Every stand-up comedian knows the dreaded silence of a room that’s supposed to be laughing. They’ve delivered a punchline, waited for the laugh…and nothing comes back. Nothing. It’s silent. The air feels heavy, the spotlight blinding, and the stage lonely. The bomb! It’s a moment that can unravel an entire set if you let it. But…it doesn’t have to. That’s where savers come in.
In comedy-speak, a “saver” is a quick, witty line a comedian uses immediately after a joke they’ve just told bombs. It “saves” both the performer and the moment from crashing even farther. A saver is a way of acknowledging that the failed joke, but doing so in a funny way. It’s when a comedian flips the silence of the room into laughter and wins the audience back.
As I said, every comedian faces down the moment a joke that doesn’t land. And honestly, it’s not as scary as it seems. Also, it’s inevitable. And what separates a seasoned pro from an amateur might well be how well (or not) they handle that moment. So, in some sense, savers are a survival mechanism, a mark of professionalism, and part of the art of stand-up itself.
For instance, savers show the crowd that a comedian knows what they’re doing. They also show that they can read the room in real time. It also becomes clear that they’re not afraid to play with failure when most people would insist on running from it. That’s why it’s good for comedians to have a saver or two in their back pocket.
Here are a few I’ve used myself after a flat punchline: “Awesome! My plan was to… suck. Success!” Or: “That was funny… except the opposite.” Sometimes: “Going for worst joke of the night on that one… nailed it!” Each of these lines turns my failures into jokes. Instead of the audience laughing at the silence, they laugh at the acknowledgement of the silence. What’s incredible is, in that moment, the room’s energy resets, and the comedian gets another shot to steer the set forward.
From the audience’s perspective, savers, like most jokes, come off as spontaneous. It seems like the comedian is improvising on the spot. And, of course, sometimes they are. But the truth is, many savers are recyclable, they’re stock lines comedians keep in their back pockets for emergencies. The trick is in the delivery: if it feels fresh, the audience buys it as in-the-moment brilliance.
That said, savers are a bit like hot sauce: a little goes a long way. One well-timed saver can rescue more than just a flubbed joke; it can rescue a show. BUT… if you have to keep going back to them, it means the real material isn’t working. Relying on too many savers can weaken a set and even harm a comedian’s reputation. They’re not a replacement for strong jokes, just a backup plan when one doesn’t work.
Personally, I think savers are useful, and they’ve absolutely helped me win an audience back. So, there’s that. When I use them, they’re always self-deprecating, rooted in real-time honesty, and fun to deliver. Do I wish we never had to use them? Absolutely. But sometimes the saver gets the laugh the actual joke didn’t. And maybe that’s part of the beauty of stand-up: the moments you can’t plan end up being the ones the audience remembers most.
By the way, if you have any interest at all in learning to write some jokes or doing stand-up comedy, you should check out my online joke writing course, “The Joke Writer’s Lab,” HERE. Have fun!
Thanks! That was useful information. We didn't discuss savers in my class, and I usually have just ignored the bad joke and plowed ahead. Now, I'll come up with some specific-to-me savers to pull out just in case.