Editing Joke (section)

=== Framing: "Have you heard the one…" ===
[[Frame analysis|Framing]] is done with a (frequently formulaic) expression which keys the audience in to expect a joke. "Have you heard the one…", "Reminds me of a joke I heard…", "So, a lawyer and a doctor…"; these conversational markers are just a few examples of linguistic frames used to start a joke. Regardless of the frame used, it creates a social space and clear boundaries around the narrative which follows.{{sfn|Sims|Stephens|2005|p=141}} Audience response to this initial frame can be acknowledgement and anticipation of the joke to follow. It can also be a dismissal, as in "this is no joking matter" or "this is no time for jokes".

The performance frame serves to label joke-telling as a culturally [[marked]] form of communication. Both the performer and audience understand it to be set apart from the "real" world. "An elephant walks into a bar…"; a person sufficiently familiar with both the English language and the way jokes are told automatically understands that such a compressed and formulaic story, being told with no substantiating details, and placing an unlikely combination of characters into an unlikely setting and involving them in an unrealistic plot, is the start of a joke, and the story that follows is not meant to be taken at face value (i.e. it is non-bona-fide communication).{{sfn|Raskin|1992}} The framing itself invokes a play mode; if the audience is unable or unwilling to move into play, then nothing will seem funny.{{sfnm |1a1=Ellis |1y=2002 |1p=3 |2a1=Marcus |2y=2001}}