How to generate joke ideas?

What’s goody comedy fam!

A few weeks ago I shared an email about how to come up with punchlines, but I forgot the first step which is how to generate ideas. 

Fortunately this week’s live Q&A brought up the topic and I have some quick tips to help you generate better ideas that lead to better punchlines. 

The most common mistake comics make is forcing the funny.

I know I have been guilty of doing certain things hoping to “get a bit out of it” instead of just being in the moment.

This sounds woo wooey but try just being open to the funny finding you. This will force you to be more present in the moment and perceptive to ideas that just might become your next great joke!

But what ideas are worth keeping?

So instead of only focusing on “funny” ideas, let’s expand your joke writing net to any idea that evokes an emotion:

• What confuses you? 

• What angers you?

• What intrigues you?

• What excites you?

So as you’re going through your day to day life be aware of these emotional reactions.

The whole reason for this is that joke writing requires a lot of repetition of trial and error. So you want to make sure you are writing about topics you have an emotional connection to.

Most of my favorite jokes started out as something not funny but interesting to me that I then put in the reps to find the funny angle.

This emotional connection will keep you motivated and interested to try the idea over and over again until you find the funny angle.

Give this a test this week and let me know how it goes!

If you found this email helpful, please reply with your favorite insight and forward it to a fellow comic encouraging them to join this email list!

Sincerely your comedy friend,
Joel Byars