Page 37 - MN

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How to Write a Joke
Hah! If I'd figured that out I'd still be working, basking in new material and dazzling audiences. No, you have to find someone smarter than me to get that answer.
I've written stuff all my life and I'm happy writing this, no matter how it turns out. But I have to admit I like golf more. When I go to a driving range or a golf course I always have something new I want to try out. I can't wait to see if it works. And if it fails miserably, no problem, because I'll have some new cure to work on the next day.
With writing, I never had that. I wrote comedy for a living because that's what I did on stage and all comedians are desperate for material. I used the monkey-on-the-typewriter technique. I figured if I wrote every day, for three or four hours, I'd come up with something funny, even if it was just by chance. I also figured I could write about something serious and keep writing about it until the seriousness would break down and I'd have to laugh. Both techniques were wildly undependable.
I think great comedians have some idea of joke structure and some method of coming up with new material that they can count on. I didn't have that. I just wrote. At first I liked felt-tipped pens and notebooks, and I would write freestyle, going wherever my mind would take me. Later on I switched to laptop computers so I could write lots more pages. Every now and then a nugget would appear and I'd get mad because I had no idea how to do it again. In the end I wrote four hours a day. That was my discipline. I finally retired when I realized I wasn't coming up with anything new.
Ever since I retired I've kept writing, going in all directions. I've tried writing comedy material, short stories, books, blogs, whatever and I haven't come up with anything I really liked. Wait, I take that back. Some of my Facebook posts are inventive. So this book is my latest challenge. I will finish!
By the way, I listened to more of that Joe Rogan/Jordan Peterson/guy-who's- name-I-still-haven't-figured-out discussion and Peterson said a couple of interesting things. One, he said a universal basic income was a terrible idea because what people needed more than money was a feeling of purpose. A usefulness. A job. I can see that.