What are flat jokes and how to deal with them. Jokes are different

Joke

Joke

noun, and., used often

Morphology: (no) what? jokes, what? joke, (see) what? joke, how? joke, about what? about a joke; pl. what? jokes, (no) what? jokes, what? jokes, (see) what? jokes, how? jokes, about what? about jokes

1. joke they call a phrase, a witty word that a person says in order to make other people laugh, as well as a funny funny trick, trick, etc.

Subtle, smart joke. | An innocent, harmless joke. | Good, good joke. | Evil, wicked joke. | British scientists set out to determine the funniest joke in the world.

bad joke

2. If you offended someone stupid joke, then this means that your attempt to cheer up the other person was unsuccessful.

Hopefully this is just another stupid joke. But if the clock is not found by tomorrow, I will write a letter of resignation in the morning.

3. Flat, dull etc. joke- this is a failed witticism.

We are fed up with your flat jokes.

4. Dirty, dirty joke- This is a joke with intimate details.

5. April fool's joke some funny fiction, a prank, implausible news that people tell each other on April Fool's Day on April 1 is called.

6. Phrase Every joke has some truth or Every joke has its share of jokes means that many funny jokes are not as harmless as they might seem at first glance, and contain some serious information.

7. If someone is said to be doesn't understand jokes, then this means that this person takes everything seriously, is offended.

8. If you say about someone that he is not inclined jokes to joke, then this means that this person is serious about his affairs, duties, etc.

call to seriousness

9. Phrase Seriously! means a call for seriousness, attention, as you intend to move on to an important conversation.

10. When your interlocutor joked about a situation, and you want to go to serious conversation, you can start your speech with the phrase Jokes are jokes, but...

11. If you tell someone I'm not joking today, then this means that your Bad mood does not allow you to relax, be carefree, properly respond to the desire of another person to make you laugh, etc.

12. If you are talking to someone no joke, this means that what you are going to talk about, in your opinion, deserves a serious attitude from your interlocutor.

13. If you say that illness, travel, marriage, etc. not a joke, then this means that you think that they are important, significant, serious, do not allow a frivolous attitude towards them.

Losing with such a score is no longer a joke.

14. If someone, talking about some incident, says that he was no joke, then this means that this person was seriously scared, puzzled, etc.

15. If something is done, it happens not a joke, this means that it manifests itself very strongly, in to a large extent.

Don't get angry. | I'm late for no reason. | The storm played out in earnest.

16. Phrase is it a joke or joke to say means that some events, phenomena, deeds, in your opinion, deserve a serious, respectful attitude because of their complexity, danger, etc.

No joke, she raised three children. | Half the house collapsed, it's a joke to say.

17. If you say that jokes are bad with someone, something, this means that this person or event, phenomenon does not tolerate a frivolous, frivolous attitude.

Storms are not to be trifled with.

18. If you do, say something as a joke, then this means that you do not have serious intentions, goals, you are not doing it seriously.

I used to scare you.

19. If you want draw what you said or did as a joke, then this means that you want to give an easier turn, flow to a case or conversation that threatens to turn into trouble.

joke noun, and.

Make jokes.

playful adj.

Joking tone.

Dictionary Russian language Dmitrieva. D.V. Dmitriev. 2003 .

See what a "joke" is in other dictionaries:

JOKE, jokes, female. 1. What is said or done for the sake of entertainment, for the sake of exciting laughter, fun, fun, prank. "Laughed at Kostyakov's flat jokes." Goncharov. "I'll tell you a joke that will hurt your stomach." A. Ostrovsky. "Leshiy ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

Speech * Aphorism * Loquacity * Literacy * Dialogue * Slander * Eloquence * Brevity * Cry * Criticism * Flattery * Silence * Thought * Sneer * Promise * Sharpness * ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms

JOKE, and, wives. 1. What is said or done not seriously, for the sake of entertainment, fun; words that are not trustworthy. Say what n. as a joke. Play a cruel joke with someone. (to cause trouble to someone who did not expect it, did not prepare for it). Jokes… … Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

Fun, fun, tomfoolery, childishness, humor, farce, vaudeville. Jokingly, jokingly (prot.). See trifle, fun, game, mockery .. without jokes, as a joke, except for jokes, in earnest, win back with jokes, play a joke ... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and ... ... Synonym dictionary

- - comic contrast in life situation, causing laughter, marking both difference and connection. It also denotes the ability to notice this contrast and visualize it. At the same time, the joke mostly glides over the surface and does not ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

Adverb, number of synonyms: 6 easy to say! (5) not a joke (8) is this a simple matter... Synonym dictionary

Easy to say!, Difficult, not a joke, seven sweats will come down Dictionary of Russian synonyms ... Synonym dictionary

joke- bulky (Chekhov); rough (A. Fedorov); daring (Nekrasov); good-natured (Serafimovich); modest (Grigorovich); poisonous (Ertel); caustic (Bryusov) Epithets of literary Russian speech. M: The supplier of the court of His Majesty the partnership of the Quick Press ... ... Dictionary of epithets

joke- JOKE, farce, colloquial. joke, jargon chip JOKE, clowning, buffoonery, outdated. buffoonery, outdated. buffoonery, outdated. garrison, obsolete. swearing, swearing, disapproving farce, razg. buffoonery SHUT, harlequin, clown, clown, buffoon, ... ... Dictionary-thesaurus of synonyms of Russian speech

JOKE, and, well. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

- "JOKE?!.", USSR, DEBUT (MOSFILM), 1981, color, 30 min. Drama. Based on the story by M. Chulaki "Short-tailed Synecdoche". The young heroine gets a job as a laboratory assistant in one of the research institutes. Established relationships between employees seem artificial to her. Her … Cinema Encyclopedia

The success of any joke is determined by the reaction of the audience to it. If in response to a witticism, an anecdote, or some kind of comical remark, you hear laughter or see smiles, then the joke was a success. If the reaction is different, you should still work on your skills. However, the success of jokes does not always depend on the technique of execution or compliance with certain requirements, which we have already discussed (originality, surprise, timeliness, etc.). The relevance of the topic and the topic itself plays a huge role, because there are topics on which it is not customary to joke, otherwise humor will either not be perceived, or it will be perceived negatively - as an insult, insult, tactlessness or something similar.

In the fifth lesson, you will learn about what topics you can’t joke about, what the relevance of the topic means (we will point out three indicators of the relevance of jokes), as well as what makes a joke funny or vice versa. And we will start, of course, with taboo topics.

There are not so many forbidden topics in humor, but it is necessary to know them so as not to get into a tricky situation and not be considered a tactless and unscrupulous person.

Topics that are best avoided include:

• Religion. Religions of people and what they believe in is a purely individual matter. Everyone has a different attitude to this: for some, religion does not matter, but for others, it can be the meaning of life. We are not given to know to which category this or that person belongs. Of course, a joke on the topic of religion can work in a company where everyone is friendly and has known each other for many years, but in a society of strangers, talking about faith in a joking and even more negative way is taboo. If you do touch on the topic of religion in your jokes, remember that it is better to joke about a specific person, but not about his beliefs. You can't laugh at what millions of people around the world believe.
• countries and states. Despite the fact that today there are a lot of jokes about the USA, Ukraine, European countries and other states, joking on this topic, although not prohibited, should be done very carefully and carefully. Here you can encounter the same thing as in the first case: someone calmly perceives jokes about their country, and someone, being an ardent patriot, can be seriously offended by your joke.
• The suffering and misfortune of others. To laugh at something that hurts someone else is the height of tactlessness and bad manners. Usually, such jokes are perceived by people extremely negatively, and, having joked on such a topic, you can be sure that the next time in this company of people (even one person) your presence will be undesirable. In addition, jokes about misfortunes are completely unfunny. Well, purely humanly: no one knows what awaits him in the future, and the one who feels good now may be in trouble tomorrow, including in the situation of a person whom he unsuccessfully joked about.
• physical handicap, handicap, mental capacity. With these topics, the situation is similar to the previous one.
• own superiority. Logically continuing the two previous points, we can say that you should not joke about your personal superiority over other people. It doesn't really matter what it's about. physical strength, intellect, financial situation etc. Elevating himself, a person gets the exact opposite effect - in the eyes of others, he becomes lower. Of course, jokes on this topic can be heard quite often today, but there are already individual characteristics of each individual joker. If you want to create the right and pleasant impression of yourself, be modest and don’t “bash” by sticking your chest forward and saying that you are somehow better than the rest.
• Sex. Topic intimate relationships, despite the fact that it has gained great popularity among humorists, should be touched upon very carefully. As before, we are not given to know the degree of morality of our audience, therefore, joking about sex, we risk getting into trouble. In addition, such humor should be appropriate and appropriate to the situation, and the jokes themselves should be presented at the right time.
• Physiology. This refers to the completely indecent topic of physiological secretions. The subject, of course, is not taboo, but such humor is available only to those who know how to joke really masterfully. By and large, jokes on the topic under consideration are often simply unaesthetic, and cause disgust rather than laughter and a smile.

About forbidden topics in humor, in addition to all of the above, we advise you to watch the video (webinar) famous humorist Pavel Volya. You can find it at this link(viewing will start from the corresponding moment).

Inappropriate and inappropriate jokes cause a negative reaction in people, lead to confusion and spoil the mood. Try to bypass them - and you won't have to worry about a healthy and correct reaction.

But, as you might expect, the right topic is not the only nuance that affects the success of a joke. There are a few more points that a joker and a humorist must comply with. They will be discussed below.

What determines the success of a joke

Anyone who develops a sense of humor needs to know what makes jokes funny. Situations are different and adjustments should be made everywhere, but the recommendations below will apply almost always and everywhere.

In order for your humor to be funny and cause joy and laughter in the audience, you must:

• Know the audience. A joke may seem funny to one category of people, while the same joke may not cause the desired reaction for another. Of course, it is impossible to know everyone and everyone, but you can always have at least an approximate idea of ​​​​the company where you have to joke. Elementary: "boy" jokes are not suitable for a company where there are girls; intellectual jokes with a high degree of probability will not be perceived in the circle of loaders and watchmen, etc. etc.
• fit the situation. Remember that a showy joke is a joke made in right time and in the right place (the first indicator of the relevance of the joke). Approach the matter tactfully - this way you can always make people laugh, relieve tension if the situation is tense, or even cheer and support someone. Look at each situation critically to understand where and when it is appropriate to joke, and where and when it is not.
• Avoid slander, slander, ridicule and hurtful jokes. They strip the humor of it miraculous properties- he ceases to make people better, to unite them, to tune in to the positive. Humor should always have a positive focus, otherwise it will serve as an indicator of callousness and lack of understanding with others.
• Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself. We have already said enough about self-irony, so we just remind you that you always need to be ready to laugh at your person, “catch” a joke in your address and competently (painlessly and non-aggressively) respond to it.
• Appreciate not only your own, but also someone else's humor. First, it allows you to find mutual language with other people, and secondly, serves as an excellent source of inspiration.
• joke on hot topics(the second indicator of the relevance of the joke). This is very relevant at the current moment in time (which means that the reaction will follow faster), and also perfectly relieves the situation. Think about what news and events are in the top today. It could be a gay strike, a citywide power outage, an official in drunk etc. It is best to conduct such an analysis at the beginning of the day, and record the results.
• Strive to make humor so that it balances on the edge of what is permitted (for example, social norms) and stood out against the background of humor as such. By the way, this was often said by the magnificent actress, known for her wit and sparkling statements, Faina Ranevskaya. How skillfully she joked, you can see in the program "Laughing Nostalgia" (the desired issue is located).
• Expand horizons. The poverty of outlook is one of the most serious problems of comedians. All jokes are created from facts, paradoxes, life observations and unexpected comparisons, skillfully dressed in cultural form. Erudition, on the other hand, allows you not only to come up with dozens and hundreds of jokes, but also to touch completely different topics owing to which the effectiveness of humor is greatly increased. Note that the set famous teams KVN often took the lead and achieved victories due to the fact that they skillfully joked on inaccessible topics.
• Learn to joke about any topic. Back in 1999 famous screenwriter and TV presenter Mikhail Marfin said: "If I have to come up with a joke about how they hang it in a store, I'll come up with it by the evening." Similarly, A.P. Chekhov once said that good writer distinguishes the ability to write stories about the most banal things, for example, about the inkwell. Keep this in mind, and practice at your leisure by making up jokes about toothbrushes, minibus and subway rides, hanging clothes in stores, and so on.
• Joke more often about what is close and understandable to most people (the third indicator of the relevance of the joke). Thoughtful and satirical humor is a topic for professionals. And "folk" jokes and jokes are always in price among huge amount lovers to laugh.
• Bypass the hackneyed and hackneyed jokes that often sound in humorous television programs (KVN, Comedy Club and others) or simply in use for many years. In some cases, if the situation allows and the joke, as they say, will be in the subject, it is allowed to retell someone's jokes, but you should not abuse it.

Following these tips will in itself make witty remarks funny and uplifting. Much, of course, will depend on your personal charm and charisma, but most of the work will still be done for you. Do not invent a bicycle - better take the time to invent and think over the jokes themselves. And on this topic, we also have a number of wonderful recommendations.

To always be the soul of the company and the generator Have a good mood to shine with wit and sense of humor, adopt the following tricks:

• Think and look for material for jokes
• Find topics for different categories listeners and situations
• Refrain from jokes that you are not sure are harmless.
• Practice writing and storytelling short jokes and stories
• Read more jokes and learn how to tell them in front of a mirror
• Use wordplay and surprise in jokes
• Make sure the joke is funny (if the joke isn't funny to you, it won't be funny to your listeners either)
• Accompany your speech with gestures (sometimes, to make someone laugh, you can even draw pictures on paper or a writing board)
• Don't be afraid to improvise in unexpected situations.
• Hone your skills as a humorist on relatives, and only then go to friends and acquaintances
• Analyze seen and heard jokes, anecdotes, comical stories, finding in them funny and amusing
• Write down humorous quotes famous people- this will not only make you laugh, but also impress and be known as an intellectual
• Read literature from which you can draw material for witty jokes, for example, the works of M. Mishin, G. Gorin, M. Zoshchenko, A. Averchenko, A. Chekhov, Y. Hasek and other Russian classics

Do not think that the art of humor is available only to gifted people. Anyone can be funny, you just need to know how to learn to joke and work on yourself. Do not be afraid to experiment and take new steps, connect original ideas and unexpected twists, juggling words and rhyming fun, flip words and swap letters. Even the most eminent comedians have situations when their jokes “do not come in”, to say nothing of someone who is just starting to humor and wit. The main thing is to boldly go forward and gain experience, and for fruitful work you already have everything you need ... almost.

Our humor lessons are completed by the sixth lesson, devoted to the forms of the comic - those forms in which it is generally customary to present jokes. In the final lesson, we will talk about what stand-up, miniature, sketch, one man show, etc. are. Despite the fact that the material will be primarily educational in nature, it will provide you with significant practical support.

Test your knowledge

If you want to test your knowledge on a topic this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions. Only 1 option can be correct for each question. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question. The points you receive are affected by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on passing. Please note that the questions are different each time, and the options are shuffled.

Laughter provides a deep understanding of our unconscious, which breaks out in certain situations. Scientists know little about the specific brain mechanisms responsible for laughter. But we know without them that it is caused by many sensations and thoughts and activates various parts of the body. Laughter affects breathing, changes facial expressions, and makes us make sounds (sometimes quite strange ones). During strong laughter, even the muscles of the arms, legs and torso are involved.

“Laughter is the message we send to other people. We know this because we rarely laugh when we are alone: ​​we laugh to ourselves even less than we talk to ourselves,” says Dr. Robert Provine.

Laughter is socially "contagious", meaning we laugh at other people's laughter. This phenomenon is perfectly illustrated by the video below. We are willing to bet that you will not be able to watch it to the end and not smile. This is probably why he has already gained more than 19 million views.

A person begins to laugh at about the age of 3.5–4 months, long before he begins to speak. Laughter, like crying, acts as a preverbal way of interacting with the mother and other people around the child. Over time, laughter has evolved into a socially acceptable form of channeling aggression. It is convenient because it does not involve any direct aggressive actions, but at the same time allows you to express your emotions. In other words, the tension accumulated in the psyche is looking for a way out and finds it through laughter.

But how does a person decide when to laugh and when not? This decision is made by our brain. Curiously, laughter rarely interrupts sentence structure. It only acts as accents or appears during pauses in the conversation.

The very mechanics of laughter evolved in ancient primates from labored or rapid breathing or choking. If you manage to tickle a chimpanzee or a gorilla, you won't hear anything like "ha-ha-ha." Monkeys make sounds as if they are choking, but in them lies the nature of our usual laughter. Other animals also make sounds during play, although they have little in common with humans. Rats, for example, produce high-frequency squeaks, and even penguins "laugh" in their own way.

How they laugh on the Internet in other languages:

in Thai the number 5 is pronounced "ha". So instead of "LOL" or "hahaha" Thai users sometimes write "55555"

The abbreviation WWW is often used by the Japanese. This designation originates from the character 笑, which is pronounced warai and translates as "laughter". Warai in chats quickly became abbreviated to W, and then “wwwwwwwww”, etc. became common.

Although laughter is in Chinese(Putonghua) is written as 笑声, while online communication uses the onomatopoeia characters 哈哈 (pronounced "ha ha") and 呵呵 ("hee hee")

in spanish"j" is pronounced like "x", which is why you can often find the letter combinations "jajaja" on Spanish-language resources

Greek alphabet - related to ours, so the Greeks on the web laugh just like us: "xaxaxa"

In Hebrew, laughter looks like this:חָה־חָה־חָה - pronounced the same, only read from right to left

Brazilian and Portuguese laughter is denoted as huehuehue or rsrsrsrs

Danes laugh rather trivially: ha ha, hi hi, hæ hæ, ho ho, ti hi

French people, in addition to hahaha, héhéhé, hihihi, hohoho, they also use the acronym MDR (mort de rire - that is, I'm dying of laughter), similar to the English language LOL

Most of the jokes that cause general laughter are somehow related to the fact that someone fails. It would seem that what could be funny is how someone slipped on the stairs or fell off the bike? But in these "jokes" lie the fundamental aspects of humor.

The first requirement for funny situation- playful circumstances that put the event out of real life in a non-serious context. They are the ones who explain why most people don't find it funny to film a 10-story building on fire with people jumping out of it and falling to their deaths. In this case, the severity of the misfortune prevents the establishment of a non-serious context. However, the videos where some regular poor guy falls on a treadmill seem funny to us.

In the early 1990s, scientists discovered in the brain mirror neurons. William Fry, a psychiatrist at Stanford University, believes that this discovery has led to a new understanding of aspects of humor, and these cells may explain why we laugh when someone falls. We know from our own experience that when we fall, we try to keep our balance by waving our arms and thrashing around in the strangest positions. These movements are controlled by neurons in our brain. But when we watch another person stumble, some of our own neurons fire in the same way that we ourselves began to move in an attempt to keep from falling. These mirror neurons, as it were, duplicate the brain activity patterns of a falling person from a YouTube video to the brain of a person watching this video. Thus, the observer's brain "tickles" this "neurological ghost": he experiences unconscious stimulation, which enhances the perception of incongruity, which was discussed above.

Due to the presence of mirror neurons, producers of classic sitcoms use off-screen laughter. It automatically makes us laugh when we hear it. It has been experimentally proven that mirror neurons are activated when a person hears other environmental sounds associated with triumph, fear, joy and disgust.

One more important characteristic funny joke, episode of life or video on YouTube is a discrepancy or inconsistent relationship between the essence of what is happening and its climax. Falls are not so common in our normal life and are always unexpected. No matter how embarrassing, despite all our cordiality and compassion, when a colleague in the office sits by a chair and gets a bruised tailbone, we cannot help laughing. Obviously, we have a different, more powerful instinct.

The discrepancy between what is expected and what is real is at the heart of all the major viral Internet videos. This is confirmed by the classic videos with a placid panda and an unexpectedly loud sneeze of a cub; Brazilian diva Bisha Muda, with a voice that does not quite match her appearance; a charismatic Indian boy of dense build, whose dances are not very consistent with his age.

Why do our faces stretch into tender smiles at the sight of small children, puppies and kittens, even if they do not fall at all and do not even do anything at all? Scientists believe that adults are evolutionarily programmed to find babies cute. In such a natural way, nature made sure that we do not harm them and take care of them. Studies also show that adults are touched by faces with big eyes. As you know, children, kittens and puppies have a disproportionate big eyes in relation to the head. By the third month, babies' eyes reach the same size as an adult's eyes and look huge until the rest of the face has had time to grow. Other traits that are almost always perceived as cute include a large head, small nose and mouth. It is these signs that make us admire all the videos with cubs, both bipedal and quadrupedal.

One of the reasons we find a story, anecdote, or YouTube video funny is because of the shock element that a good joke must have. Shock may be associated with violence, vulgarity, rudeness, or fear. An excellent example is the extremely cruel but funny joke: “How many children does it take to paint a wall red? Just one, but you have to throw it with all your might." For the same reason, we all cannot help laughing when we watch videos where people are scared almost to death with rubber dinosaurs or clowns with fake hammers.

In the book Ha! The Science of When We Laugh and Why Scott Wimms describes an experiment in which researcher Richard Wiseman was looking for the funniest joke in the world. He interviewed about a million people who told what they thought were the funniest jokes and rated others. As a result, it turned out that the most rude jokes (like the one about the child, which is described above) had both the highest ratings and the lowest: that is, while some people find them very funny, others hate them. As an example of Internet memes, we can recall the endless "premium content" with dancing homeless people, drunken fights and obscene songs. All these videos “tickle” our subconscious and squeeze laughter out of us.

The most important role in the mechanics of humor is played by the so-called "opening blow". Wiseman writes: “I believe that tastes vary so widely in humor because the key to a joke lies not in its construction or climax. Instead, it's all about the "kick of the discovery" when a person thinks in one way and suddenly changes his point of view to the opposite. Shock and surprise also contribute to this process.”

Book cover of Ha!: The Science of When We Laugh and Why

Unfortunately, considering any psychological process, and even more so as complex as humor, it is difficult to derive a strict formula. No scientist can scientific method to identify whether this or that video / coub / gif is funny or not - the exact answer is still hidden only in our heads. Different people they laugh at different things, because everyone has a different cultural background, a threshold for sensitivity to vulgarity, rudeness and insults. And all this leads to great confusion, from which life becomes only more fun.

It is impossible to develop a sense of humor without understanding the structure of the joke. Therefore, in this article we will consider the basic structure of jokes. I say basic because it's not the only one. The genre of comedy has changed. Today, comedy is not only punchlines and punchlines.

Many comedies are set in motion without any kind of one-line and two-line structures, but if you want to be successful, you need to start with the basics. And only after moving through the complexity of layered structures.

How to come up with a joke easily and quickly

Whether you decide to write jokes, scripts, or books, the key to getting the right material is understanding comedy at its most basic level. Once you understand the basics of comedy, you will begin to discover more and more areas in your daily life that will inspire comedy and before you know it, jokes will be flying from your mouth, your brain or your fingertips.

Therefore, one of my main goals is to bring your sense of humor into harmony with the inconsistencies that are in our lives every day at the very beginning. Sometimes they are subtle and sometimes they are very obvious. The master comedian learns to recognize possibilities and turns those possibilities into something funny.

A joke is a magic trick

Comedy is verbal judo or magic. After all, comedy is all about manipulation and deceit. A magician can bend a spoon, a comedian can bend words and meanings to form a joke from scratch.

The magician misdirects the attention of the audience while he takes out or hides a coin or ball. The comedian takes you in the same direction as the story, only to fool you with an unexpected ending. And all the while you believe he's telling a legitimate story.

For example, a comedian who is going bald might say:

“I started to go bald… sometimes I feel embarrassed about it… Like this morning when my wife ran her fingers through my hair, but I already left for work!”

Humorists should be able to take any logical grouping of words and make them funny. And you will learn it. But for this you need to understand the basics. Learning the basics of joke writing will give you a foundation for understanding humor in general. It will also help you come up with jokes faster and give you different angles when writing. How to develop a sense of humor from scratch without such a foundation, I do not know, so let's start.

Basic joke scheme: setup and punchline, examples

In another way, you can say:

1. Setup is a logical statement of fact. Attention, do not forget that the installation is logical, as this is usually reliable information or a real event. Most comedians kill their jokes by trying to make the setup funny. This is mistake.
2. Punchline (climax) is a continuation of the statement, which suddenly leads the audience in an unexpected direction. Such an unexpected conclusion to the joke should cause laughter.

What is its advantage? The Straight Line reminds my students that the attitude must be truthful. This is important because many initial stage jokers want to make all things and stories stupidly funny, and this, unfortunately, leads to disaster.

Example:

Doctors say that lemon is very good for health...especially if it's a bucks lemon!

STRAIGHT LINE: "Doctors say lemon is very good for health." Please note that "Direct Line" is simply a statement of fact. This is very important to remember!

PUNCHLINE (Zestline): "Especially if it's a lemon bucks!" This statement completely changes the meaning of the first statement. This, in turn, causes surprise and, accordingly, a smile.

You need to learn to think about comedy like this: I'm going to take something that's honest and true and turn it into something that's funny by leading to something that's wrong and that's surprising.

The process of creating comedy is no different from that used by magicians.

A joke is a magic trick that mentally leads the audience in one direction (magicians, by the way, call this the term "misdirection"), and in the meantime prepares a surprise: a punch line (magicians call this "revealing").

The magician and the comedian have the same goal: to deceive the audience.

Just as the magician plans each trick, the comedian prepares his joke. Both create certain history, which has a beginning, body and ending. Both should create a clear picture in the minds of the listeners. Ideally, everyone present should see this picture at the same time. They must also understand all the details. The listener must necessarily imagine this picture in his mind.

Here is an example:

A man fills out a bank loan form. (Everyone imagines a typical hard worker). Everything is going well. The man asks:

Should I write my salary in words? (Everyone draws the same scene in their minds.)

– What is yours?

See, you laughed even though I warned you about the upcoming punchline. The secret was that it was a punchline you didn't expect.

The surprise factor in a joke is the key to success

The importance of the surprise factor in creating all kinds of comedy cannot be overestimated: it is essential for writing any joke. You can test this concept for yourself: every time you laugh, ask yourself why you did it. The answer will be the same: I did not expect this.

Of course, in order to set the stage for surprise, you need to make sure of two things:

1. The audience receives all the information it needs, in other words, that the audience "hears" you.
2. The audience should understand all phrases used. Vague statements about things or concepts unfamiliar to them put an end to inspiring comedy.

Summing up:

1. Comedians are magicians.
2. Misdirection deceives the audience.
3. Punchline should surprise them.
4. Laughter comes from surprise.
5. The more surprise, the more laughter.
6. Lack of surprise breeds a lame bearded joke.

And remember, when you start writing your own jokes, make sure they contain the element of surprise. And when you bring them to your listeners (even one or two friends), make sure that they hear you and understand all the details necessary for the joke to make sense.

It is important!

Once again, make sure that the audience:

• receives all the information;
• understands every detail of the story.

Well, if you want to get a feel for some of the misdirection techniques often used by joke writers to ensure that their punchlines are actually unexpected, check out this article: The Key to a Successful Joke: Misdirection and Brevity.

Yes, I almost forgot! If you want to try and see how others do it, leave your e-mail and we will invite you to the DNA of Humor webinar. Don't be shy, all famous comedians started from scratch and they succeeded. You can do it too)

JOKES ARE DIFFERENT...

“You are a fool, boatswain, and your jokes are stupid!”
From a famous joke

What was the difference between the school of working youth and the usual general education day school of the second half of the last century? Of course, the age of the students. In addition, unlike a regular school, it was possible to run along the corridors. Nobody actually ran. Someone, like me, earned seniority for admission to a university, working during the day and studying in the evening. And someone just wanted to have a certificate that was not received on time. During the breaks, there was no daytime hubbub of children's voices, noise, fuss. But you could hear:

Well, guys, on Wednesday we’ll rush to the dance or what ...?

There were no classes on Wednesday.

- Oh, girls! On Wednesday after work I want to get a haircut and a normal manicure.

And right next to it:

I would, Vitka, sleep off after work on Wednesday, otherwise the child won’t let me sleep at night!

The teachers' requirements for us were the most minimal, at the level of the requirements for a C student in a regular school. And I can’t remember the teachers now, not a single one, but I remember everyone who taught me up to the ninth grade in the former day school. Although, no. I remember the director of my new school, but more on him later. The task of the teachers was to provide us, the advanced working youth, with certificates after the end of the tenth grade. Therefore, twos were practically not set. Of course, parents were not called to school either. Looking ahead a little, I remember my friend Tolya Shatalov. He studied exclusively for triples, even in our school with reduced requirements. On the final exam in physics, Tolik stood at the blackboard, silently, like at a workbench. He got Ohm's law for the complete circuit. Tolik, of course, wrote off the formula.

- Shatalov! And what do you have in the denominator of the formula?

Silence.

- What's in the numerator?

Tolik continued to be sullenly silent.

“Well, you, Shatalov, think about it, but for now we will take the exam from the rest,” said the director of the school, Alexander Ivanovich, who is also a teacher of physics.

For about fifteen minutes we, who had passed the exam, waited for Tolik in the corridor. He left the class beaming:

Troika! exhaled the examined.

And shortly before the exam, at a break between lessons, Tolik and I went to the smoking room, equipped for us, evening students, in the men's toilet of the day school. Smoking at school was a big advantage of evening classes. Friends from my previous day school, which was one block from this one, were terribly jealous of me about this. However, smoking was allowed only in one place, in the smoking room, as I said. Not in the corridor, not on the stairs, not, God forbid, in the classroom. Punishments for this fire hazardous event were supposed to be the most severe - up to and including expulsion from school. And so, in the smoking room, I took out the last cigarette from the pack and lit it. Tolik patted his pockets and remembered that he had left his cigarettes in his overcoat in the wardrobe.

“Let’s quickly go down to the wardrobe, and then go outside and smoke,” my friend suggested to me.

To do this, we had to go through a rather long corridor and go down the stairs from the second floor to the first. There were classrooms on the left side of the corridor, and four double-leaf windows on the right. Hiding a smoking cigarette in my fist - not to waste the good, I jumped out after Tolik into the corridor. At the same moment, as they say, my hair stood on end. And my hair at that time was thick and curly, and I combed it with a large wide comb with sparse teeth, which I always carried in the right side pocket of my jacket. And the reason for the fright was very serious - the director Alexander Ivanovich was standing at the second window and beckoning me to him with a gesture. Either he saw smoke from my fist, or he wanted to tell me something - I did not understand. On shaky legs, I headed doomedly towards my eventual expulsion from school. At the same time I put right hand with a smoking cigarette in the right side pocket of his jacket and firmly pressed the cigarette to something hard. There was an ominous hiss.

“Hello, Alexander Ivanovich,” I said in a suddenly hushed voice, hiding in puffs of white smoke.

Since I managed to get close to the director, we both began to disappear from sight. Anyone who made chimneys in childhood will understand me. Alexander Ivanovich took a step back to get out of the affected area, but rested his back against the windowsill. I, trying to explain something, took a corresponding step forward. Wherever the director moved from the poisonous smoke, I was there. Running away from me, apparently, was not solid. From the thick smoke one could hear:

I myself do not know khe, khe, khe, Alexander Ivanovich! There's something with a comb in your pocket! I dont know! I was kidding!

- Shirobokov! Heh, heh, stop your jokes immediately!

When the smoke began to dissipate, Alexander Ivanovich and I stood opposite each other with red faces. Tears flowed from our eyes and we were like two grieving relatives.

- Well, you have jokes, Shirobokov! Let's see how you will joke on the physics exam!

A week later, he personally took the exam with me and, putting a five, smiled somehow conspiratorially.

Another case involving a clumsy joke occurred many years later. As I already wrote (see "Shirt from China") at one time, much attention was paid to the problem of theft of oil and its products from underground pipelines. The attackers, let's call them that, in secluded places dug up the earth above the pipeline and made a tie-in into the pipe. From this unauthorized or criminal tie-in, a diverting highway was laid, often more than a kilometer long. Then everything was buried and disguised. New grass has grown. From an airplane or helicopter, it was impossible to visually detect such inserts, no matter how much you fly. And somewhere a kilometer from the tie-in, near a roadside cafe, an inconspicuous fuel truck stood and refueled with stolen diesel fuel, gasoline or oil. If pressure dropped in the pipeline, security teams would come out to look for the tie-in, piercing the ground above the pipeline with steel rods. If the earth after the excavation is soft - look for a sidebar! And the length of the highway is tens of kilometers ...! So we started with our thermal imaging equipment to work out the method of searching for tie-ins from the air. No matter how you mask the excavations, the temperature drops on the soil above the inset are still fractions of a degree, which the equipment “feels”. The case took place in one of the branches of Transneft in a fertile Krasnodar Territory spring, early April. At my disposal was a helicopter with our equipment installed on it. We started with my assistants literally from scratch. There were no methods. We flew on a MI-8 helicopter over the pipelines from early morning, when after a rather cool night the temperature contrasts were maximum, until the middle of the day. Sometimes, on the contrary, in the late afternoon. The rest of the time we processed and analyzed the information. Every day when we flew, literally before our eyes, the brownish fields were covered with red carpets of blossoming poppies, green seedlings of crops and something else yellow. For housing and surface work, the management of the branch allocated us a separate mansion-hotel for visiting oil VIPs. Helicopter pilots lived separately from us. I remember the food. On a small rise inside a six-room apartment with showers and two toilets, there was a well-equipped and shining clean kitchen with all necessary utensils and refrigerators. Nearby was a dining room with comfortable chairs, sofas, and a large massive wooden table covered with a white tablecloth. We warmed up breakfasts and dinners ourselves. The evening before, they were delivered by a special car, and we had lunch in the canteen for the employees of this branch. The food was very good, home-style and, most importantly, free of charge. We flew over the pipeline for long distances, up to Dagestan. For some reason, the figure remained in memory little boy on the Dagestan hill. Usually children, and adults too, wave their hands at a low-flying helicopter. The same boy was standing with a stick to his shoulder, carefully aiming at our helicopter. Maybe he heard some conversations at home ...? It didn't surprise me, though. Long before that, my senior colleagues flew on a small plane with similar equipment in the interests of geological exploration in one of our Central Asian republics. The local public was frightened that scientists and disguised police were looking for opium poppy plantations, and insistently suggested that they get out. Everything seems to be innocent, but one day, before takeoff, a poorly visible stretched steel cable was found across the runway ...

What is convenient about a helicopter is that you can land on almost any flat and dry surface. Once in flight, my attention was drawn to the pipes lying on the ground, and designed to replace old pipes. In order not to go into details, I was interested in some temperature measurements. Sat down and measured. Before takeoff, pilot Sasha, lying on the grass, thoughtfully suggested:

Come on, if you don't mind, we'll sit ten kilometers from here. There is my farm, there I was born. There will be fresh fish!

I didn't mind - it was time to fly home anyway.

At the sound of a landing helicopter, the entire population of the farm came running. There was no end to the boys. Adult men who abandoned all their work did not lag behind them. One of them, the most courageous, slightly stuttering with excitement, came up to me and after "Hello, you" asked:

Can we take a little ride?

Pilot Sasha shyly looked to the side ...

How well I understood this village worker! I still dream of flying in a helicopter at a height of one hundred meters above my nearest Valdai forests and lakes.

- Sit down, but not for long, we will fly for about ten minutes.

Eight men got into the salon. All sober, which surprised me a little, who often visits our villages. When they took off, then from the round windows in the cabin - blisters, the men could not be torn off. Still would! They never rose above the roof of their native house. There will be something to tell the grandchildren! We flew away with the fish.

April ended. Enough materials were collected for analysis and development of the technique for searching for insets. With these preliminary materials, he invited me to his CEO southern branch located in beautiful city on the seashore. You can talk about the beauty and interior decoration inside the building endlessly. The same can be seen in Gazprom, even in remote Siberian cities, and, oddly enough, in the tax service. I'm not talking about banks. You will not see any of this in the former temples of science and applied technology, which have existed almost since the twenties of the last century, where leaking roofs, dirty floors are often not uncommon, and where, as a rule, a few sad-looking and declining employees roam in poorly lit corridors. age. Another thing is our pipeline system. I deviate somewhat from the topic. We are staying in our VIP hotel. We were warned that several more respected people would be placed with us for two days. We hustled. Five people arrived: three men and two women. They were all dressed beautifully, expensive perfume tickled their noses. In the evening at dinner - there was a lot of space at the table, everyone was accommodated.

“Sorry to disturb you, but we are not empty-handed.

Whiskey, cognac, wine appear on the table. After several toasts to the hosts, to the acquaintance, to the spring, a question for us:

What pipe are you from?

Having learned that we are science, interest in us suddenly disappears.

- Now the booze will be removed, - a thought flashed.

It worked out.

- And we are sitting on the pipe! - the tipsy guest declared proudly.

“And the legs dangled,” said another.

The women giggled softly.

- We have salaries - God forbid everyone! boasted the first.

But discipline - God forbid! They will kick you out of work - where will you go, - the second one sternly corrected.

- And where else can you find such a position and salary after a technical school, - a third, polished man of about forty-five entered the conversation,

In science, right?

In the central office of the branch everything was as it should be. Second floor. Huge receptionist, nice, polite secretary. Large windows overlooking the illuminated bright sun blue ocean. I was immediately led to Sam. He was a man of strong build, about fifty, with a characteristic southern appearance and a loud, good-natured voice:

Tea coffee?

We are sitting together.

- Well, tell me, science! How is it going. - Maybe a little bit?

I'm telling. Showing printed images of underground pipelines, suspicious heat traces in the soil above the pipes. Suddenly, his attention was attracted by those pipes, near which I asked to land a helicopter. Images of these pipes from the air did not look straight, but wavy. I explained that scanning in the equipment is carried out line by line, not like in a camera - the whole frame at once. The equipment is not stabilized. Therefore, with the inevitable evolution of a helicopter in the air, similar distortions occur. For us it doesn't matter - each tie-in is tied to a pipe and it doesn't matter whether this pipe is straight or curved. Gene. the director understood everything and we are still with him a little bit. Then he stopped smiling. His face hardened.

Well, I'll show him how to tell jokes about me! I'll joke to someone now! Tanya! Chief engineer to me urgently!

Three minutes later, a thin man of pre-retirement age, slightly taller than average, with a kind of grayish-pale face, even without slight signs of sunburn, flies into the office.

- Did you call?

- Called, - said the boss, not offering to sit down,

Did you prepare pipes for replacement at the 117th kilometer?

- Cooked. Everything has been replaced on time.

- You yourself were present at the laying in the trench?

- Not. The foreman was there.

“Now look what you buried in the ground. Not a single straight pipe! Where did you get them? Admire.

Leaning over the table Chief Engineer peered in horror at the computer printout.

“Can I sit down?” he asked, sinking into a chair.

Almost crying, licking his dry lips, the poor fellow began to promise that this would never happen again, that he would personally attend all the repair work.

- Okay. Enough. How I scared you! The pipes were straight, just distorted shots. Calm down, - said the director, now smiling.

“I need you now. Wait at the reception!

While we finished our conversation and finished our coffee, ten minutes passed. Suddenly, from the reception room, a muffled door high voice secretaries and some other noise.

- Tanya! What do you have there?

- Vasily Petrovich has a bad heart. Called an ambulance.

- Yes. The weak people went. He doesn't understand jokes! - the director told me, getting up from the table and holding out a strong hand.