oodlesofpun: THE LAW OF COMEDIC DIMINISHED RETURNS: thoughts on that joke that just “stopped working” Every once in while you come up with a joke, and it works the first time like a charm, right out of the gate! You have your new piece of gold! Surely they will make a movie.. no a TRILOGY out of this killer new bit! But was it a fluke? You do it again a second night. Success! This is the REAL DEAL! You’re so excited, the third night you add a tag. Oh MAN! This thing is so great, one day it may get me on what’s left of The Tonight Show! You do it again and again and it hits every time… and then one day, it gets only a mere polite smattering of laughs. Well maybe it was the room. So you do it again the next night, and the response is even softer. It gets worse and worse, and then one day, it just stops working. The words are the same, but this bright shinny comedy nugget, just “stopped working”. What went wrong? This joke was my ticket to a new cornucomedycopia! My guess to why this happens is because perhaps I’m playing a game of telephone with myself. Instead of telling a joke based on the original idea, I tell the joke based on my last performance of telling it. This happens again and again. A carbon copy of a carbon copy of a carbon copy. And while the idea is the same, the words are the same, the audience somehow subconsciously knows that something is off. I’m no longer telling the joke because it’s a thought I want to explore. I’m now telling the joke because I think that it’s a joke that works. Say these words in a row and people will laugh. Gross. I’m now just trying to relive old glories, instead of channeling the excitement that came when the idea was new. Not sure what the Gorilla Glue is to fix such a broken bit, but I thought this quote below was pretty on point:"Any performer must have access to a tap of genuine enthusiasm. As a comedian you can become quite polished. I can do routines… you can do two recordings and place them on top of each other and there will be a millisecond of difference between how they’re performed, but the enthusiasm has to be there. There’s a metronomic precision behind stand-up but the enthusiasm must be pure. … If it’s not genuine emotion it just dies." - Jerry Seinfeld http://splitsider.com/2013/04/jerry-seinfeld-on-jean-shepherd-the-voice-behind-a-christmas-story/ Nick with some wise words

oodlesofpun:

THE LAW OF COMEDIC DIMINISHED RETURNS: thoughts on that joke that just “stopped working”

Every once in while you come up with a joke, and it works the first time like a charm, right out of the gate! You have your new piece of gold! Surely they will make a movie.. no a TRILOGY out of this killer new bit! But was it a fluke? You do it again a second night. Success! This is the REAL DEAL! You’re so excited, the third night you add a tag. Oh MAN! This thing is so great, one day it may get me on what’s left of The Tonight Show! You do it again and again and it hits every time… and then one day, it gets only a mere polite smattering of laughs. Well maybe it was the room. So you do it again the next night, and the response is even softer. It gets worse and worse, and then one day, it just stops working. The words are the same, but this bright shinny comedy nugget, just “stopped working”. What went wrong? This joke was my ticket to a new cornucomedycopia! My guess to why this happens is because perhaps I’m playing a game of telephone with myself. Instead of telling a joke based on the original idea, I tell the joke based on my last performance of telling it. This happens again and again. A carbon copy of a carbon copy of a carbon copy. And while the idea is the same, the words are the same, the audience somehow subconsciously knows that something is off. I’m no longer telling the joke because it’s a thought I want to explore. I’m now telling the joke because I think that it’s a joke that works. Say these words in a row and people will laugh. Gross. I’m now just trying to relive old glories, instead of channeling the excitement that came when the idea was new. Not sure what the Gorilla Glue is to fix such a broken bit, but I thought this quote below was pretty on point:

"Any performer must have access to a tap of genuine enthusiasm. As a comedian you can become quite polished. I can do routines… you can do two recordings and place them on top of each other and there will be a millisecond of difference between how they’re performed, but the enthusiasm has to be there. There’s a metronomic precision behind stand-up but the enthusiasm must be pure. … If it’s not genuine emotion it just dies." - Jerry Seinfeld

http://splitsider.com/2013/04/jerry-seinfeld-on-jean-shepherd-the-voice-behind-a-christmas-story/

Nick with some wise words