The Setup Is Where Amateurs Fail and Pros Win
Where the Real Work Happens (Comedy Minhdack #98)
When it comes to jokes, it seems like joke writers obsesses over punch(lin)es. While a punch is an important and even essential part of a joke, I would argue that the setup may be even more important. Having taught hundreds of students joke writing over the last couple of years (I currently have 80 college students I work on jokes with in-person every Thursday and 71 enrolled in my online courses!), what I’ve noticed is very interesting: Joke writers often rush through a setup then get stuck trying to come up with the punch.
But the punch usually isn’t the problem, the setup is. My contention is that setup does far more work than most realize. That’s why, when it’s weak, even a good punch can’t save it. And when it’s too strong, it feels obvious because the audience is already there. As we all know, the punch gets all the credit because that’s where the laugh shows up. But the setup is what made that laugh possible in the first place! It shapes the context, builds the expectation, creates the tension, and gives the audience something to hold onto. The punch just releases all that. So, if the setup isn’t doing that work, nothing else really matters.
A strong setup does three things at once. It makes the situation/context clear, it sets a specific expectation, and it creates just enough tension underneath it. If a setup misses any one of those, the punch has to work harder than it should. And that’s usually, from what I’ve noticed, where the joke starts to struggle. Writers want to get to the funny fast but, in doing that, they often sacrifice clarity for trying to be clever.
On a related note, a mistake I see a lot, and I’ve made it myself, is overloading the setup. Too much information slows everything down and weakens the turn. A strong setup gives just enough information for the audience to get it and then gets out of the way. This is where the difference between good writers and bad writers, strong storytellers and weak storytellers, newer comedians and more experienced ones shows up. Newer comedians often tend to explain too much and try to be funny too early. But chasing laughs in the setup ends up softening the punchline.
More experienced comedians know how to play the setup straight and let the tension build. They trust the turn instead of forcing it. Another aspect of the setup is that it creates a shared assumption. When I’m writing jokes, I have to keep in mind that I’m guiding the audience toward a specific way of understanding and experiencing something. Once they’re there, the punch has something to break. But without that shared ground, the joke doesn’t really have anywhere to land.
Here’s a good rule of thumb: The more work the setup does, the less the punchline has to do. So, if you’re a joke writer, focus on the setup more than the punch. If you get a killer setup, the punch will likely fall into your lap. A question I ask myself is: Is there anything I can remove from the setup without weakening the joke? If so, if I can cut a line and nothing changes, it needs to go.
I’ve also learned to start with what’s emotionally true instead of trying to be funny right away. When joke writers force funny too early, they usually end up with something generic. When, however, they start with something real, something emotion-driven, the setup feels grounded. Working clean has reinforced this even more for me. I don’t have shock or edge to lean on, so everything has to come from structure, wording, and timing. If the setup is weak, there’s nothing to hide behind. It forces precision whether I like it or not.
The fact is: Jokes don’t fail randomly; they fail mechanically. And the mechanical failure begins with structural failure. When I teach my students writing, I make it clear that a poorly written paragraph doesn’t start with the paragraph; it starts with poor paragraph structure, sentence structure, and phrase structure. But when it comes to jokes, obviously everyone wants better punches. I get it; again, that’s the part people notice. But the comedians who actually improve understand where the real work is happening, namely, in the setup.
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