Comedy Writing Tip #5: The Art of Stealing Jokes (From Yourself)

Repeat after me: "Good comedians create, great comedians steal... from themselves." Here's how to ethically rob your own material blind: 1) **The Remix Rule** - Take that 2017 joke about Tinder and update it to: "Dating apps now have AI filters... which explains why my matches all look like they were drawn by a drunk Roomba." 2) **Location, Location, Location** - That bit about your mom that killed in Milwaukee? Just replace "Milwaukee" with [current city] and suddenly it's fresh. 3) **The Callback Factory** - Turn one good joke into three by referencing it later: "Remember when I said I was bad at relationships? Well..." 4) **Seasonal Updates** - Your "terrible Christmas gifts" bit works for every holiday if you try hard enough. 5) **The Frankenstein** - Combine two mediocre jokes to make one okay joke. Pro Tip: Always claim you're "workshopping" old material when recycling. On-Stage Line: "I'm testing some new material tonight... and by new I mean I changed one word from my 2019 special." SOURCE: https://bit.ly/4kdwKCY