not specifically designed or designated to get laughs, but can be reacted to generate laughter (punchlines).

Set-up lines include, but are not limited to:

• Opinions and views
• Information
• Real or imagined scenarios
• Ideas and concepts
• Real or imagined experiences
• Recognizable topics
• Incidents or accidents
• Observations
• Conversations and discussions with others

Basically, set-up lines contain the bulk of the content/information that we tend to want to talk about, whether it be in a stand-up comedy routine or a speech/presentation.

In the simplest terms, set-up lines have three important elements:

1. They represent the foundational information that you want to deliver to an audience

2. They provide the information that an audience will consume, visualize and relate to

3. They contain the information that you will react to using your sense of humor to generate laughs as you are delivering that material

Critical Factor: In order to be able to produce punchlines virtually at will, comedians or speaking professionals will need to start with information, ideas, experiences, opinions, etc. that they CAN react to easily using their sense of humor. You will see this repeated over and over in this lesson.

In other words…

It really doesn’t matter what you talk about on stage or from the podium as long as you can react to what you have to say using your sense of humor.

Note: There is a special section for speaking professionals provided later on in this lesson that addresses the issue of content vs. comedy material.

Punchlines Redefined

Here are the definitions for punchlines and tag lines that you can actually use and relate specifically to you and your sense of humor:

Punchline: A sense of humor reaction expressed with regard to information that has been delivered to an audience.

Tag line: A punchline or punchlines that immediately follow an initial punchline (additional sense of humor reactions).

Tip: Your ability to generate punchlines and tag lines easily for your comedy material is directly affected and influenced by the information (set-up lines) that you choose to share with an audience.

If you don’t start with information or subject matter that you can easily react to using your sense of humor, you will struggle to produce punchlines and tag lines that actually generate laughs for you.

Critical Factor: While this may seem like a very simplistic approach to developing punchlines and tag lines, please don’t be misled…

Most of the power of ANY punchline in ANY environment, whether it be in casual conversation, on the comedy stage or from behind a podium DOES NOT come solely from the words and sentences used as already identified in the lessons about your comedy talent.

The real laughter power behind punchlines involves a combination of the words used AND the expression (delivery) of the associated punchlines with body language alignment that corresponds with the comedy material being presented as covered in the lessons about your comedy talent.

Resource Item #2

Here is a TV commercial that boldly illustrates the power of body language, facial expression, voice inflection and tone, etc. that you should review:

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TV Commercial Example

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What is blatantly revealing in that TV commercial is that the EXACT same words are being used in that commercial, yet they have distinctly different meanings because of how those words are expressed and delivered.

It provides a great example of just how much influence and impact that non-verbal communication — body language, facial expressions, voice inflection and tone variations — has over the meaning and context of the actual words being spoken.

This is very important to understand because these same non-verbal attributes also have a direct impact on the laughter power of any spoken work punchline delivered.

Now, let’s get into some more specific information about punchlines.

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Punchline Mechanics

Here’s some additional information you need to know about punchline mechanics:

1. Most spoken word punchlines will not “read” funny from a piece of paper. That’s because the physical expression elements (most of an individual’s laughter power – voice, body language, facial expressions) are missing from mere words and sentences written down on paper.

And for reasons already identified, you DO want to have your comedy material written down for a number of very important reasons.

Resource Item #3

Go to YouTube and find a video of your favorite comedian in action. Transcribe word for word just 1 minute of that comedian’s act.

Shortcut: YouTube videos uploaded starting in 2014 already have an AI generated transcript for that video that you can review/copy. Just click on the three dots in the lower right hand corner of the video and click on Open Transcript.

Identify and read the punchlines from the stand-up comedy material that you transcribe or read from the already generated transcript. Here’s what you should pay attention to:

1. Do the punchlines “read” funny? A better question is — Does it matter if any punchline “reads” funny as long as it generates big audience laughs?

2. Punchlines do not have to be words. They can be as subtle as a simple look or a gesture. Subsequently, some of the audience laughs in the stand-up videos that you review may not have words associated them because they are generated by a physical expression or a sound.

3. Spoken word punchlines are usually 5-9 words long and can be an independent line or the last part of a sentence. A punchline (or tag line) can also be a just a single word or two, depending on the context and delivery.

4. Most punchlines usually have a specific sentence structure that contributes to the element of surprise or unexpected aspect of punchlines.

This sentence structure involves the placement of a key word or a key word phrase at the end of a punchline which does not reveal the actual meaning or context of the line or sentence until the key word or key word phrase is spoken.

It is this structural aspect that magnifies the element of surprise many punchlines exhibit.

Examples of this keyword or keyword phrase sentence structure are provided in the sections that follow.

Tip: Funny people in everyday life tend to use this same sentence structure naturally and without thought when they communicate with others.

5. There are exceptions to the general rule of keywords being at the end of a punchline — sometimes they can be at the beginning of a punchline. However in this instance you will almost always find that the punchline is short with minimal words.

6. Set-up lines not necessarily intended to generate laughter can in fact generate laughter, especially when comedy material has been tightly structured and the comedian or presenter is capitalizing on their natural expressive comedy traits and natural speaking rhythm.

Using the information that I have provided in this lesson so far…

I want to provide you some examples of punchline usage in context in order to further expand your knowledge about punchlines and ultimately illustrate how you can easily generate punchlines for your own comedy material.

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Punchline Examples (Non-Stand-up)

I want to start with some punchline examples that are not stand-up comedy. The reason I am starting with these are to demonstrate that spoken word punchline attributes are basically the same in any environment.

Ideally, you should be able to recognize what your punchlines are and how they work for you when you are simply talking with others in casual conversations because…

The punchlines that you use without much thought that cause laughs to happen are indicators that what you were talking about that allowed you to use and express your sense of humor effectively may be a comedy topic that you may wish to develop into tightly structured stand-up comedy material.

Street Joke Punchline Example

A “street joke” is a stand-up comedy term to describe jokes told on the street — everyday jokes told among friends, families and co-workers.

Here is a street joke example — the punchline is in italics. My comments follow:

Street Joke Example

A husband stepped on one of those penny scales that tell you your fortune and weight and dropped in a coin.

“Listen to this,” he said to his wife, showing her a small, white card. “It says I’m energetic, bright, resourceful and a great lover.”

His wife said, “Yeah, and it has your weight wrong too!”

Here’s what you want to observe in this example:

1. Notice that the punchline is a sense of humor reaction by one of the characters described in the joke.

2. The punchline is 8 words long.

3. Notice that the keyword phrase “weight wrong too” is at the end of the sentence, adding to the element of surprise when the real meaning of the line is finally revealed.

4. As with any street joke, most of the laughter power will come as a direct result of its delivery—not how funny it “reads” from paper.

Tip: Not only will you find the punchline mechanics that I have described be seen in almost every street joke, but you will also find these same mechanics in almost every single spoken word punchline that generates laughter — no matter what the delivery environment may be.

Dialogue Punchline Example

Let’s examine punchline use in dialogue. For this example, I will use a brief clip from the 1940 movie “Ghost Breakers” starring Bob Hope:

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Here is what I want you to know about this example:

1. While this example may consist of scripted lines for a movie, it is very representative of how punchlines are generated in casual conversations where one person provides the information (set-up) and another person reacts with a punchline (sense of humor reaction).

2. The punchline is 4 words long and the keyword is at the end (Democrats). The keyword(s) could have just as easily been “Republicans” or “government workers” for a similar laughter impact.

3. What really gives the delivered punchline it’s laughter power in this example is the appearance of sincerity.

If this dialogue were written out, it would not have the same laughter generation power that is does in the video.

Tip: As I have said before, the mechanics for generating laughter in casual conversation are exactly the same for a stand-up comedy act or a speaking presentation.

The primary difference between punchlines delivered in a  stand-up comedy routine or speech (monologue) and a casual conversation with friends (dialogue) is that the comedian or presenter delivers both the set-up lines and the punchlines.

Now, let’s look at punchline usage in stand-up comedy material.

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Stand-up Comedy Punchline Example

Important: The information provided in this section ABSOLUTELY applies to public speakers as well as comedians.

Now, let’s examine some stand-up comedy material from my own act talking about coming home to the wife after a failed first time golf experience.

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Steve Roye Stand-up Comedy (30 seconds)

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Here’s what I want you to absorb from this brief sliver of stand-up comedy material:

1. Here is the breakdown of the punchlines in this 30 second clip — keywords are in bold:

The first punchline is 4 words at the end of a sentence (because she knows everything). The tag line (additional punchline) is 3 words (she’s told me).

The last punchline is 5 words long (I don’t need your pity).

2. The tag line in this bit doesn’t have a keyword per se — it is just a very short sentence that provides the laugh relative to what is being talked about.

3. These punchlines are my own sense of humor reactions to the set-up information provided in the bit. In other words…

I didn’t use a “formula” to “write” or fabricate those punchlines — I simply “reacted” to the information that I had just presented to the audience (the set-up).

4. The impact of these punchlines is directly influenced by the facial expressions, body language and voice tone used for delivery.

5. I started with a topic that was something I wanted to talk about FIRST and then I determined what I wanted to say and express about the situation, reacting along the way using my own sense of humor.

In other words…

I started with a topic that I could EASILY react to using my own sense of humor and natural expressive comedy traits.

As I mentioned before, the stand-up comedy material example above is just a sliver of a much larger bit.

Big Secret: If structured and rehearsed properly, comedy material can be successfully tested in casual conversation provided that no one is aware in advance that you are testing comedy material.

This is one of the best ways I know of to find out how well comedy material will work before it is presented to an audience.

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For Speaking Professionals

Many people are under the impression that the process for generating laughter while giving a speech or presentation is somehow vastly different from delivering stand-up comedy.

This notion is FALSE. As I have demonstrated in this lesson, the mechanics for generating live audience laughter are exactly the same in ANY presentation environment.

The big difference is speeches and presentations usually contain “informational content” that is not designed or intended to generate laughter.

For any trainer, teacher or public speaker who is looking to “spice” up their speeches and presentations with comedy and humor, here’s what you need to know:

1. Just like with comedians, one cannot simply “write” themselves into “funny” for an audience — they must have AND apply some baseline comedy talent in order to generate significant laughter (see #4 below).

2. Public speakers have two choices when it comes to generating laughs with “original” comedy material:

• They can react to the material (informational content) they are delivering using their own sense of humor or…
• They can add content that they CAN react to using their sense of humor relative to the “informational content” that is presented

3. Public speakers have the advantage of being able to inject common street jokes or lines, quips or quotes by others that are appropriate into their presentation (not usually the case in the comedy club scene) as long as they provide credit to the originator of the material.

4. Even common street jokes, when carefully selected, edited and rehearsed can be powerful “off the shelf” comedy material for ANY speaking professional.

Just like with comedians, MOST of a speaking professional’s laughter generation power comes from their delivery and effective use of their already developed expressive comedy traits.

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Wrap Up

If you have completely consumed and understand the information that I have provided in this lesson, then you should have a noteworthy advantage when it comes to developing punchlines that work based on your own individual sense of humor.

I wasn’t joking when I said in the beginning:

You now have more solid working knowledge about punchlines and set-up lines than 95%-99% of all working comedians or speaking professionals.

And while there is much more to know about developing and delivering a powerful stand-up comedy act or speech that slays an audience such as:

• Topic development/expansion
• Timing and pause management
• Line length as it relates to punchline frequency
• Material tightening strategies
• Editing material/adding punchlines during rehearsal
• Final rehearsal strategies

None of this is difficult for naturally funny people — not at all, provided they have access to solid, actionable information to begin with.

But I do believe that “conventional wisdom” about developing comedy material on an individual basis not only provides little value, but can actually make developing comedy material an extremely difficult and frustrating process.

At this point it is time to start the process of selecting the best comedy topics upon which to develop stand-up comedy material.

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