How to recycle jokes

The three Rs of comedy

The First “R” – Reduce 

You know that one kid in your class who never speaks, and then the first time you hear their voice, they’re saying the funniest thing you’ve ever heard? The reason this is so funny is because it is so unexpected. Ever heard of the rule of threes? This means you should reduce the amount of times you tell jokes to three times so that they are not excessive but are repeated enough that people understand them. 

The Second “R” – Reuse  

Do you ever go to tell a funny story to a group of friends and find yourself questioning if you’ve told it to them before? Try to make note of which jokes you’ve used where, so that you don’t forget to tell anyone. Retell every funny thing you think of to everyone you know until you are sure they’ve been made fully aware of your comedic prowess. Ever heard of the rule of threes? This means you reuse a joke three times to emphasize how funny it is. People laugh because they have heard the joke before, so when they hear it again, they’re like, “Wow! I remember this being funny before so I will laugh thinking about how it was funny before.”  

The Third “R” – Recycle 

Recycling is taking things apart and using them to make new things. Take for example these two classic jokes which I’ve taken apart and put back together to make two new, even better jokes: 

Q: Why can’t male ants sink? 

A: The bear shrugged. “I’m not sure; I was born with them.” 

Q: A bear walks into a bar and says, “Give me a whiskey and… cola.” “Why the big pause?” asks the bartender. 

A: They’re buoy-ant. 

The word recycle comes from the word cycle. The word cycle comes from the word circle which is a shape famously known for having three sides. Ever heard of the rule of threes? This means you can tell the same joke in three different ways and have it still be funny.  

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