The structure of jokes

Teach you how to play talk shows and clearly analyze the basic structure of the paragraphs.

Through several basic principles, you can master how to write funny jokes to help you produce better results in daily communication.

The structure of jokes

Traditionally, jokes can be divided into two parts: bedding and punchline. For example, A. Whitney Brown's joke:

I went to see my grandmother the other day ... this may be the last time ... Oh, she is not sick or anything, but bored to death.

The foreshadowing is the first part of the joke, preparing for the punch line; The punch line is the second part of the joke, which makes people laugh.

Paving and laughing matter are directly related to expectations and accidents. Take steve martin's joke as an example, and pay attention to how to make you look forward to it.

Sex is one of the most beautiful, healthy and natural things in the world.

Then look at how the punch line caused the accident.

Money can buy.

To be effective, a joke must surprise you. But don't be surprised if you can't form expectations first. This is the function of jokes: to make you expect one thing and then make an accident with another. Therefore, the following is the revised definition.

Pave the way for manufacturing expectations.

The joke revealed the accident.

Talk show tips 0 1? Jokes need two story lines.

The foreshadowing part of the joke creates "story 1" in our minds, which makes us expect, and then the joke uses "story 2" to create a reasonable and unexpected accident. For example, imagine a male talk show actor telling the following joke in great frustration.

My wife ran away with my best friend. God, I miss this guy so much.

The story 1 was created: my wife ran away with my best friend. We expect the story to follow this theme, so when the punch line presents the second story, we will be surprised: a man is very sad because he misses his buddy.

If there are no two story lines, a joke is not a joke. Therefore, if the punch line does not reveal the second story line, you get a single story, not a joke.

My wife ran away with my best friend. God, I miss her so much.

It's not an accident, it's not a joke.

Talk show tips 02? It is a hypothesis that you imagine it exists, but you can't perceive it.

Anything that can't be seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelled exists in the form of hypothesis. They may exist, but you have no direct evidence to prove that you are making assumptions. We make assumptions because human beings have a deep-rooted need to understand things. If there is anything we don't understand, we will supplement the information to make it clear and make assumptions based on past experience.

There is a standard old joke:

After 40 years of marriage, I have always loved the same woman. If my wife finds out, she will kill me.

The first sentence is a hypothesis, which allows you to make such a guess based on your own life experience. It contains more information through bedding, and then the next sentence brings surprises.

Three mechanisms of joke structure

Goal hypothesis and reinterpretation: two interpretations of the same thing

The first two mechanisms are called goal hypothesis and reinterpretation. The two are interrelated, the goal hypothesis is the key element of story 1, and the reinterpretation is the main part of story 2. They are "interrelated" because they represent different interpretations of the same thing. The goal hypothesis represents the expected explanation of one thing, while the reinterpretation reveals the unexpected explanation of the same thing.

Goal hypothesis: a joke with bedding.

When the audience sees or hears the foreshadowing, they will create stories through various assumptions 1 One of these hypotheses will become the target hypothesis. The difference between the target hypothesis and other hypotheses is that it meets two unique criteria.

1. The goal hypothesis is the key hypothesis used to create the story 1.

2. The goal hypothesis is directly broken by the punchline.

Every laid-off joke will make readers imagine the story 1 through assumptions, and then reveal the story 2 through the punchline.

Through hypothesis, when the story 1 came into being, the foreshadowing established the expectation; The punch line breaks the key hypothesis (goal hypothesis) and presents story 2. The punch line did this through an unexpected interpretation of the bedding elements.

Two interpretations of the same thing are crucial to the effectiveness of jokes.

Talk show tips 03? The purpose of reinterpretation is to break the goal hypothesis.

Break the goal hypothesis with unexpected reinterpretation, thus creating surprises. People will laugh when your jokes break their assumptions.

But some jokes really have no formal punch line. Take the following example.

The rabbit said, "I am a rabbit!" " "

The pig said, "I am a son of a bitch!" " "

The chicken said, "I am a son of a bitch!" " "

The dog said, "I am ..."

The audience provided a reinterpretation and broke the goal hypothesis. However, the fact that the audience can infer the joke does not mean that the basic principles of "target hypothesis" and "reinterpretation" are not applicable.

The structure of jokes is simple. It will revolve around a core theme. If there are multiple connection points, there will be multiple jokes.

Talk show tips 04? Explore the joke channel by asking questions

Asking questions is the best way to explore the joke channel, which allows you to explore more purposefully. When starting to write jokes, people often just repeat what's in their minds over and over again and get caught up in it. For example, "What's so funny about this?" Or: "Where's the punch line?" This will ask you there is no way out.

If you find a joke treasure that can lead you to it, you should dig around it several times, not just in one place.

Asking questions will help you find answers, and each answer will take you one step further or take you into a completely different track. You don't know in advance which channel will lead you to a favorite joke, so the secret is that you have to ask a lot of questions. Any exploration is much better than being stuck in the same place and repeating the same words over and over again. Any exploration is much better than being stuck in the same place and repeating the same words over and over again. Any exploration is better than being stuck in the same place ... you know.

Step 1 Choose a foreshadowing and list various assumptions: "What assumptions do I have about this statement?"

Ex: I got up this morning and ran 5 kilometers.

Now let's ask the question of this step.

Q: What assumptions did I make about this sentence?

I think so,

A.he runs to exercise.

He didn't exaggerate the distance he ran.

C. he ran out.

D. "I ran away" means he ran away by himself.

E. he didn't lie.

Whenever you deal with any step of the problem, write down your answers, and don't try to remember them all in your mind.

The second step is to choose a goal hypothesis and find the connection point: "What made me produce this goal hypothesis?"

When considering which hypothesis to choose as the target hypothesis, we should choose the hypothesis that is most suitable for this joke. If you find yourself naturally attracted to a certain goal, trust your intuition; When you realize that the reinterpretation of a goal is likely to be comic, you should choose this goal.

After finding this connection point, all subsequent steps are extensions of this step. You need to take some time to evaluate your idea: how did you get to this point? There are some basic elements that allow you to make a goal hypothesis. What are these elements? The best tool to find out these elements is to ask questions about this step.

Q: What made me make such a goal assumption?

A: If my goal hypothesis is "He runs for exercise", then the reason why I make this hypothesis is "The reason why he runs".

Connection point: the reason why he ran.

So "the reason why he ran" is the connection point, and the connection point is what makes you make this goal assumption.

The third step lists several reinterpretations of the connection point: "Besides the target hypothesis, what reinterpretation does this connection point have?"

Be as specific as possible.

Q: Besides this goal hypothesis, is there any reinterpretation of my connection point (the reason why he runs)?

A: Other possible interpretations of the title "He ran 5 kilometers" include,

A. He ran away because he was scared by a terrible face.

He ran away because he was dragged away by force.

C.he ran because he was chasing a naked woman.

D. He ran away because his car ran away.

Remember, there is no such thing as a "unique explanation" or a "correct explanation".

The fourth step is to choose a reinterpretation and complete the story 2: "What specific circumstances can explain my reinterpretation of this foreshadowing?"

In this step, you choose a reinterpretation from the above list, and then it becomes a reinterpretation of your joke. I choose a now.

Reinterpretation: He ran because he was scared away by a horrible face.

This reinterpretation is not a joke in itself, but it is the central concept of story 2.

The fifth step is to write a paragraph that can explain this story 2: "Besides foreshadowing, what information do you need to make my story 2 clear?"

Asking questions is the best way to find these inspirations, so as this step begins, you should use more questions as tools and keep digging until you get a gem.

Q: Apart from laying the groundwork, what information is needed to make Story 2 clear?

He brought an ugly girl home from the bar and woke up beside her. That's why he ran away.

This is the message to be included in the punchline. It must be very effective and very concise.

Simplicity is the soul of wisdom. You should reveal your story in short language, the shorter the better.

Take the following joke as an example:

I got up this morning and ran 5 kilometers. This is because I picked an incredibly ugly woman in a bar last night and then took her home when I was as drunk as a fiddler. I spent the night with her, and when I saw her in the morning, I was frightened.

Although the punchline is well expressed and the story 2 is clear, it is not very concise. This is why it doesn't sound funny. As the meaning of the word "punline" (5) shows, a punch should be like a quick and powerful punch. Comparatively speaking, I prefer the following example.

I got up this morning and ran 5 kilometers. If it were you, you would run, too. If you are like me, turn over and look at that ugly guy I brought back from the bar last night.

You can also write it like this.

I got up this morning and ran 5 kilometers. It's like waking up from a bad hangover, turning over and seeing a monster brought back from a bar, immediately getting rid of it and starting to run.