Help me understand your process of joke writing.

I know this sucks but I just sit down and think about it for a while and hope my brain comes up with some kind of angle to make a punchline or I'll try variations on the premise and try to come up with a punchline for that. Then I think about it more for tags or better punchlines. The step by step is mostly semisubconscious. Most days it doesn't work but it's the only thing I've tried that ever works, if I try to make a word web or lists on paper I've gotten nothing.

So let's say I think your premise.

Then I want to be more specific by choosing Netflix OR video games.

Then my first thought is to compare Netflix to friends and how Netflix would be superior. (Personally, I feel like straight up comparisons are a trap. They are the first thing I think of and are not usually funny if presented as X is like/unlike Y, most famous comedians will present comparisons in a funnier way or not do them at all. But this is the first thing I think of so I do usually explore that.)

I love Netflix more than any of my friends. It's a better relationship. Because you can't call your friend at 11 pm and say "do you mind entertaining me for four hours until I fall asleep? Yeah, and if you don't mind doing it every day for a month, I'll give you EIGHT DOLLARS. Hello?"

That's not actually funny and I wouldn't tell it on stage but that's the first thing I thought of. I'm only three years in and I notice a difference in the way my jokes are less conversational than most comedians and they rely on common techniques and formatting much of the time. So I haven't gotten anything figured out yet, but I do write jokes that people laugh at sometimes and since you asked I thought I'd share.

/r/Standup Thread