How to Write Your Own Jokes

I’ve recently discovered that I have a talent for writing jokes, some of which are truly funny. While there doesn’t seem to be any hard and fast rulebook for writing your own jokes, I’ll share my process in hopes that it will help you become the life of the party. And if I ever learn to tell them effectively, I’ll share that with you, too.

How to Write a Joke #1: Pick a topic.

Don’t even try to be witty before you pick the topic of your joke. When you’re writing your own jokes, it’s a lot harder to come up with a punch line until you know what you’re supposed to be swinging at. I thoroughly recommend picking a one-word noun as the topic of the joke you’ll write. If you’re determined to poke fun at the idea of running as a sport, for example, keep it simple and pick running or joggers as your subject.

For our purposes, let’s pick glasses. For all the folks reading this with their safety goggles on, don’t worry—I feel your impending pain.

How to Write a Joke #2: Brainstorm potential punch lines and puns first.

For any noun that you pick, you should be able to come up with words and phrases commonly associated with the thing you’ve chosen as your object of ridicule. Make a list of all the ones you can come up with. Don’t worry about how the words and phrases will fit into the joke you write yet. That comes later.

Let’s keep going with our example.

Glasses

-Half-full or half-empty?
-Four eyes
-Rhymes with molasses (and other words, too)
-Glasses make you look smarter
-Broken
-Nearsighted, farsighted

How to Write a Joke #3: Make a list of typical joke scenarios and formats.

Before you even decided to read this article and attempt to write your own joke, you had a list of common joke scenarios already banging around inside your head. You should compile a master list to run through every time you need to write a joke. Think of it like a high school cheat sheet. It’ll save you time on the test, and eventually you’ll just memorize the darn thing.

Here are some examples: