Humor coach and keynote speaker on communication Jeremy Nicholas believes that X’s instantaneous nature might be why there’s so much hilarious content on the platform.
“It’s perfect for topical jokes, reacting to topical news stories. Of course, that does mean you need to be careful not to post something without thinking it through. It’s best to run it through a few filters in your head before you post it,” he advises.
Another factor that contributes to the plethora of jokes on X might be its huge user base. Since there are around 429 million X users worldwide, it’s a great place for comedians or funny people in general to get noticed and shared more. Because the platform’s audience is so wide, it’s also easier for people to find an audience or the type of content they enjoy on X, no matter what they like.
In addition, comedian and comedy coach Manny Garavito mentions X’s algorithm. It learns what type of content the general user tends to interact with and feeds them more of it. This essentially eliminates the search needed to find posts that are enjoyable for people.
Since X posts are limited to 280 characters, we were curious to know if writing short-form jokes is more difficult than longer ones. It turns out it’s not. “Humour works best with fewer words,” says Nicholas. “The best jokes have no fat on them at all. If a word doesn’t add to the setup or the punchline, it should be cut.”
“The real challenge is turning a long joke into a short one without losing the punch—or stretching a short joke into a TED Talk without losing the audience,” says Garavito.
A challenge that writers of short jokes might face is resisting the urge to skip punctuation, says Garavito. Meanwhile, Nicholas adds, “You can’t be rambling when you’ve only got 280 characters to play with, but that’s a good thing. No one has ever said ‘I enjoyed that joke, but just wish it had gone on longer.’”
What can help while writing funny content on X is staying as honest as possible. “The closer a joke is to the truth, the funnier it is,” says Nicholas. “I work a lot with professional speakers on adding laughs to their keynotes and the same rules apply. If you go too far off the track of truth, it becomes unbelievable and not as funny.”
“Spot the trend, call out the obvious, then flip it on its head,” recommends Garavito. “The punchline should feel like the joke will lose you followers and gain you some new ones.”
“A good way of writing jokes for X is to start with some source material and then add your own comment,” adds comedy writing coach and director Chris Head.
“A great way to arrive at topical jokes is to do this with news headlines," he says. Statistics or proverbs can also be great material for a joke. “Find some stats as a starting point for a joke. You could take a surprising attitude to the stat—or deliberately misunderstand what it’s saying. You can also interrupt a well-known saying and change how it finishes, or try looking up inspirational quotes and adding your own afterthought.”
