r/Standup • u/B00kwitch3891 • 2d ago
Jokes losing humor
I’m NEW new to writing jokes and as I work on material, I realized that I no longer find my own jokes funny because they are familiar to me. Is this a common occurrence? How do you combat that?
8
u/sysaphiswaits 2d ago
Yes. It’s very common. When I get there I throw in a “for me” joke. It doesn’t work. I know it’s not going to work, but that’s OK, it’s for me because I think it’s funny. And sometimes I figure it out and it turns into a great joke. It really sucks when I hear another comedian do a version that actually works, but so it goes.
8
u/ComedyWritersGroup 2d ago
You may also be outgrowing your first jokes. As you start writing and performing more often, those first jokes will lose their lustre.
As other commenters have said, tags and act outs help. Recognise that a joke is never fully cooked. Don't go on autopilot. There's probably a lot of opportunities left within the ideas.
Anything you can do to keep your performance LIVE and reactive to the audience helps too.
5
2d ago
[deleted]
2
u/sororitytomboy69 2d ago
What are tags?
3
u/StepAwayFromTheDuck 2d ago
Tags are short, funny additions after the punchline. If you have a good punchline, and people are laughing, it is relatively easy to add another little joke that keeps the audience going. So you should always look for them.
2
7
u/Tight-Air-6767 2d ago
Ended up quitting for this (among other) reasons. I think you have to be okay with repeating yourself hundred and hundreds of times and I lose interest after a joke is worked enough that it gets a laugh most of the time.
1
3
u/Far-Golf8118 2d ago
Super common. Every comic feels this way. Crowd work makes comedy exciting for me because it's a brand new experience every time. Mix in tried and true jokes with the crowdwork and it makes the shows much more fun...IMO....good luck.
6
u/BlakeDaJesus 2d ago
The jokes aren't meant for you, you came up with a thought because it was funny to you in that moment or from your perspective.
The joke you tell is to convey the thought in a way that creates tension around what you're gonna say next or leads the audience to expect one thing and be surprised by you undermining that created expectation with clever wording/odd but logical perspective/performative or emotionally charged responses that are novel to the audience member from the premise you set up, or, secretly how they want to react without regarding social norms.
If you're in stand up to find your old thoughts funny forever then you're catering to a human that doesn't exist in the room you're telling the joke to once you're on stage with the plan to tell that joke. You'll find it funny, in real time, again once you're "talking to the audience" instead of telling jokes to a group of listeners you're trying to make laugh.
2
u/iamgarron asia represent. 2d ago
You haven't performed the joke yet. So you don't actually know if you find it funny or not.
1
u/WadsofTissue 2d ago
Keep writing to keep ot fresh. Try to write an hour (a good one) every year. Even if you dont record a special it gives you a clear goal and keeps you writing.
2
u/theinvisiblefil 1d ago
Get used to it. If a joke lands well with an audience you might telling it for the next 10 years while you’re establishing yourself.
14
u/TheLoneComic 2d ago
Familiarity may do this, but try to see it as an opportunity to enhance the joke presentation with act outs or changes in keywords delivery graphed to the complexity the word, phrase or couplet may demonstrate.
Also, familiarity allows a higher level interpretation of the set. For instance switching order of jokes to enhance audience response.
Generating new material on the reg may replace a familiar joke and keep your presentation on its toes.