The pull-back and reveal gag can be more subtle th...

2006-09-13T03:07:00.000-07:00

The pull-back and reveal gag can be more subtle than that:

"I hate it when you start a new job and they force you to make the coffee. I've been at my new place for 10 weeks and I'm still doing it. Bloody Starbucks."

Part of the art of such a joke is not giving away the one fact which makes the surprise, and it can be nice to bait an audience and then, at the last minute, change direction on them.

However, it's not surprising that Manchester, with its fairly incestous comedy scene, is both generating tons of new acts and also generating an archetypical style that all of them seem to fall into. The same can be said to some extent for London and Scotland - anywhere where there's a strong comedy scene and comedic identity. If you can take from these scenes something which you do like and incorporate it into your act/persona, without becoming a slave to the fashion, then you will have appeal in these places, but will also have a greater breadth (or depth, or some dimension or other).

Here's another formula gag style. The rule of three. You list three properties of something, the third of which is a surprise. For example:

"I love my landlady. She's generous, kind, and a racist!"

Same surprise ending, but more punch.

The rule of three also applies to any joke:

Setup, elucidation, punchline

and can also be applied to things where you have multiple possible punchlines for something - three is usually the most you can get away with.

But if there were a general formula for comedy, that wouldn't be funny.

Comments on Am I some kind of comedian?: The Pull-Back-And-Reveal Gag

The pull-back and reveal gag can be more subtle th...