Below are eight of the most common kinds of joke in English. Why not try to write your own jokes using these models?
pun with homonym
Q: Why couldn’t the elephant go on holiday?
A: Because it was impossible to pack his trunk.
pun with homophone
Q: Why did the tennis equipment factory have to close down?
A: Because they kept making a racket.
pun based on an idiom
A: Look – that guard outside Buckingham Palace has just removed his bearskin.
B: I bet that’s a weight off his mind.
mixed match
Q: What do you get when you cross an unsolicited message with tinned meat?
A: A spam email.
riddle (logic)
Q: What weighs both 8.75 g and 454 g?
A: A pound.
comparison
Q: What is the difference between a nag that delivers letters and a man with a sore throat?
A: One is a mail horse and the other is a hoarsemale.
reverse expectations
I woke up, had a wash, got dressed, had breakfast, and brushed my teeth. Then I got off the bus.
knock knock
A: Knock, knock.
B: Who’s there?
A: Wa.
B: Wa who?
A: No need to be so enthusiastic!
Material for further discussion:
What is humour?
For example:
Surprising juxtapositions:
“Humour is evoked when a trigger contained in the punchline causes the audience to abruptly shift its understanding of the story from the primary (or more obvious) interpretation to a secondary, opposing interpretation.”