joke writing Archives - Learn Stand-up Comedy

How do You Write a Joke?

THERE’S MANY WAYS TO write a joke. At the School of Hard Knock Knocks stand-up comedy course, we teach three. The one that we’ll share on this blog, is our favourite joke structure – the Normal-Normal-Twist. The Normal-Normal-Twist takes the audience on a familiar journey and then suddenly zigs sideways, with a surprise. And no, we didn’t invent this. It’s been …

Generating Ideas for Comedy

JUST ABOUT ANY TOPIC is open for a comedian, but there is one thing you must not do – and that’s steal another comedian’s material. Even if you do steal a joke, it’s unlikely that other comedians will tell you that they know. Instead, they will avoid working with you, or talk behind your back. Don’t kill your career by …