Former Head Writer of the Tonight Show Picks His Joke of the Week

Comedywire
Sep 4, 2018 · 2 min read

Congrats to Leonie Rachel for winning this week’s joke pick!

Pro comedy writer Joe Toplyn, Former head-writer of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman, picks his joke of the week:

Winner: Leonie Rachel, Follow her on Comedywire

Joe’s comments:

Setup: EasyJet mass brawl ‘after woman gets breasts out’ and ‘gives lads lap dances’

Punch line: Or maybe she was just trying to squeeze back into her window seat.

Punch Line Maker #5 isn’t used very often but it can lead to a great joke like Leonie’s. Punch Line Maker #5 is the one where you visualize the topic.

Leonie might have started by forming a mental picture of the topic, in which a woman on an airliner is wriggling and thrusting her breasts at men sitting right in front of her.

The next step is to get a different perspective on that mental picture. So Leonie thought of a different activity that might explain the action that she’s visualizing. Because the action took place on a low-cost airline, Leonie linked the wriggling and thrusting to the idea that the poor woman had to contort herself that way just to squeeze back into a row of ridiculously cramped seats. And that surprising but relatable idea became her punch line.

Then Leonie was careful to add an angle — “Or maybe she was just trying to…” — to efficiently steer the audience into proper mental position to get punched by her punch line. By contrast, just following up the topic with a phrase like “Squeezing back into her window seat?” wouldn’t have been as funny.

And Leonie made sure to end on the most surprising words, the laugh trigger, “window seat.”

Four-time Emmy winner Joe Toplyn is a former head writer for David Letterman and Jay Leno. He also wrote the book “Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV.”

Comedywire

Written by

The world's largest writers' room devoted to humor. We connect funny writers with major companies that need their talents. Sign up at http://www.comedywire.com

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade