How joke premises are like clickbait
Often, the true comedy “gold” lies in the setup (aka the premise).
Punchlines get all the shine. They are wild, silly, and when you land the plane.
But often, the true comedy “gold” lies in the setup (aka the premise). That’s when you get to present your idea to the world. The “hmm, I hadn’t thought about that before” part. The part where you get to provide your distinctive pov and how you see the world.
In fact, joke premises could be considered the original clickbait. People “click” by paying attention. But you gotta hook ‘em with something good so they crave hearing what comes next.
talks all about this here:
Give each section of your material a clickbait-ish heading
The headings should be so juicy that if your set was presented as only the headings, people would want to click through to hear the whole bit. Or at least think of a really enticing heading that sums up what your material is about…
Break your material in to bits (sections) and brainstorm as many clickbait headings as you can for the bit. You don't have to choose just one as your final heading. It's not like you'd say the heading out loud (unless you wanna?), It's just for the exercise.
Some examples from my jokes:
I’m jealous of sober people for how they post on social media:
Netflix reality dating shows have ruined weddings:
Plenty more like that in BOLO:
I appreciate the repost, thanks so much!