answers 100% correct
...Okay. Show of hands: how many of you out there thought your elementary school bus driver
was really cool, until you found out she was a fugitive from Justice? Come on. I know I'm not the
only one. What do I do if they don't respond? - correct answer ✔✔yeah, they're not going to
respond.
why not? - correct answer ✔✔because, basically, no one has ever thought that their elementary
school bus driver was a fugitive from justice.
mine was. money laundering. - correct answer ✔✔That's... interesting... and sort of upsetting,
but not funny. Why don't you focus on something a little more, I don't know, universal? Come
on, tell me a joke. Like a joke with a punch line.
Okay, okay. Wow. I'm blanking. This is really hard. This is surprisingly hard. Do limericks count? -
correct answer ✔✔Lets back up a little bit. Just pot down the mic. It's not helping.
I don't want to break it. I'm assuming you value it. - correct answer ✔✔Whatever. It doesn't
work anyway. Listen up: there are four basic elements to comedy. Every single joke has these
elements. EVERY JOKE. You may think they don't, but trust me, they do. It's just a comedy truth.
Okay?
I have no reason not to believe you. - correct answer ✔✔It's been true since the dawn of
comedy. Since the Greeks stood on Mount Olympus or wherever the Greeks stood, and aristotle
taught Plato the art of telling the perfect f***ing joke.
Aristotle was a student of Plato's-- so I don't think that actually happened - correct answer ✔✔-
Facts don't matter in comedy
, I'm a big believer in facts - correct answer ✔✔The four elements are: the set up, the story, the
twist and the punch line-- you're not going to write any of this down?
That seems misleadingly simple - correct answer ✔✔Its not. I had to learn this stuff the hard
way. Years of bombing in front of an audience before I came up with this foolproof method. This
workshop is only two hours long so you're gonna need to focus.
Got it. My pen is poised. Now. Now it is poised - correct answer ✔✔The set up, the story. The
twist and the punch line. So what are they?
Set up, story, punch line - correct answer ✔✔and the twist, you forgot that one
I just assumed the twist would come under the umbrella of the "story" portion of the program -
correct answer ✔✔It doesn't come under the umbrella of anything- its its own separate
element
All right. I mean, I disagree, but all right. Can I ask you a question? - correct answer ✔✔No
Why are rabbis always walking into bars? - correct answer ✔✔What?
Are rabbis known for their struggle with alcohol? - correct answer ✔✔I don't think so
Haven't you ever noticed that many, many jokes are launched by that premise? A rabbi walks
into a bar or a jew walks into a bar. - correct answer ✔✔How about you forget about rabbis
specifically and religion in general, for a second, because you have just accidentally stumbled
upon the perfect set up. Typically you would list three people or three things that have nothing
in common and then find a way to get them all in one room, say a bar, or a rowboat, or a
proctologist's office. Write this down- three is a classic comedy numeral.