Telegraphing a joke

[u/Duke-Berryman]

Here's a great comedy lesson from Steve Martin: you can telegraph a joke from a mile away and it will still be funny. Similar to how Penn & Teller show the audience how a trick is done, then actually do the trick, and the audience is still amazed. Feel free to give away the punchline because it will still be funny when you deliver it.

Know any other examples like this? Or comics that put the punchline first, like a Jeopardy question?

https://youtu.be/276xNCbUDX8?si=DUUdPa9Jevt11PC5

[u/Thelonious_Cube]

As far as improv goes, I would not be thinking in terms of telegraphing or setting up a joke at all - that takes you out of the moment and becomes "scripting"

That's more of a sketch-comedy or stand-up thing.

[u/johnnyslick → u/Thelonious_Cube]

Yeah I saw this this morning and this was my exact thought. The problem with telegraphing a joke in improv is that you just plain cannot control what your scene partner does. I'll go so far as to say that improv works best when you're not anticipating their moves - like, don't throw curveballs, of course, but you should always be ready to be excited or delighted by something your scene partner says. Trying to engage in some kind of chess game involving some meme or trope with the expectation that your scene partner will reciprocate closes you off to the best parts of what the medium has to offer IMO.

Like, you can introduce something that you think is telegraphing a gag or what have you... but you have to be hyper-aware that all you've done is said a line. I remember we did an exercise at Annoyance where you came in doing object work that was obviously supposed to be one thing but your scene partner interpreted it as something else and you reacted (yeah, I know Annoyance's big thing is "hold onto your shit" but this was exactly an exercise in that). Like, you come in miming throwing a baseball and your partner says "yep, it's like pappy always says, you gotta toss your oranges into the air to get them good and ripe". However your scene partner reacts is correct. Obviously you can't negate them, that's the first rule of improv. You might find you need to do a paradigm shift between "playing catch" and "weird orange-ripening technique"... the trick to doing so is to never be that invested in the playing catch part until it's firmly established that you're playing catch.

If it's less obvious, this idea applies even more. That gag you send might be completely misinterpreted or even ignored, and if you pick it back up again when the scene has moved along to something else, it can get weird and even be a form of negation. Or, you know, your scene partner might completely understand what you did but doesn't want to play along, or else heard or saw something else that they want to alight on instead. This is the fun of playing with others and again, this is what makes improv awesome, not a downside.

[u/Thelonious_Cube → u/johnnyslick]

Yes. well said

[u/Duke-Berryman → u/johnnyslick]

You can work with a scene partner to set something up, and then milk it until the end of the Harold or whatever form you are doing. Steve and Dave were working together. I think the payoff would definitely be worth it!

[u/Duke-Berryman → u/Thelonious_Cube]

True, but once something is established, you can torture the audience with it all you want.

[u/Thelonious_Cube → u/Duke-Berryman]

I'm not sure how what you just said is relevant

[u/fowcc]

Just curious as where exactly do you see the first telegraphing of the joke in the clip you linked to?

I ask because the parts where maybe I can see it are all heightening moves- as in where the audience already is in on the joke, but the first time it happens they are not. Once audiences connect the pieces that "oh the boom is going to knock that over" and such, that's already the joke's main reaction. When it actually does it, it doesn't get the same reaction (but you still get the laugh on the connect the dots part- which is usually a more hard hitting type of laughter anyway).

I liked the entire bit here- did a good job of "backing off" with the blind guy to keep the audience on it's toes and such. My one gripe though was that Steve Martin was non-caring about the destruction that was happening. Would have loved to see him in a blind panic every time something else caused another piece to break.

[u/Duke-Berryman → u/fowcc]

You're right, I guess the set-up is the joke. In fact, they could have talked for another ten minutes, gone to commercial break, and we'd still be expecting all the vases to be broken. As an audience member, I enjoy this type of torture. In an improv setting, characters could keep talking about some big thing that is going to happen, keep heightening the stakes, and maybe finally getting around to delivering it to the audience. But holding off as long as possible - while also giving away what the punchline is - is a satisfying way of giving the audience what it wants.

[u/Bigsmak]

Not improv, but Anthony Jeselnik does the opposite. He sets up a joke with an obvious punchline and then delivers something different. Like his one with the bible from his grandmother. It works for him

[u/Duke-Berryman → u/Bigsmak]

Yes - I've seen a couple of his specials - such a distinct style

[u/Duke-Berryman → u/Bigsmak]

[u/inturnaround]

I don't think so much in terms of punchlines in narrative improv, but I think it's better to think of it in terms of buttons. Like if you know the show is getting near and end point, you're looking for buttons. So yeah, it can either be an obvious conclusion that you've been building to that can still be satisfying or it can be a subversion of the expectations that you've all created that can still be interesting.

[u/Duke-Berryman → u/inturnaround]

Love subversion!

[u/bikenambulist]

Just like the vast majority of improvisers I’d probably advise against going for “jokes”. That mostly because so often the flow of improv will take a 90° on it and it’ll no longer be relevant. But honestly it’s just a guideline to avoid a common pitfall. I’ve seen TJ & Dave do actual jokes and they killed with it. Can’t even imagine how many other examples there are. Just goes to show that something doesn’t work until it does. Best of luck to those who go for it.