Dear Aspiring Comedians, Observations Aren’t Jokes!
Why “Have You Ever Noticed?” Isn’t Enough (Comedy Minhdacks #102)
There’s a whole branch of comedy known as “observational comedy.” At some level, of course, all comedy is observational. But there’s a mistake that people often make with this: They notice something strange or frustrating or absurd and assume the observation itself is the joke. It’s not! There’s a difference…a huge difference. But if you go to an open mic, much of what you might see are aspiring comedians stepping on stage and telling you about something they’ve noticed and think is funny.
With jokes, however, the observation is really just the raw material. The real joke usually lives somewhere else, namely, in the gap between what people expect and what actually happens, that gap between expectation and reality (which I talk about a ton on this site). Humor, in other words, lives in the gap between the picture I plant in the audience’s head and the picture I reveal a few seconds later. And let me tell you, when I realized that, the way I wrote jokes changed completely.
I bring this up because I’ve noticed that a lot of aspiring comedians stay stuck writing observations, the “Have you ever noticed…?” type material. Sometimes it gets a polite chuckle because the audience recognizes the circumstance, but we all know that recognition alone isn’t enough to build a strong joke. Professional comedy depends on tension, misdirection, surprise, and release. The “humor gap,” as I call it, is where all that happens.
Here’s a short but recent joke I wrote: “Ten months ago, I wanted to experience power, experience prestige, and experience luxury. So, naturally, I bought a 2025… Kia.” The observation itself is not funny. Buying a Kia is not inherently funny either. But the joke works and is funny because of words like “power,” “prestige,” and “luxury,” which make people picture a Mercedes or BMW. Then with the punchline I pull the rug out from under that expectation by mentioning a Kia, which is quite the opposite.
That’s he kinda thing I’m always looking for now. With any situation I’m asking myself questions constantly that’ll help me expose that gap: “What did I expect to happen here?” “What actually happened instead?” “Why is the gap strange?” “Why does it feel off?” “Why does the reality clash with the picture people normally carry around in their heads?” The larger and cleaner that gap becomes, the stronger the joke usually gets.
Because of this, my joke-writing process tends to look something like this most of the time: First, I write the idea down before it disappears. Second, I usually test it with my writers group online or work through it publicly on a livestream or podcast. Third, I take it on stage and see whether strangers actually care about it. Then, fourth, comes the longest phase of all, which is just obsessing over it indefinitely.
That last part never really ends. I’ll write one joke and it stands alone for months. Then later I’ll write another joke and realize they connect somehow and bring them together. A while after that, another joke appears and suddenly I’ve got a larger bit forming around all of them. Most of my material develops that way.
Here’s the thing I’m really getting at though: Most comedy careers don’t get built accidentally. They get built through repetition, refinement, and an absolutely relentless visibility. The comedians who last usually understand that. They understand that stage time matters, but so does study. So does writing. So does learning how jokes actually function underneath the surface. So does learning how the brain works.
That’s really what this entire article comes down to for me. Comedy is not just observation. Observation is where things begin, but it is not where they end. The real work happens in the gap between expectation and reality. That gap is where tension forms. It’s where surprise lives. It’s where audiences suddenly realize they’ve been led one direction only to end up somewhere completely different. Again, that realization changed everything for me.
Now then, before you go, let me ask: Are you ready to level up in your comedy journey? If so, I would highly recommend checking out these resources:
FREE - “The Round-Up”: My weekly comedy newsletter, choc-full of insights from videos, articles, and so on. This’ll also give you FREE access to “The Joke Blueprint Playbook.” Get the newsletter HERE.
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