Most people think jokes work because the comedian who comes up them is clever. And, in many instances, comedians are indeed clever. Many are quick-witted wordsmiths and magicians of language who seem to have the crazy ability to pull punchlines out of thin air. But as much as I, as a linguist, love words and wordplay, it seems to me that the engine of comedy isn’t words. It’s emotion. Beneath or behind every great punchline is an emotion that, at its core, is raw and human.
Here’s an example of a joke, one of comedian Tommy Cooper’s classic one-liners: “I’m on a whiskey diet… I’ve lost three days already.” That’s a great line! And on the surface, it is a good turn of phrase. Even so, I’m not so sure the laugh comes from the wordplay, at least not primarily. Prior to becoming a comedian, I might have thought so, but now I see things differently.
It seems to me that the laughs come from, to borrow a phrase from Thoreau, the “quiet desperation” hiding underneath. Or, as my old college roommate was fond of saying when I made fun of him, “There’s a little bit of truth in every joke.” He was right. The secret to Cooper’s punchline or any great punchline isn’t just about it being funny; it’s about starting with a truth that feels uncomfortably real, something charged up with deep emotion. When jokes work, it’s often because they tapped into what many of us have felt but haven’t necessarily said out loud.
At the same time, many people think that a comedian’s humor comes from a place of joy. I get it; clowns, pranks, silly faces, it can come off like play. And sometimes it is. But the laughs that really hit, the ones that make people double over, come from emotion. There is an old saying in comedy: “Comedy = Truth + Pain / Time.” There is wisdom in that. Pain is fertile ground for jokes because pain is universal. But I don’t think that’s the whole story. So, in all humility, I offer an alternative, what I think is a more powerful formula: Comedy = Truth + Emotion / Time.
The key is emotion, not merely pain. The emotion in and behind a joke could be anger. It could be shame. It could even be joy so excessive it tips into absurdity. The emotion itself does not matter as much as its honesty and authenticity. When you expose that truth, and add just enough distance for people to laugh instead of wince, when you’re playfully inappropriate, that’s when you unlock comedy’s real power.
A joke does not work by erasing pain. It works, as I said in my last post HERE, by reframing it. A setup leads us toward a truth we would rather not face, something that pings our emotional strings: insecurity, addiction, heartbreak, and mortality. That is where the tension builds. Then the punchline flips it. With a sudden, shocking perspective shift, the audience is forced to see the same truth from a different and unexpected angle. That is the moment of release. And in the body, release manifests itself in the form of laughter.
That’s also why the strongest jokes often seem dark or come from the darkest places. They do not erase tragedy, they tilt it just enough so that the unbearable becomes absurd and we can laugh at it or in its face. The wound is still there. But for now, even just a moment, it is bearable. We can laugh at it.
When a comedian shares a deep-seated fear or painful experience, yes they are exposing their emotions but also everyone else’s. That means when we laugh we are not laughing at them, we are laughing with them while having a sense of relief. We’re relieved that someone finally said the quiet part out loud. We feel heard and seen. We’re relieved that we are not alone in our own struggles.
That’s also why gallows humor shows up in hospitals, in war zones, among Holocaust survivors, and in any place where the pressure of reality would otherwise crush the people living it. Laughter in those moments is not morbid. It is survival. A laugh in the face of pain is not dismissal, it’s defiance; it’s a declaration of resilience. And, as a comedian, to give someone that gift is simply astounding.
Friends, by the way, if you have any interest at all in learning to write some jokes or doing stand-up comedy, after you subscribe below, you should also check out my online joke writing course, “The Joke Writer’s Lab,” HERE.