that's how bill burr builds his entire act us through analogy is Mike's taking two dissimilar ideas and saying they're similar which sets to the audience an illogical equation what's up hot breath averse if you're looking to learn how to write jokes like Bill burr you have come to the right place this is hot breath podcast the show where you learn comedy from the pros i'm comedian joel buyer that is my dog guinness and today our pro is jerry the joke dr. Corley over three decades of comedy writing experience for people like Chris Rock Jay Leno
Bill Hicks and now he is here to break down how bill burr writes his material enjoy that's how bill burr builds his entire act us through analogy is Mike's taking two dissimilar ideas and saying they're similar which sets to the audience an illogical equation my girlfriend's like a smartphone huh right they're asking they're sitting there with tension now saying solve that how is that true I'm curious and we'll all you do is solve for true and the secret is it's got to be true force smartphone all by itself or a pearl friend all by itself
because if you had it if it if the verbage that you come up with as the tie-in doesn't match a person or a girlfriend then it's not gonna work it sounds forced it's gonna be odd but if you say my ex like I say my ex it builds more of an antagonistic situation I said my ex is like a smartphone at any given time I can usually find her at at least one bar mm-hm and that's what a coincidence that's so true but that fits for a person or a smartphone one bar being the signal
of course right so but that's just by listing everything smartphone I was gonna ask how do you find the connection between the income group yes so you take you basically take if I decide to use smartphone say if I want to use sometimes in this case what I'm doing is I'm taking an element and comparing it to my wife rather than find traits about my wife and then finding the element to relate it to like if I my ex-wife was a alcohol right so I said so I you I played on that angle I said
what else is alcoholic what else is alcoholic kind of funny cars funny cars are alcohol fueled so if I say might want my ex-wife yeah my ex-wife she's alcohol she's like a funny car alcohol-fueled now I have a quick joke there but I'm working the other approach to it the alternate approach finding what is she like and then finding something to relate her to this way I'm taking any element and comparing it to my ex-wife and then listing everything I can think about using subcategories of people places things words phrases cliches events and and I'll
write that down people places things words phrases cliches events every single time I do a list to remind myself because when you're so close to it you're going through the list sometimes you just get too heady and I'll go on into any cliches here what do people say when they say this what people are involved in smart from dude can you hear me now that guy you know and I'll just write down everything I can about a smartphone what else in smartphone in the minutia the signal what about the signal the bars hey what are
some of the phrases hey my phone's only have two bars bar as bar as double entendre that's a bar could be a drinking establishment fits from my ex-wife mic so my ex-wife's like a smartphone you know at any given time I can usually find her in at least one bar Oh same phrase fits for phone see wow that's how that that's an you kidding bill bar bill bird uses analogy that's what he uses through his whole thing once in a while does a cliche drop in you know so it's a you know like this thing
about this girl he was dating being aggressive you know she's aggressive you know she's like I want you to choke me I don't know if I'm comfortable with this you know what if I choke too hard you know what's the pressure what's the PSI you know what is I and I don't want to choke do heart is then she's like I want you to take me against my will I was like what is this Fifty Shades of rape you know and he does that joke of course our brains are wired to create expectations since we're
children very definite expectations yeah so think about it we you don't have to rush to a punch because the audience their brain is already creating an expectation you know we don't have to you to do it it's so firm you go like so if you say in your head 50 shades of that was such a popular book and movie that people are already creating the ending so all you have to do switch the last word and it fits the scenario of him being uncomfortable because he's like to force you you know you know it's like
take me against my will what is it fifty Shades of rape and he gets a quick joke there because he shattered an expectation and plus it's familiar and oh my god so funny how that fits into this place right here and we didn't even see it coming yeah you have you you're going through like a checklist of all this and you have like nine there's like nine elements there were nine psychological laughter trigger okay nine stimuli that the brain respond to that triggers laughter okay surprise embarrassment superiority release configurational incongruity recognition and Bivens and and
coincidence did I get all those that's about nine sometimes I forget right so then there are 13 major comedy structures and so the structures pull the triggers okay so and not every joke just has one some have multiple once some have ones where you're like well that's kind of this and this you know this is compare and contrast and uh this yeah it can be both just like you'll have literary scholars arguing over whether something really fulfills the obligation of meeting complete irony you know same thing you know if you you don't have to it's
art so and also you have to remember as Picasso said you got to know the rules before you can break the bones boom it's an art yes so don't get all wrapped up and it's gotta be this way you know but a lot of times you can tweak and go oh if I do make it this way that joke snaps right and that that's what part of comedians trying to just get away with attitude they're not learning the rules first before they break right they just see like bill Burgess up there talking know he's worked
over half his life at this art form you know and he says the first five to seven years of my career I did one in two liners because I had to know how to write a joke yeah and that that's what I did too when you know how to write a joke when you're on on the move when you're in the flow it's easier to see the opportunities or recognize the opportunities and the mechanics and the structure to be able to spin something and go oh I just put two ideas together I'm gonna now list
real quick and put it up there's the here's a line you know what he does I go he was like everybody wants to bang a hot chick you know but you know the the guy work at her home Home Depot can't cuz he's not a celebrity besides chicks don't dig lumber right that's what he says that's his joke and it's like all he did was take something from Home Depot every time I see the name somebody says Home Depot I see a pallet of two-by-fours and he says lumber and boom that triggers that image and
it makes us laugh what a coincidence thank you for watching hop brethren and sister Anne if you found this video helpful please subscribe to the channel and check out Jerry's full interview right next to my head
