My last post about Irony reminded me of a list of nine different types of joke that I got from a comedy scriptwriting book. They are:

• Exaggeration – I’ve told you a million times, don’t exaggerate. Some people have a stream of consciousness, mine’s more of a puddle
• Word Play – He had engine trouble – he was hit by a train. The footballer had car trouble – on the way to the ground a fan belted him
• Pun – In the event of fire, inform any ember of the staff
• Twisted Cliché – People who live in grass houses shouldn’t stow thrones
• Reverse Gag – My garage told me to keep the oil but change the car
• Illogical Logic – I tried to put a Euro in the parking-meter for my German car
• Insult – If your suggestion was a light-bulb you might have the faintest idea. You’re so un-hip – why doesn’t your bum fall off?
• Sex Gag – Save your breath for blowing up your girlfriend
• Topical – Home secretary Alan Johnson is reducing police paperwork by making the forms smaller.

If you want to apply these you simply make a list of words and phrases relating to your chosen subject. Here’s mine about “the Brits”:

Hooligans, Irony, Beer, Stiff Upper Lip, Mrs Thatcher, Cross of St George, Island Race, Tea-drinking, Bad Food

Then try each one with each joke type:

In England, they order their food, pay and then run off without eating it (Bad Food/Reverse Gag).

You can hear some more like these in my radio play “The Archie and Cilla Show”.

Have funny!