I count words for a living. Okay, maybe not for a living (though I do in a way get paid for it!) and maybe not in the way you think. Here’s what I mean: when I write a setup for a joke, I have three rules: 1) it can’t be funny; 2) it should tell a story; and, 3) it needs to be around 10-12 words. That last one surprises people. Why 10-12 words? And wait… why are you counting words? Answer: because every unnecessary word weakens the setup and thereby the punchline.
And let me be clear: this isn’t about being clever. This is actually about respecting cognitive load. If, for example, my setup asks the audience to process too much information, then I can expect that the punchline will land like a wet newspaper. Think about it: In a wordy setup, listeners’ brains are still working through word seven when you cross over to the punch and hit them with word fifteen. In other words, they’re behind!
Most people think joke writing is about getting stuff on the page. I agree; it is largely about that. It definitely is about that. Comedians absolutely need volume. They need bad drafts. They need to generate material. But the opposite is what often gets ignored: getting stuff off the page.
That’s where a new field of study that recently caught my attention comes in. It’s called “Critical Ignoring.” Researchers have identified three strategies for managing information overload, that is, three strategies for critical ignoring: 1) self-nudging; 2) lateral reading; and, 3) the don’t-feed-the-trolls heuristic. I think it’s helpful to use all three when writing jokes.
Self-nudging has to do with nudging/reminding myself to remove temptations from my environment. In joke writing, one temptation might be keeping my first draft. I wrote it. It feels good. But…I nudge myself to edit anyway, cutting words and refining until the setup does its job without asking the audience to work too hard.
Lateral reading means verifying credibility by checking sources. In comedy, I think it’s very important to establish my credibility in each joke. I tend to do that through offering a first-person perspective. If the setup doesn’t position me as the authority on what I’m saying, I edit it so it does. Even if it’s as simple as shifting to “I” instead of “he,” “she,” “it,” or “they.”
Don’t-feed-the-trolls means ignoring malicious actors who want my attention. In joke writing, the trolls are very often internal and part of the writing process. They’re the temptations to go blue, add shock value, or chase a cheap laugh that isn’t authentically me. If it’s not me in real life, I don’t go there. I ignore it.
This semester, I’ve been so privileged to teach joke writing every week to around 35-40 college students and, additionally, a 2-day weekend MasterClass to a handful of high-schoolers. Here’s what I’ve seen in my students: after the write the setup, they want to get to the punchline as quickly as possible. I get it. The punchline is the payoff and it’s fun to come up with a good one. But the problem in doing that is this: the students often fail to realize the punch will be weak if their setup asks listeners to do too much cognitive processing first.
Research backs this up. Studies show that people under cognitive load make poorer decisions and exhibit reduced decision-making quality when overwhelmed. One researcher found that it takes an average of 23 minutes to regain focus after a distraction. Think about that!!! No comedian can survive that! That’s why it’s so important to be able to win a crowd back but, even more, not to lose them in the first place, especially over something as simple as too many words.
What this means is that a comedian’s joke setup will either be a distraction or a delivery system. If it’s packed with unnecessary details, tangents, or clever wordplay, it’s just creating cognitive noise. Then the audience has to filter through that noise to find the signal. It makes them work hard. And, of course, comedy shouldn’t feel like work for an audience or audience member.
The work should fall to me, the comedian, particularly in the writing and editing process. Of course, when I cut a word from a setup, it sometimes feels like a loss. I liked that word. It added color. But here’s what I’ve learned regarding joke writing, especially as someone coming from the field of preaching, academic conferences, and writing both books and academic journal articles: the constraint of ignoring forces me to be more creative.
I have to find a better word, a more precise phrase, and a clearer path to the punchline. So, in spite of how it may seem, my 10-12 word rule for setups isn’t a limitation. It’s a filter that separates what’s necessary from what’s just noise. Every word that doesn’t help the joke’s cause must be ignored until the joke is tight and clean. That’s not merely editing. That’s critical ignoring applied to my joke writing craft. The thing is: this is hard because, in life in general, most people haven’t been taught to ignore critically or strategically (except my wife…she seems to ignore me quite naturally).
But again, joke writing has taught me this: just like too much information can ruin someone’s focus, too many words can ruin the joke. Same principle. It’s all about acknowledging the necessary stuff and eliminating the unnecessary. The content that doesn’t serve my goals, it’s gotta go. It’s cognitive clutter. So, I identify what’s essential, ignore what isn’t, and protect the cognitive resources I need for what matters.
It’s really just strategic intelligence, knowing where to go next. It’s recognizing that everyone has a fine attention span, everyone’s cognitive load has limits, and every unnecessary input weakens their ability to process what actually matters. So, I don’t only watch what I say but also how many words I use to say it.
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JOKE WRITING COURSE: By the way, if you have any interest at all in learning about your persona, how to write some jokes, or doing stand-up comedy, check out my online joke writing course, “The Joke Writer’s Lab,” HERE.