I have become worried that a lot of people in my field do not actually know what a joke is.
I don’t say this unkindly or judgmentally (though I do say it because it’s a punchy way to start a newsletter). I just think that sometimes, when people learn how to write comedy, the very basic bones of “what a joke is” are glossed over, because most of us know “funny” when we see it. I assume in the standup world there’s more time devoted to the science of joke construction, but in screenwriting, the focus tends to be on story structure and character (which, for the record, are very important). But what that means is that a lot of joke-writers don’t really know what actually constitutes a joke.
Let me take a moment to say that I am always nervous to write about my “craft” (puuuuuke) in a didactic way because I am, by many standards, still starting out in this industry, and there is a lot of existing writing on the topic. The thing is, I think the people who get published for their knowledge of joke-writing tend to be professionals in the field, which generally means older, and therefore not suuuuper in-touch with what modern humor is.
Humor is contextual. As many of us know from every Thanksgiving meal, the Gen Z sense of humor is different from the Millennial sense of humor is different from the Boomer sense of humor (which, from what I can tell, is photos of Trump photoshopped in drag makeup with the caption “Her name is Ibuilda Thewall!” and then like 6 of the laugh-crying emoji).
It is indisputable that the internet has greatly influenced the modern comedic voice, but I think it is often seen from the outside as a monolith (“he has a very online sense of humor”) rather than an entire world of its own. Someone’s “online” humor might be dependent on hours spent scrolling, what social media they’re scrolling on, how they engage with the content, if they know the people they’re following personally, and so on.
I encourage you to do your own research on online humor trends, as I am writing purely from experience, and have done no research. However, I am an overthinker, and I think a lot about this. As a content-creating zillennial (I’m claiming that because I’ve been wearing sweater vests lately) who has seen a solid amount of The Dick Van Dyke Show, I’m pretty well-versed in joke types. But I write this knowing that I am only scraping the surface here.
The Basics
So what is a joke?
In its most basic form, a joke is a subversion of expectation. Think about babies, laughing at peek-a-boo. They don’t have object permanence, so when you put your hands in front of your face, you’re literally gone. There’s nothing there! Then you appear, subverting their expectation of what exists before them, and they laugh.
I cannot imagine a world in which (good) physical comedy stops being funny. When I started out writing preschool tv, my inclination was to write tons of puns. The thing is, preschoolers largely don’t get wordplay… because they’re still learning the words. Or, in joke terminology, you can’t subvert the expectation because they aren’t solid on the expectation yet.
And so physical comedy is king in preschool – while tots may not have a full vocabulary, they do know that people aren’t supposed to slip on ice and fall over. I have written a lot of “witty” humor that has gotten cut in favor of “the chipmunks fall out of the window.” After grieving a few of these slain jokes, I have come to respect physical comedy a lot (and at some point I may write an entire letter on the genius of the Minions). Physical comedy is the great uniter, across ages, languages, and tastes.
It is the same with verbal humor; most successful jokes are some form of expectation + subversion. Consider the old classic, “Take my wife… please!” The audience believes the comedian is going to use his wife as an example, but then he subverts it by using a different meaning of the verb “take.” Et voila.
This is also the reason that “the rule of three” reigns supreme in comedy. The first thing sets an expectation for the rest of the list, the second thing confirms that expectation, and then the third thing subverts it.
Apologies if you know this already - I decided it was worth taking the time to explain this a) for non-comedy people who are wondering why their jokes on the company Slack are flopping, and b) because, as I said, I think a lot of comedy people don’t know these basics. (Okay, maybe I did mean a liiiittle unkindness and judgment in my opening sentence).
Subverting the Subversion
So this is where it gets interesting. Television comedies often start out by audaciously breaking new ground in terms of joke type, comedic voice, topics covered, etc., but even the most daring of them eventually start to feel tired (see: It’s Always Sunny, Rick and Morty, What We Do in the Shadows). In my opinion, this is because they begin by subverting norms, but as audiences grow accustomed to the method by which they’re subverting, the “subversion” becomes the new norm, and the show loses its zing.
In my opinion, one of the hallmarks of a truly great show is that the jokes have their own unique rhythm. It’s remarkable that sometimes a joke can “feel like a Family Guy joke” or be “very Tina Fey.” But a solid brand comes with a downside, which is that people develop an expectation for what the jokes will sound like. And if you meet those expectations, you’re doing the opposite of subverting.
Most English-speaking people nowadays upon hearing the phrase “Take my wife…” expect it to be followed by “please.” And were you to perform that joke, you probably wouldn’t get a laugh, because the subversion is now the expectation.
So what do you do? You must subvert the new norm you’ve created. An example of this that comes to mind is South Park – in season 4, they do a pretty faithful retelling of Great Expectations. Is it beat-for-beat funny? Not really. But rude, raunchy, inappropriate humor is what you expect of South Park. So what is subversive? A straightforward Dickens adaptation. In my opinion, iconic. Many disagree…
… which, in my opinion, proves that it was the right choice.
TikTok, the New(est) Frontier
It’s fascinating when older, established comedians – well-versed in the art of jokes – try to break into the tiktok space, and end up flopping, hard. (Not Zach Woods, though. My guy nailed it.)
Why is that? There are a lot of reasons, foremost being that virality on tiktok rarely seems to follow rhyme or reason. Some of my favorite creations have gotten three views, while others have a million (brag), and I truly could not tell you why. But a trend I have noticed is that Gen Z is allergic to the appearance of effort.
If it looks like you put time and energy into something, they think it’s “cringe.” If your video is too precisely edited, they might find it “cheugy.” And if you don’t know what either of those words means, oh boy are you cooked.
Related is a trend that reeaaaalllly pisses me off, something I would call “comment colonialism.” A lot of the comments on comedy videos are versions of “why is this so funny.” The answer is that it’s content created by someone who is very good at what they do! But they like it when it feels random, like they have stumbled onto this weird, random video like stout Cortez and have colonized it in the name of “lmaooo why am I laughing rn.”
Here's an example regarding the sound feature on tiktok:
You can easily find out who created the sound simply by clicking the circle in the bottom right. What do you mean “whoever made this”??? Click through and credit them!!
Sorry. I’m digressing a little. But sometimes the old man needs to yell at a cloud.
“Unintentional” Humor
If the kids hate effort, what do they laugh at? Well, they love people who are unintentionally funny, like this guy giving a speech on mute, or this old gent laughing like a seagull after hearing a loud whistle:
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
The older generation does great on tiktok because the younger generation doesn’t believe that they have the ability to create intentionally humorous content on the platform. Other categories that similarly do well: interviews with strangers, kids saying the darnedest things, and clips of people secretly filmed in public (all of which I find troubling, but I’ll let someone else write the “tiktok ethics” thinkpiece).
This obsession with the “random” follows into scripted comedy on tiktok.
In traditional sketch comedy, your sketch has a premise, or “game,” that is stated towards the beginning, then the game heightens progressively until the end, where there is often a quick, final subversion of what’s been established to finish the sketch on a laugh.
Many of the most popular “sketch” comedians on tiktok produce comedy that reflects their commenters’ reverence of the random – ie a short video where people interject with funny, chaotic lines, and there is no real “game” to the sketch.
Here’s an example. Or, if you don’t want to click the link, here’s the transcript of the end of the video:
1: Maya, you work 80 hours a week, and you’re too scared to ask your boss for a raise.
2: Because I’m just a girl, you fucking misogynist!
3: What is going on today?
4: I don’t know, but if you go to a restaurant or order delivery, you have to tip!
5: Ya, you’re exploiting people’s labor without paying for it. it’s kinda like slavery.
6: Did someone say sex slavery?
All: No!
The video is 42 seconds long, and has 7 “characters.” This genre is rising on tiktok, typically seen in under-a-minute bursts. You get jostled around, and are so surprised by the insane twists and turns that it elicits a laugh (or at least, it’s supposed to - you can tell where I stand on this structure).
Format-wise, this is “game presented, then immediate subversion, immediate subversion, immediate subversion…” ad infinitum. Occasionally, there are references to the original game, but they’re usually presented as “oh right, we’re supposed to reference the fact that this was originally about something.”
In my opinion, sketches like these don’t land, because – like preschoolers and puns – you cannot have subversion without expectation. Three jokes in, the viewer realizes “okay, the game here is just “let’s say crazy stuff,” and then that becomes the norm. Chaos can be an expectation, too - just look at CONGRESS! 🤣🤣🤣
I will say that I think generally it’s a bad habit to scoff at new, popular trends in comedy – that’s the quickest way to become irrelevant. And to that end, I will say that there are some well-done examples of “random” humor that I really do love; for example, Veronika Slowikowska, Casey Winbush, and Grace Kuhlenschmidt use chaos in their comedy to great effect.
Television
So how do we make tiktok randomness profitable? If it doesn’t succeed in long-form, where do we go?
Personally, I think we’re doomed and none of us will make money ever again.
Just kidding (hopefully).
I would look to I Think You Should Leave for hope. I just think this show is extremely, extremely successful at being a modern sketch show. Tim Robinson has logged his hours doing traditional sketch, but is continually looking to innovate and break from tradition, both in terms of structure and material.
Comedy science aside, the man is also just a comedic genius, with deeply unique ideas, specific, studied characters, and exquisitely insane performances.
(Patti Harrison, the featured actress in the above sketch, is also on the cutting edge of humor - learn her name, she’ll be very famous soon.)
Another example I would point to is “Smiling Friends.” This show leans into the Gen Z randomness in an Adult Swimmy way (those little freaks always been ahead of the curve), and at 11 minutes, evades long-form exhaustion. The editing is absolutely insane, a trend that I hope spreads (good editing can be the difference between feeling current and dated!), and it refuses to be confined by expectation of any kind. I would say, however, that the show is hit and miss, and that their most successful episodes (in my opinion) are those that stick to a more traditional structure/stronger emotional core, and go bonkers in terms of the dialogue. I am a little worried that as they try to subvert expectations of the show, it may descend into too much chaos.
Here’s a great episode, which I was introduced to by my younger brother (shout out to Will). If that link doesn’t work, it’s called “Shrimp’s Odyssey.”
Racing Through Trends
(Young people with no attention spans, don’t worry! You’re so close to the end of this newsletter!!)
Something that’s being discussed a lot currently on tiktok is the speed at which trends are cycled through. Fashion influencers are so desperate to be on the cutting edge of style that trends come and go like CRAZY, earning the name “microtrends.” You’ve just completed your depop order of “dark academia” clothing when it’s now announced that “office siren” is in, but actually scrap that because everything is just Y2K now. (I wish this was a bit… I really can’t believe we’re back to low-rise jeans.)
I think this phenomenon exists at a personal scale in regards to comedy. Let’s say the algorithm (which is incredibly good at knowing what you’ll like) has given you 60 videos of rapid-fire tiktok sketches. Pretty soon, that will be your norm. In twitter speak, you’ll soon experience this phenomenon:
As you fully sink deeper into internet brain rot, more and more joke formats become stale, until the only thing that makes you laugh is anti-humor; bits so nonsensical that they’re effectively incomprehensible. Essentially, you’re left at 2am crying laughing at something that isn’t actually a joke at all (ie “ya boy tarantula dick,” which, for the record, is a reference to nothing).
This is a pretty bleak place to be (I speak from experience), and there’s really no deeper down you can go from here - the rock bottom of jokes. The good news is that I think this process is cyclical. Eventually, you overdose on the internet, delete twitter and tiktok off your phone, and pick up a book… but then get sucked into your roommate’s rewatch of Sex and the City, and find yourself surprised that it’s making you laugh, and after three seasons, your brain gets a nice little reset. Rinse and repeat. (Someone quote me on this in a textbook and call it the Tarantula Dick to Carrie Bradshaw Principle.” Pleeease.)
The Takeaway
This post was pretty meandering, despite its MLA-style formatting. So what are the takeaways?
First of all, gain some reading comprehension and draw your own conclusions!! You SHEEP.
Okay, fine, I’ll help out the ChatGPT bot you asked to summarize this newsletter.
I think it’s worth knowing why some jokes work and some don’t, especially if you hope to make a career in them. Jokes are both art and science, and
, like testicle stimulation,it’s important to have a firm grasp of both parts. (I deleted that because you expect me to make testicle jokes.)It is very stupid to discount new forms of comedy. Girls changed the game the same way that Newhart changed the game the same way that The Dick Van Dyke Show changed the game. You don’t have to love everything that’s out there, but if you’re hoping to write/sell a show marketed towards “teens,” you should know what teens are actually watching.
Much of the new comedic voice is predicated on a tiktok viewer’s attention span, and thrives in short form as a result. If you’re an agent at WME and you sign a tiktok creator, don’t be surprised if they have no idea how to write a pilot. That said, I’m being very presumptuous here in assuming that these people want to make the leap to the big screen. A lot of them are making good money on tiktok, so if they’re happy in that sphere, I certainly have no grounds on which to criticize them.
Our senses of humor are mutable, and new forms of comedy are always around the corner. But while cell phones are for sure rotting our attention spans, I’m not too worried about the future of comedy! In every generation, there are geniuses and hacks, and people making people laugh in new and inventive ways. And I look forward to seeing what’s next!
Taking my wife… to get a colonoscopy,
Johnny
If you haven’t read it already, I recommend Jesse David Fox’s The Comedy Book, which is an academic dive into comedy from the 90s to today, touches on many of these ideas, and takes comedy as seriously as you do! ❤️