Illogical?

Logic that seems illogical to you may be reversed or put into another paradigm, thus creating a joke. First, you must identify the defective logic. It

might just be that you do not agree with an opinion or position but this is what you must focus on.

“Practically every comic who took the stage for the first time was unprepared for what they actually had to face. Honest comics who have been successful are the first to tell you that they have stunk up a stage or two; it goes with the turf. However, on several occasions I have seen some

people who go stage without any planning at all and give it a whirl.

I am glad other people cannot get their first training in their field by winging

it. Doctors for instance, can you imagine? ‘Good evening ladies and

gentlemen, welcome to open scalpel night here at Joe’s bar and surgery. Tonight we have a young man from Hoboken who is going to give a shot at

his first heart transplant. Could we get two volunteers from the audience

please?’”

All you have to do is first recognize something in the world around you, that is common knowledge, yet the concept seems stupid or inaccurate. Then exaggerate your point of view by using the same behavior in another situation. It is a simple technique. Try to make your silly example as

ridiculous as possible. Exaggerate the concept of the logic you are attacking.

Question, Inquire and Probe

Look for as many possible answers to any one question you can find. Ask yourself questions about any aspect of the setup so you can develop a direction in which to advance the possibilities for a proper and funny reaction.

If someone were sued, what would the counter suit be? If someone says, “it wasn’t me”, then ask yourself “who was it then”? Infer what you can from the information implied in the setup. What are we going to do now? Is this going to happen again? Is there someone we should call? Is there someone to blame? Does this mean something deep or shallow? What if the opposite happens? Whose idea was this? Did I get the information right? Can this be true? How do we fix this problem? The list of questions can be endless.

When you can begin to come up answers to some of these questions then you are on the road to funny land.

Remember that your answers do not have to be logical. The answers do not

have to be truthful — in fact they can and should be downright silly and

ridiculous, this is comedy.

When I was a teenager I would say to my parents “all my friends will be going to the dance”, they would always have a smart response like, “So if

your friends decided to jump off of a twenty story building does that mean

you should jump as well?”

If a statement includes several facts then there may many questions. Each answer is a potential punch line — a smart assed response.