Long Runways Strengthen Abrupt Turns
How leading audiences in one direction for a long, long, long time bolsters the twist.
One of the most common understandings about humor is that there should be a twist or unexpected turn somewhere in the joke.
An effective way to do that is to provide readers or viewers with a very, very long runway heading in an expected direction only to divert them at the last second. Additionally, comics can use well-established cultural understanding…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Humor Review to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.