Speaker's ToolsAny joke that makes me or you laugh. If somebody says something and somebody laughs at it, it is funny by definition. You can't laugh at a joke and at the same time say, that's not funny. Laughter is an automatic response. Anytime somebody laughs, it's funny. There is no argument about that.
Any joke that I or any other professional say is funny. If you hear a joke and you say that joke sucks out loud and (Johnny) Carson says that is a brilliant joke. Who are you to argue with Carson. He's a professional. Who are you to argue with Jay Leno. He's a professional. If a professional says something is funny, it's funny.
Notice what we are getting into here with this. Funny and getting laughs don't necessarily go together. You've got to disabuse yourself of the notion that if it's funny, it gets laughs. Those are two separate issues. Everything that gets laughs is funny, but not everything that's funny gets laughs. Don't judge yourself by the laughs.
Anybody here ever write for a performer? You write for a performer. Do you send it to him in the mail or do you meet them face to face?
Student: I send it in the mail.
Right! Because if you meet them face to face, this is what happens. You give them the material and they just read it. And they go, 'I like two of them.' or 'I like three of them.' You have no idea until they are done with it. Because they do not laugh. Comedians do not laugh when they read material. It's horrible. It's like being hit in the gut. Just no laughs. There's no connection between being funny and laughter.
Any joke that you or I can sell for an agreed-upon price. What is the hidden assumption? People pay money for funny jokes. They don't pay money for jokes that aren't funny. If you send a joke off to somebody and they send a check back, your jokes are funny.
Any joke that gets a laugh from the audience or reader. Or to put it another way, any joke that works.
Great. Now that I got that out of the way, we don't have to spend time arguing whether a particular joke is funny or not funny. We'll just get on with it. I'll say if it's valid and go on...
