: Re: Tips for humor writing Are there any techniques you can use while brainstorming to find humor to include in an article?

@Steve161

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Here I roughly translate and sum up some advices from Daniele Luttazzi, an italian satirist (original text here) who learned from the best, like Lenny Bruce and Josh Carlin. (Sorry for any mistake, please edit).

The punchline must be a suprise with respect to the preamble. If the surprise is weak the humor will be weak. If the surprise is awkward the humor will be weak too. The difficult part is balancing these two parts (preamble and punchline).

Wordplay is difficult, more than you think (but anglosaxon humor might be quite different in this aspect).

There is a fashion in jokes, too. What made our grandparents laugh might not be that good anymore.

Keep the punchline as dry as possible. Less words is better, except when this hurts the rhythm.

A good joke is based on an idea, not on a commonplace. If you crack a joke on something you are not well enough informed on, you won't make people laugh. On the other hand if the joke refers to very specific subjects no one, except a bunch of specialists, will get it.

What elicits a laugh is the technique of the joke, not its content. When you retell a joke in other words it usually doesn't work.

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