Comedy Writing Tip #25: How to Write Callbacks That Make You Look Like a Genius

Callbacks are comedy's magic trick - here's how to pull them off: 1) **The Classic Return** - "Remember when I said I was bad at dating? Well..." 2) **The Reverse Setup** - Drop a mysterious reference early, explain it later. 3) **The Running Gag** - "This is callback #3 about my ex... which is still fewer times than she's called me this month." 4) **The Audience Plant** - Reference something from earlier crowd work like it was planned. 5) **The Meta Callback** - "This callback would work better if you'd laughed at the original joke." Pro Tip: The best callbacks make the audience feel smart for remembering. On-Stage Line: "They say comedy is about timing... which explains why all my exes left at exactly the wrong moment." SOURCE: http://comedywriter.info