A good joke is ultimately all about the delivery. You can ruin a great joke if you tell it all wrong. Of the three comedians posted on the blog I only found Fluffy and Trevor funny. I think what makes something funny is the retelling of a funny experience. Written material is great if it’s funny. Written material is a hit or miss. You can bury yourself and your career, potentially, with a joke that you thought everyone would laugh at that usually gets a big laugh from certain entertainers but not others. Life experiences are hilarious even when it doesn’t seem to be when it initially happens. People like to laugh at the misfortunes of others and like to laugh at things that are relatable to them. Jokes that are in the form of stories are easier to tell because essentially it's just a retelling of what happened. The more relatable it is the harder you laugh. There are instances where you run into someone telling a story and they run into a joke that is controversial. Let’s take for example when Fluffy was talking about the racist gift basket he put together for his friend. For him to make a joke like that he had to be really close to the person he was pranking. He even went as far as making a KKK joke with him. Jokes are also best when they are used as satire. Retelling something from your experience means you can add in all the emotions, all the internal thoughts, all the facial expressions.
A good story also has lines that you probably shouldn’t cross. You could be on a roll, say something stupid and then end up tanking the entire joke and maybe even your entire show. If you’re unfortunate, your entire career could take a hit. There is a difference between a good and bad racist joke. A good racist joke usually hits on the major stereotypes that everyone can agree on to be funny (i.e. watermelon, fried chicken, “how long does it take for a group of Mexicans to- oh they built it already” smart Asian jokes). Things that aren’t okay to say: ni***r, be***r, ch**k. A good joke can also be tongue in cheek but still, make you chuckle like all jokes told at the recent correspondent’s dinner. My personal favourite for that night: “I would bring him here myself but apparently he is the only pussy we aren’t allowed to grab.” A freaking riot. Jokes like that can be dry to some and although it’s insulting the orange tangerine in power its only words that he said that came back to him.
Another thing that can make something funny, as I said before, is the delivery of the joke. No one will laugh if there isn’t time to let the joke sink in if it’s too rushed if there are too many vulgar words said. Part of the reason why I didn’t like the English comic was that half of what he said was, in my opinion, raunchy and unneeded. Something that makes you cringe isn’t funny.
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