Jerry Seinfeld on writing “switch piece” jokes
Seinfeld explains his sock joke: "You take everything that fits that [escaped convict] scenario and apply it to the [escaped sock] joke."
Saw Jerry Seinfeld use the term “switch piece” in an interview and I’d never heard it before. Apparently, it’s where you take everything that fits one scenario (say, a prison break) and apply it to a different scenario (i.e. a sock escaping from a dryer). Then, you find all the pieces that match up and, y’know, comedy ensues. Jeff Foxworthy gives similar advice here.
For background, here’s Jerry Seinfeld’s bit on socks:
Socks are the most amazing article of clothing. They hate their lives. They're in the shoes with stinky feet, the boring drawers. The dryer is their only chance to escape and they all know it. They do escape from the dryer. They plan it the night before. "Tomorrow. The dryer. I'm going. You wait here." The dryer door swings open, the sock is waiting up against the side wall. [stands stiffly sideways, looking furtively both ways] He hopes you don't see him, and he goes down the road, da da da, da da da da. [hand motion of a sock inching along the road] They get buttons sewn on their face, join the puppet show!
In Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny, Marlo Thomas asked Seinfeld to explain how he wrote that bit. Jerry’s answer:
There’s always the missing sock. And I can’t remember how I hit upon the idea that they want to escape, but once you get your hook, you try to do what we might call a “switch piece,” where you take everything that fits that scenario and apply it to the joke. Okay, so we have an escaped convict scenario. Now you find all the pieces that match up. You have the sock hiding inside the wall of the dryer, preparing for its getaway. You have the sock out on the street that’s gotten a few blocks. Then you try to figure out the reason they would want to escape in the first place. Maybe it’s because of their horrible life in the shoes, with the smelly feet. And if you can come up with enough examples, what you’ve done is taken an absurd idea, then laid it out, proving it with rock-solid logic. That’s the formula for that kind of joke. That’s what audiences love.
Jerry also explains another of his “switch piece” jokes:
Here’s another one that I do in my act now. It’s about the piñata at children’s birthday parties. I explain how the piñata works, then say, “And then the parents tell the kids, ‘And after we’re done beating this animal senseless, we’re going to put a picture of his brother on the wall, and everyone’s going to get a pin and we’re going to nail his ass!’ ” So I’m basically creating this whole idea about some kind of donkey hostility at children’s birthday parties.