But if this was a stand-alone piece, then Dangerfield could have:
Your assignment:Every time you come up with a joke, consider it an automatically required exercise to come up with a topper and a second topper. |
Exercise:STOP the tutorial and take a moment to create awhich consist of:
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In applying the what you have learned in this tutorial, the fundamentals of the
see if you can maybe pump new life into a corny old joke and get it to work even better than the first time you used it to get a big laugh.
Now, open your favorite word processor and -- |
After you have completed these two (2) assignments, then take Jim's
How to Write a Joke Quiz
to cement in your understanding of every concept in this tutorial.
Let the fun begin!
Yipeeee!
Surfing the web is not always studying and learning, anymore than sitting in seminar and listening to an entertaining, even dashing professor necessarily means you understand the lesson.
Therefore, to complete this interactive learning experience and check your retention, keep taking Jim's quiz until you upgrade your score to an "A+", which means:
score your own tests
--what a guy!
It is essential to get your fundamentals down solidly before you continue further work in this craft.
Then, elevate it to art!
Click on the answer you feel is correct. |
Question #1
In terms of structure, what is the difference in writing problems between a minister and a stand-up comic?
Question #2
Speak in ideal terms, what is the greatest number of lines you can use to set up a punch line?
If you want to re-read this section of Jim's tutorial, clickQuestion #3
What should the set up line(s) give the audience in as few words as possible?
Question #4
During his first nine month in office (1982), what did Johnny Carson have to say about James Watt everytime he set up a joke about Watt that Johnny didn't have to say after this period of time?
Question #5
What is the major difference between telling a joke to associates vs. to a general audience?
Question #6
If you expect laughter in response to a conventional joke, what percentage of the general audience has to know about the joke's subject?
To re-read this section, clickQuestion #7
Set up lines for jokes and serious points both follow the same rules. Serious points need to be set up in the same, severe number of sentences as jokes.
To re-read this section, clickQuestion #8
Is it a good idea to throw in an additional set up line if it will make the comic seem more conversational by including words and phrases like:
Or is such chattiness an unnecessary, meaningless waste of time that insults the audience's intelligence and dilutes the joke's power which depends on brevity for it's very life . . . this padded explanation is even worse than the crime itself!
OK: number eight was a freebie -- everyone who has read the correct answers to number one-four gets credit.
Onward.
Question #9
Tag lines are:
Question #10
Punch words should be:
To re-read this section, clickQuestion #11
What is a punch line?
Question #12
What essential characteristics distinguish a topper from a punch line?
Question #13
Who decides where to place the punch word?
To re-read this section, clickQuestion #14
After the audience hears the joke's "punch word," what two things happen?
Question #15
Define "prosody":
Question #16
How should you mark your punch words on your script?
Question #17
What is the hardest fundamental to master, career-long??
Question #18
What is a second topper?
Question #19
Toppers help your joke by:
Question #20
The audience is just interested in:
Question #21: for EXTRA CREDIT --
How can you best learn from recordings of your favorite comedy routines?
What follows is the table of contents for Jim's entire audio tape/workbook package for this tutorial. Now, you can get a feel of how greatly expanded this study gets in Jim's home study materials:
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Date this page was last modified, Pacific Standard Time: Thursday, 10-Oct-2019 10:20:07 PDT