The Comedy Writer

LET’S WRITE A JOKE

First, set-up, either ridiculous situation or ridiculous characters. So ...
Man stands at a bus stop wearing a balaclava helmet on a very hot day.
(Sounds promising.)
He is approached by another man, who asks, "Why are you wearing that balaclava helmet when it's so hot?"
(Good, build up, and we need a straight man.)
"It helps to keep my ear plugs in," the first man replies.
(Slight escalation of ridiculous.)
"But why do you need ear plugs?" the second man responds.
"They help me see the number of the bus."
(Double take.)
"How do ear plugs help you see?"
(Logical, pull back.)
"They help to concentrate the senses that are available. So, not being able to hear improves my eyesight."
(This, again makes a strange kind of sense, but I think I see a punch line coming. Do you?)
"That's fascinating. But you can hear me."
"Ah, but you're not a bus."
(Uh uh, think I'm off track here. It's funny, but not funny enough. Go back and try again, go back to where the second man says, "But you can hear me". That has to go. I need to up the ante.)
"That's a fascinating theory. So, if I covered your eyes it would improve your hearing?"
"I could hear a man coughing in Peru."
(This might be padding, which may prove necessary, but I can always edit it out later if it's unwanted.)
"And if I pinched your nose and stopped your sense of smell?"
(Haven't a clue where I'm going now.)
"It would improve my sense of touch."
(Oh oh, getting further and further away from a funny destination, I think.)
"But what good would that do you if you needed your sense of smell?
"I wouldn't let you hold my nose, would I?"
(This is getting so lame. Why did I start? Maybe I should write a recipe for a curry instead. No, keep going. Oh God, I've got it!)
"And what if I cut off your vision, your hearing, your smell and your sense of touch and taste?"
"I'd burst out laughing."
"What? Why on Earth would you burst out laughing?"
"It would really sharpen my sense of humour."
Not a classic perhaps, but not bad for sitting on the couch of a Saturday afternoon, with a laptop, watching the TV and waiting for the Euro 2008 football tournament to begin. Let's put it all together and see what we've got.
Man stands at a bus stop wearing a balaclava helmet on a very hot day.
He is approached by another man, who asks, "Why are you wearing that balaclava helmet when it's so hot?"
"It helps to keep my ear plugs in," the first man replies.
"But why do you need ear plugs?" the second man responds.
"They help me see the number of the bus."
"How do ear plugs help you see?"
"They help to concentrate the senses that are available. So, not being able to hear improves my eyesight."
"That's a fascinating theory. So, if I covered your eyes it would improve your hearing?"
"I could hear a man coughing in Peru."
"And if I pinched your nose and stopped your sense of smell?"
"It would improve my sense of touch."
"But what good would that do you if you needed your sense of smell?
"I wouldn't let you hold my nose, would I?"
"And what if I cut off your vision, your hearing, your smell and your sense of touch and taste?"
"I'd burst out laughing."
"What? Why on Earth would you burst out laughing?"
"It would really sharpen my sense of humour."
In the end run the joke only rests on what everybody takes as standard, that man has five senses, so it's based on misdirection, but this is the basis of many a good joke. I could remove material, but the whole point of the misdirection method is to get the reader or listener into a pattern of thinking, before pulling the switch, so I think I'll leave it in.
Don't be afraid of writing comedy. The joke rarely leaps into your imagination fully formed. It has to be worked for. The punchline may not immediately present itself, but as I've show in the process above (and this is not a deconstructed joke) just keep going. Maybe it isn't a sense of humour which marks out comedy writers, but stamina.