TAGGING means to develop, work on or expand on an JOKE. The best way to create new jokes from an original joke, is to begin at the KEY WORDS, or PUNCH WORD in the PREMISE. If we use the PUNCH WORD, the TAG we create better be as strong or stronger than the original joke, because the TAG is being telegraphed in the original PUNCH WORD. Confused? Good. The  Here’s a premise we can use as an example: “The first time I was on stage I fell off of it!”  look at the KEY WORDS in this premise ( FIRST…….TIME…….STAGE……. FELL) We begin by looking at these key words for a premises and PUNCH WORD and PUNCHLINE in our new jokes. let me give you an example.

Our PUNCH WORDS are: first, time, stage, fell: Where do we begin? We begin by looking at our FRAME and TAG the SENTENCES or look for SIMILAR to this premise we’re playing with in our sandbox. We can also find GOLD in the ideas that bubble up in our POOL. Our POOL can generate random ideas, emotions, key words and phrases that have connections to FELL? PAR EXEMPLE: FALLING IN LOVE, WINTER, SUMMER, SPRING,”
FALL; “Ever since I fell? off the stage, I can’t perform in FALL.” ( I asked myself if CAREENED off the stage would be better, so I don’t telegraph FELL) I put a question mark next to fell to remind me to try different words in the premise. Ever hear the phrase I laughed so hard I FELL off my chair? If we connect this phrase to our word STAGE, we end up with: “If you want an audience to fall off their chairs laughing, just fall off the stage.” ( When I insert this joke into MY FRAME, this TAG carries the emotion of falling off a stage in a full nightclub. REMEMBER: When we tag a joke, our TAG carries the EMOTION of the joke we TAGGED. Experiment with different emotions. Se what the result it 🙂 

How about TIME? What are the phrases of time? ( I like to use phrases. It’s the same as song writers using popular catch phrases: “Here For A Good Time,  Two Out Of Three Isn’t Bad.” When you hear the song, it’s already embedded in your joke writing arsenal. “You only have so much TIME on stage; unless you fall off it, then you can spend as much time as you want on the floor.

So, we begin with a JOKE in our FRAME. We Q and A the KEY WORDS or PUNCH WORD- (the WORD that makes the joke work.  in the JOKE we’re TAGGING. We ask the emotional vulnerable question about a KEY WORD; we can ANSWER with SARCASM. We can also make the KEY WORD look at itself in JUXTAPOSITION, by putting the KEY WORD against its opposite; EXAMPLE: or SIMILE; Falling off a stage is like?

Have fun. REMEMBER: New FRAME: Write 3 jokes and CREATE or TAG 2 NEW JOKES from the 3 original jokes. Great job everyone in the last class. Thank you for working so hard. It’s also awesome to see how much fun we’re having. LOVE IT!!!

Thank you Dan for sharing this awesome comment about my Stand Up Writing class; 7 times really appreciate it sir.

E MAIL ME paulsveen@shaw.ca