Editing Stand-up comedy (section)

== Comedy set ==
{{main|Theories of humour}}
[[File:Tiffany Haddish at Incirlik (cropped).jpg|alt=Tiffany Haddish, during a performance October 21, 2013, at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. Sponsored by Armed Forces Entertainment to service members overseas.|thumb|175px|[[Tiffany Haddish]] performing in 2013]]

=== Routine ===
Stand-up comedians define their craft through the development of routines, which they construct and refine with jokes and interconnected "bits." These bits form an interwoven narrative, leading to the "closer," the final joke that ties the show's themes together for a satisfying conclusion.

Most jokes are the [[juxtaposition]] of two incongruous things and are made up of the premise, set-up, and [[Punch line|punchline]], often adding a twist, topper, or tagline for an intensified or extra laugh. Delivery relies on the use of intonation, inflection, attitude, and timing as well as other stylistic devices, such as the [[Rule of three (writing)|rule of three]], idioms, archetypes, or wordplay.<ref>{{cite AV media|title=The Art of Stand-Up|people=[[Eddie Izzard]]|medium=TV|language=en|publisher=BBC: One|year=2011|location=United Kingdom|quote=Eddie Izzard states, 'it should be—establish, reaffirm, and then you kill it on the third... you can keep reaffirming before you twist.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Helitzer|first1=Mel|url=https://archive.org/details/comedywritingsec00heli_0/page/63|title=Comedy Writing secrets: the best-selling book on how to think funny, write funny, act funny, and get paid for it|last2=Shatz|first2=Mark|publisher=Writer's Digest Books|year=2005|isbn=978-1-58297-357-9|edition=2nd|location=Cincinnati, Ohio|page=[https://archive.org/details/comedywritingsec00heli_0/page/63 63]}}</ref> Another popular joke structure is the [[paraprosdokian]], a surprising punchline that changes the context or meaning of the setup.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Leighton|first1=H. Vernon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjHNDwAAQBAJ|title=Theology and Geometry: Essays on John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces (Politics, Literature, & Film)|publisher=Lexington Books|year=2020|isbn=978-1-4985-8547-7|editor-last=Marsh|editor-first=Leslie|location=United Kingdom|publication-date=29 January 2020|pages=2–4|chapter=A Theory of Humor (Abridged) and the Comic Mechanisms of John Kennedy Toole's ''A Confederacy of Dunces''|quote=it is useful to examine the famous paraprosdokian, 'I've had a wonderful evening, but this wasn't it.'|access-date=27 March 2020}}</ref>

In order to falsely frame their stories as true or to free themselves of responsibility for breaking social conventions, comedians can use the [[jester's privilege]], which is the right to discuss and mock anything freely without being punished.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Medieval Jesters – And their Parallels in Modern America|url=http://www.historyisnowmagazine.com/blog/2019/1/13/medieval-jesters-and-their-parallels-in-modern-america|access-date=2022-02-18|magazine=History is Now|date=13 January 2019 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>Billington, Sandra. "''A Social History of the Fool''," The Harvester Press, 1984. ISBN 0-7108-0610-8</ref> Social commentators have referred to the concepts of "punching up" and "punching down" in attempting to describe who should be the "butt of the joke". This carries the assumption that, relative to the comedian's own [[Identity politics|socio-political identity]], comedy should "punch up" at the rich and powerful without "punching down" at those who are marginalized and less fortunate.<ref>{{cite book|last=Quirk|first=Sophie|title=The Politics of British Stand-Up Comedy: The New Alternative|date=2018|publisher=palgrave macmillan|isbn=978-3-030-01104-8|series=Palgrave Studies in Comedy|location=London, UK|pages=23, 29|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-01105-5|lccn=2018956867|quote= the comedy of the left 'punches up' at the established authorities of its time, be they governmental, cultural, or artistic. ... a joke is a joke, not a political act, and the ability to say what you like in the context of joking is held sacred.|author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Cohen|first=Sascha|date=2014|title=A Brief History of Punch-Down Comedy|url=http://www.maskmagazine.com/the-joy-issue/life/stand-up-punch-down|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180609071341/http://maskmagazine.com/the-joy-issue/life/stand-up-punch-down|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 9, 2018|access-date=6 February 2019|website=Mask|publisher=Maskmag|quote=George Carlin echoed this sentiment, observing that 'comedy has traditionally picked on people in power.' … '[Chappelle and Gervais] have done daring and subversive work on other topics, like race and religion, respectively, but punching down at an essentially powerless minority group is pure hack.'}}</ref> Many comedians have criticized the cultural rhetoric concerning "punching up" and "punching down", including [[Colin Quinn]], who described the terms as a product of activism and "not created by humorous people."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schwartz|first1=Ben|date=2016|title=Knock Yourselves Out: "Punching up" in American comedy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43958952|journal=The Baffler|volume=31|issue=31 |pages=134–136|jstor=43958952 |access-date=2023-08-23}}</ref>

=== Joke theft ===
[[Appropriation (art)|Appropriation]] and [[plagiarism]] are considered "social crimes" by most stand-ups. There have been several high-profile accusations of joke theft, some ending in lawsuits for copyright infringement. Those accused will sometimes claim [[cryptomnesia]] or parallel thinking,<ref>{{cite web|last=Voss|first=Erik|date=4 November 2010|title=Is There Ever a Justification for Joke Stealing?|url=https://www.vulture.com/2010/11/is-there-eve-a-justification-for-joke-stealing.html|access-date=12 March 2019|website=Vulture: Devouring Culture|publisher=New York Media LLC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Borns|first=Betsy|url=https://archive.org/details/comiclivesinside00born|title=Comic Lives: Inside the World of American Stand-up comedy|publisher=Simon & Schuster|others=Abby Stein|year=1987|isbn=0-671-62620-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/comiclivesinside00born/page/n267 242]|quote=[T]here are also cases of simple coincidence and, often in the case of observational material, parallel thinking.|url-access=registration}}</ref> but it is difficult to successfully sue for joke theft regardless due to the [[idea–expression distinction]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bailey|first=Jonathan|date=27 September 2021|title=When Joke Theft Becomes Serious|url=https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2021/09/27/when-joke-theft-becomes-serious/|access-date=4 November 2021|website=Plagiarism today}}</ref>