Why is This Funny?

I spilled spot remover on my dog.  Now he's gone. - Steven Wright
I bought a perfect second car... a tow truck. - Rodney Dangerfield
Why do they put Braille on drive-thru ATMs? - George Carlin

There's more to these jokes than meet the eye.  And like everything in The Promo Code, it relates to what we do.

Look closely at these one-liners.  They all have something in common - they force you to put the joke together.  Consequently, you reward yourself for putting it together, almost as though you wrote it yourself.  That's the genius.

It's not easy to restrain, indeed, to bring the listener to the water's edge without overdoing it by adding the obvious punchline. The extra line implies the listener is not smart enough to get it.

My good friend, Dana Precious, calls this heavy handedness "putting a clown nose on it."  Dana is spot on, appropriately enough.

In less capable hands, Steven Wright's joke could be, "I spilled spot remover on my dog.  Now he's gone.  I shouldn't have named him Spot."  Still a decent joke, but the clown nose takes it down a notch.

Same with Carlin's joke.  Could easily have been, "Why do they put Braille on drive-thru ATMs. I mean, are blind people driving now?"  Again, much stronger when the listener puts the thought together.

Utilizing this technique in our spots more actively engages viewers.  Let them subconsciously believe that the intended takeaway message was theirs, and they will be co-opted (in a good way, I mean).

Nike is great at this.  Universally acknowledged as being "cool," they never say they are cool.  But everything they do leads you to this conclusion.  Ironically, companies that brand themselves as cool are never perceived as such.

The spots for NFL.com apparel also do a great job of this.  Here's an example 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2a0Nlmyt-k

As well as this great one for, well, you'll see...
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGikNBqiNyE

This is why claims of "best" and "funniest" and "#1" alone do not stick with viewers.  Aside from being overused, they don't allow viewers to draw that conclusion.

The same goes for "value" and "quality."  Waste of time and space if shouted from the mountain tops.  Invaluable if inferred by the viewer.
 
So, hold back one step from your intended takeaway and resist the clown nose. 
For comedy.  News.  Entertainment.

Your viewers will thank themselves.   

-Ed

 

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