# "There are exactly 5 different ways to tell a stand-up joke" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [November 14, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911 "2022-11-14T21:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/1 "2022-11-14T21:15:42Z")
I heard a stand-up comedian on a podcast claim that pretty much all jokes can be summed up into 5 different categories but only those 5. He wound up only saying 2 before he got distracted but was curious if this is actually true both in terms of stand-up comedy and if this is what stand-up comedians are “taught”. He claimed the five different ways were 1. Exaggeration 2. Absurdity 3. False-lead ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/2 "2022-11-14T21:22:15Z")
There are three types of people in this world - those who understand math and those who don’t. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/3 "2022-11-14T21:36:22Z")
There are 10 types of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don’t. Try the veal! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/4 "2022-11-14T21:37:28Z")
I’m not sure if our OP @Asuka is the whoosher or the whooshee here. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/5 "2022-11-14T21:48:19Z")
The founder of The Onion puts the number at 11. > **[Every Joke Falls in One of 11 Categories, Says Founding Editor of The Onion](https://bigthink.com/high-culture/every-joke-falls-in-one-of-these-11-categories-according-to-the-founder-of-the-onion/)** > > The Onion founding editor Scott Dikkers says every joke can be categorized in one of 11 "funny filters." ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/6 "2022-11-14T21:58:25Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Try the veal! 😉 I had the veal picatta last week. Awesome! ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/7 "2022-11-14T22:03:23Z")
One… two… five! Three sir! Three! ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/8 "2022-11-14T22:38:27Z")
He said he was going to name all 5 but only said 3 before somebody in his podcast live chat distracted him, he wasn’t doing a bit and am curious what all 5 are. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/9 "2022-11-14T23:15:13Z")
I’m still waiting for someone to tell me how to keep an idiot in suspense. Surely they can tell me by now. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/10 "2022-11-15T00:04:56Z")
There are two types of people in the world. Those who put everything into a category and those who don’t. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/11 "2022-11-15T00:12:46Z")
Noooooo! There are two types of people in the world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/12 "2022-11-15T00:55:29Z")
To steal from Will Rogers: > [@](#): > > “There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/13 "2022-11-15T01:17:31Z")
Since stand-up comedy is a performing art, let’s move this to Cafe Society (from FQ). ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2022, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/14 "2022-11-27T04:59:13Z")
I’ve seen numerous articles saying that there are only X types of jokes. Each article had a different number. The breakdown I like best is these three. 1. That’s right. 2. That’s wrong. 3. That’s silly. I was going to give examples, but upon further thought, I decided that they are self-explanatory. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2022, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/15 "2022-11-27T05:01:14Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > There are two types of people in the world. Those who put everything into a category and those who don’t. There are 2 types of people in the world. Those who divide people into 2 categories and those who don’t. -Robert Benchley ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2022, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-exactly-5-different-ways-to-tell-a-stand-up-joke/974911/16 "2022-11-27T23:18:16Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I heard a stand-up comedian on a podcast claim that pretty much all jokes can be summed up into 5 different categories…. I have read many articles or books claiming that all jokes can be divided into X categories. Each source had a different number. To me, that suggests that any attempt to reduce all jokes to a small set of categories is futile. For example, in the book _How to Kill in Comedy,_ Steve North (The Comedy Coach) gives a whopping **20** , which he calls Formulas (I would say writing techniques). I will not list them.