Illustration: Jason Ford This whole idea was coffee induced. On December 31, 2018, I was sitting with my first cup of the day — Michael Pollan wrote that we enjoy that first coffee so much because it relieves our caffeine withdrawal, so I was on a high from that — and I said to my wife, Sadé, “What do you think people would do if I offered a comedy tip every day next year?” and she said, “I think they would love it.” Her response was all I needed, so I tweeted out that I was going to do it.
There was one comedian who said, “Why are you giving this away?” Well, I didn’t give away anything that I didn’t get from somebody or somewhere else. These aren’t secrets, and a lot of these things shouldn’t have taken me as long to figure out as they did. Other people said I should put the tips out as a book, but I thought it was tacky to sell people something that you’d given them for free. I didn’t want to sully it with commerce, but I also wanted them to be in one place.
Tip No. 2: Write out a favorite joke word-for-word one sentence at a time. After completing each sentence, analyze each word. Why does it work? How do the syllables of the words create rhythm? How do the sentences build to the punchline? What’s the grammar of comedy? You can do [Tip No. 2] at any stage, but probably it’s best early on in your career. If it sounds daunting to write out entire jokes, you should know that the immortal Hunter S.
Tip No. 6: Words with the sound “buh,” “puh,” and “kuh,” especially at the beginning/end are funnier. No one knows why. “Buick” is funnier than “Nissan.” I learned this early. I assumed everyone knew. They don’t. Take some soft punch-words and replace them with a b/p/k sound. Tip No. 67: You should try to adhere to George Orwell’s first rule for effective writing: “Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.” Take the time to create your own. It’s part of the job.
Gary’s recommendations. Photo: Amazon Tip No. 269: I usually start a joke by trying to write a funny or interesting sentence. It takes away the intimidation of writing an entire joke. Just play around with a few versions of your sentence and maybe say them out loud to get the feel for which is best.
Gary's Favorites Tip No. 45: Don’t Hoard Jokes Don’t worry about “burning” material on a special or album. Hoarding jokes may signal to your brain that you’re out of ideas. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou.
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