Every family has one.
The relative who tells the world’s longest joke.
It’s usually an uncle or grandfather who begins a “funny story” sometime before Thanksgiving and finally reaches the punchline around Arbor Day.
The setup wanders. The details multiply. The audience starts checking their watches, their phones, and eventually their will to live.
Then comes the punchline.
And it lands with the emotional impact of a damp noodle.
As a humor writer, you must avoid becoming the literary equivalent of Uncle Long Joke.
That starts with memorizing one simple rule.
Humor Law #1
Funny = Funny ÷ Word Count
Or stated more bluntly:
Every unnecessary word steals a little laugh.
The formula is brutally simple:
The more words you add, the less funny the joke becomes.
Most long jokes fail because the punchline doesn’t justify the wait. Too much verbal fluff separates the audience from the payoff. The farther readers must travel to reach the punchline, the weaker the laugh.
Professionals obsess over this problem. Stand-ups and humor writers are borderline OCD about unnecessary words — especially in the punchline.
Look closely at jokes that consistently appear on “best joke” lists or in great stand-up specials. The strongest jokes are lean and efficient. They waste no energy on unnecessary detail.
They get to the funny.
Consider this classic line from Jimmy Carr:
I realized I was dyslexic when I went to a toga party dressed as a goat.
That joke works because it’s ruthlessly edited. Every word pulls its weight. Remove one word and the joke breaks. Add one word, and it slows down.
In Comedy Writing Secrets, I call this samurai editing.
Professional humor writers keep a sharp editing sword in their toolbox and follow the samurai creed:
Get to the joke as soon as possible.
When editing your humor, hunt down:
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redundancies
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unnecessary adjectives
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bloated phrases
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anything that delays the punchline
Your mission is simple:
Maximize the funny by minimizing the words.
So unsheathe your editing sword.
Slash away the fluff.
And reveal the razor-sharp joke hiding underneath.
