Adding jokes to your animation can set you apart in a world that loves humor. Understanding the basics of humor is really important.

Here is a beginner’s guide to understanding humor for those starting out. This guide covers verbal humor, which can be great for creating funny lines of dialogue.

A joke is made up of a setup and surprise (most commonly called a punch line). The setup provides background information that will help us understand the joke. The setup should be ideally short and sweet. It can ask who, where, when, what, why, and how – the 5W and H.

The surprise is exactly that. Something unexpected and unusual that the audience has not considered relating to that situation. Make sure that you do not mention the surprise in your setup. If you read jokes you will notice that the surprise is usually the last word of the sentence.

Here is an example:

Mosquitoes and humans are not that different – both are terribly annoying, love summer, and love singing.

Let’s analyze this joke: The setup is made up of a comparison: Mosquitoes and humans are not that different. While the punchline is: both are terribly annoying, love summer, and love singing.

Different types of comedy

As a comedian, you have different styles you can tap into, such as satire, sarcasm, misdirection, puns, exaggeration, storytelling, and role-playing. One of the first things you need to learn is how to  brainstorm ideas by using the listing technique. This video can help you with this:

A very practical approach is analyzing other people’s jokes, especially expert comedians, and figuring out what made it funny in the first place. Here is a video that does exactly that:

The best way to practice is by putting your work out there. Comedy needs feedback from an audience for improvement to happen. Check out this playlist of Tsunami’s short comedic mixed media animation Meet the Pest. And it’s about exactly that… what happens when humans encounter pests?

Watch: MEET THE PEST | Episode 1, Dj Oozie (Uncensored)

Please feel free to contact us if you need to produce a funny animation or film. We create both funny animations and funny live-action films and advertisements. Check this crowd-pulling Otamatsuri advertisement:

Call us today at +254/0 791 268 761 or contact us by email at hello@tsunami.co.ke to start your next funny project