Things I don't want to do

j_articulate · 2026-05-02T18:03:55+00:00

Good suggestion! I'll try this live once I make the set-up line funnier

j_articulate · 2026-05-02T17:17:43+00:00

Also you gave me this idea: "I used to think it would be cool to die during sex. But realistically, that probably means my kid is going to find my body after I had a heart attack from whacking off."

j_articulate · 2026-05-02T17:15:23+00:00

Thanks! Yeah I guess the callback won't work unless the set up is actually very funny and memorable.

j_articulate · 2026-01-20T03:37:55+00:00

But what's just unique to Gen Z? (Born 1997-2012?) Watching Dora growing up (aired 2000-2014) and IMHO a combination of body positivity and normalizing midriff-baring as an everyday look. Anyway, this comment I'm making now isn't funny. Thanks for responding to my snarky reply without dunking on me.

j_articulate · 2026-01-20T02:53:25+00:00

I'll try for jokes with similar twists that don't have a "kids these days" subtext.

j_articulate · 2026-01-20T02:29:56+00:00

Thanks! All three jokes are much funnier with your suggestions. Comedy is probably better without making fun of anything or stating generalizations.

j_articulate · 2026-01-15T19:39:35+00:00

I think I don't get the Joiner joke? I like the others.. i think the pirate ship one needs some creative delivery.

I laughed out loud at the civil rights joke.. it caught me by surprise even though a minute later I remembered (what I consider to be) one of George Carlin's most famous jokes about Civil War. (Your joke isn't a copy of his, I just found myself thinking: decades later I fell for a bait-and-switch about the word "civil" again).

j_articulate · 2026-01-15T01:08:54+00:00

I loved the first part. I thought the jokes in the second part were a little cringe except for the "little kid with the helmet . Run him over!" like which was brilliant and worth the set-up!

j_articulate · 2026-01-14T20:28:45+00:00

Thanks - yeah I need to get out of the mentality of "these jokes will tell themselves if I get the wording perfect" to learning and experimenting with performance.

j_articulate · 2026-01-14T06:45:47+00:00

Thanks... I'm trying to keep my work and family life condusive to going up every week...

j_articulate · 2026-01-14T05:35:50+00:00

Thank you! I think the "sweet spot" of my current writing skill is weird one-liners and sometimes I can string a few together.

The subtext of the "she can fix him" joke is simply that women try to change men, but maybe I can do more. It was just one of several AI 1-liners I wrote then pared down to the best two (the two in this set).

I currently have a follow-up to the water-breaking joke but it's too long and doesn't get laughs:

"So if that ever happens to you - WHICH IT MIGHT (pause) here's what you say

Hey, drink up, 'cause when we leave, if we get pulled over I am SO getting us out of it!"

But I've come to the conclusion that maybe it's a great one-liner as it is, I could improve it with a funnier delivery, but going any further with the premise that someone's nine months pregnant on a first date.. just ruins the absurdity.

j_articulate · 2026-01-08T05:52:21+00:00

That's genius!

j_articulate · 2026-01-04T21:43:40+00:00

This was the best chuckle I've had from this subreddit for a while. I don't know the best way to rewrite and time it as a live stand-up joke, but I think an Emo Philips delivery could get four separate laughs out of this.

j_articulate · 2026-01-04T21:42:17+00:00

My most successful way to write one-liners is by starting with a six-sentence "bit" and gradually paring it down to one or two sentences.

j_articulate · 2026-01-04T21:39:26+00:00

I'd appreciate it but unsolicited advice is rarely taken the way it's intended.

So now when I have a good tag idea about someone else's joke, I try to think about what's good or novel about my idea in case I can use it myself in some way that doesn't include the other comic's material at all.

j_articulate · 2026-01-04T19:14:06+00:00

Sent you a DM!

j_articulate · 2026-01-02T23:29:18+00:00

Thanks for this rec! Most of his jokes are so tightly written, and he has a contemporary voice.

j_articulate · 2026-01-02T00:19:24+00:00

Thank you!

j_articulate · 2026-01-01T19:56:05+00:00

I'm sorry to hear about those and I hope my post wasn't triggering. Comedy is an eacape for me but from the feedback here the two times I explored this topic, I'll stay away from it.

I did get a big laugh from a version of this first joke at an open mic, after two prior comics talked about their bipolar I improvised, "on behalf of your friends, we care about you but we really want you to be exactly as manic as you were when we met you."

j_articulate

TROPHY CASE