I was surfing online, looking for information on how to write a punchline when I came across an article from eHow.com called “How To Write A Punchline” — supposedly for those who want to know how to be a comic.
There were 5 points presented, all of which were generic at best and accurate in a general way, but tip #4 for how to write a punchline actually made me laugh out loud:
A punch line needs to be funny! It’s not enough to make a witty observation if you’re actually trying to entertain an audience. Write punch lines that you can present in a comedic way. Whether you decide to add sound effects, facial expressions or voice inflections to your punch lines, they need to be funny.
Now that’s some sage advice for sure. Why didn’t I think of that???!!! 
But allow me to propose that…
Merely telling folks who want to know how to be a comic that punchlines need to be funny doesn’t do much in the way of actually helping someone even come close to “writing” or developing stand-up comedy material/punchlines that actually works for them.
That is no different than paying for a comedy workshop, performing for the class and then having the teacher say “You have great material, great ideas. Now all you have to do is make it funny.”
Related article: Still Trying To Figure Out How To “Write” Punchlines Out Of Thin Air? Now That’s Funny
It’s really no wonder that funny and talented people struggle so hard with developing their stand-up comedy material given this type of non-information to work with.
Here’s my advice for those who want to know how to be a comic:
If you have a project and you need a hammer but you’re handed a pair of nose hair clippers — I’m going to say that whatever task you are trying to accomplish will be much more difficult than it actually has to be.
Related video and link:
Link: 5 Free Stand-up Comedy Lessons
For more information about Steve Roye, author of this blog and the Killer Stand-up Online Course, click here.
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I think there definitely is room to study “how to write a punchline” not that I disagree with you because I thought your interactive writing guide freebee was great. It’s just that I read the IWG then I read “how to write and sell your sense of humor” by Gene Perret (two very different approaches to comedy writing) and the latter has really has allowed me to be able to write jokes (from my natural sense of humor) out of thin air – funny ones.
What you’re doing here is great but I don’t think you should dismiss all other methods. A comedian that is unable to write a joke out of thin air (the correct way – and there is a correct way to do it) is missing out on a large aspect of their comedy writing exploration. I have applied your method AND ‘gag writing’ methods and use them both to great effects.
I understand you are trying to sell a product and I appreciate that. Just saying…
First, read this article:
http://www.realfirststeps.com/2030/dimensional-approach-dimensional-performing-art/
There is room to study others if you are “writing” something designed to be read — like greeting cards, cartoons, etc. That I will agree upon.
But when you use 3 channels to communicate verbally instead of one (most of which is NOT words alone), your argument is not valid at all — whether you buy my products or not.
You say you are able to “write” funny jokes. How do you know? Because they read funny on paper? Someone else read them and thought they were funny?
Here’s the deal…
Audiences don’t read stand-up comedy material — they experience it live. Most stand-up comedy material DOES NOT read funny from paper because of the missing channels of communication used to generate the laughs that are not and cannot be accurately demonstrated on “paper” in a “written” form.
Simply find your favorite comedian on YouTube, transcribe just one minute of material, then pass that around and see for yourself how big the laughs are. Verify that information for yourself – DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR THIS.
Or you can check out this video update where I have done the work for you:
http://www.realfirststeps.com/2975/video-update-standup-comedy-material/
Show me a YouTube video of yourself generating an average of 18+ seconds per performing minute with your paper written jokes. I really want to check that out. Until then…
I have read and studied every single popular book on so called “comedy writing”. What appears to be valid information is actually NON-INFORMATION and DOES NOT WORK to get laughs on the stand-up comedy stage — where it really matters to any comedian.