Surprise.
I AM FUNNY BLOG
Surprise is something often forgotten about or overlooked in comedy. I love to build a good surprise. When a joke is not working I will ask myself, “is there a surprise?” I have spoiled the surprise in some way or there isn’t any. At its basic level a surprise is when the result is different from the expectation. As humans we are constantly jumping to conclusions and trying to guess what is going to happen next. This is something that comedians can play with and the result is laughter. There are several ways that I use to create surprise. Word economy, opposites, A to A, and rule of 3.
"I prefer not to think before speaking. I like being just as surprised as everyone else by what comes out of my mouth." — Dorothy Parker.
Word Economy.
For a good surprise the speaker must get there first. So often we give too much information that gives away the surprise before the end. So I cut out as many words as possible. A great technique for doing this is to write out the setup and cut one word at a time until it doesn’t make sense then add that last word back. Or just re-write the setup with less words. Word economy is such an important tool in every comedian’s tool kit. I always enjoy telling jokes with less words because they take less time for me to memorize. The other way of thinking about this is burying the lede or giving away the surprise. If I hold your hand all the way you will begin to expect what I’m going to say. Cut out words and the listener won’t know where you are going till boom!
Opposites.
A great way to build a surprise in anything is to just look at the opposite. So I think what is the next thing that is expected I would say in this sentence? Ok what is the opposite of that?
Example: I love skateboarding because it’s so much…………………pain.
The expectation is that I would say “because its so much fun.” But I think: what is the opposite of fun? Not fun, what’s not fun, getting hurt, what is getting hurt, oh pain.
Go from A to A.
Sometimes we can add a surprise by saying the same thing twice. So the expectation is going from A to B. But we go A to A. I love to do this when I do an analogy. I just bring the original thing into that analogy at the end. The expectation is that I am going to say something else, but surprise I just say the thing again.
Rule of 3’s.
The reason for the rule of 3s is it takes two things to create a pattern and then break the expected pattern with the third.
Example: 1, 2, Banana.
These are the basic tools that I employ to add surprise to my jokes. They are not usually the main punchline but little laughs to pepper my stories or bits with. If you liked this article subscribe to my weekly blog below and share it with someone who would appreciate it.
Thank you for reading, You’re doing great.
Bjorn RG.