How to Write a Joke

If you've ever come across someone who writes jokes for a living, you'd shake his hand politely and smile. You'd think, 'fool around and get paid! Must be a funny life he lives'! Truth is, funny will often pull a fast one on the fellow, making him wish he took his life more seriously. As far as jokes are concerned, we can all agree that writing one is not as easy as it seems. It can be downright impossible, as some might put it. For me, it's not so hard; I'm a swift learner. I said that 11 years ago and I said it again one year ago, and the second time around, people did laugh! They were laughing at me of course, but hey, it's an improvement!

Doing stand-up is like trying to kill a 200 pound lion with a toothpick. It can be like a really bad dream where you're Russell Crowe, yelling, "Are you not entertained?", only to look around and see a million Joaquin Phoenix lookalikes giving you the thumb down. Because every member in the audience is like your emperor, just waiting for a chance to throw you into the cage with hungry lions.

But then hey, you're Russell Crowe, so you probably can go out and kill those other gladiators and the hungry lions along with them. All you need are the right weapons. So here's a list of things to improve your joke-writing form. Now, a true punchline comes from your mind and your thoughts and not the Internet. So, for this article, we will concentrate on the form of a joke and adding things into the mix to increase quality.