Timing & rates
Laughs per minute = laughs ÷ minutes. Words = speed × minutes. Percent = part ÷ total × 100. Counting: one from each group means multiply. Change minutes to seconds before you divide.
The median is the middle value once the numbers are in order; an outlier pulls the mean but barely moves the median. Break-even = costs ÷ ticket price, rounded up.
One step
Timing, rates and percents.Timing
A joke has an 11-second set-up, a 2-second beat and a 3-second punchline. How long is it? How many fit in a 4-minute set with no laughs (p.8)?
Laughs per minute
A comedian gets 21 laughs in a 3½-minute set. What is the rate in laughs per minute?
Word count
You plan to speak at 135 words a minute. About how many words fit in a 4-minute set?
Joke test
You tell a new clean joke to 40 people and 26 laugh. What percent laughed?
Two or three steps
Say what each number is “per” or “of”.Rule of three
You have 7 normal items and 5 surprise endings. How many different lists (normal, different normal, surprise) can you make? What fraction of them end with one particular surprise?
Laugh data
Seven laughs lasted 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 19 seconds. Find the mean and median. Then leave out the 19 and find both again. Which changed more?
Sitcom
A sitcom runs 22 minutes in a 30-minute slot. What percent of the slot is ads and breaks, to the nearest percent? How many hours of show are in a 20-episode season?
Frames
Film runs at 24 frames a second (Lens 4). How many frames is a 1½-second pause? An editor trims 6 frames: how long is the pause now?
Improv jar
Jars hold 8 characters, 6 places and 5 problems. How many scenes are possible? How many more if you add one place?
Show budget
A made-up comedy night has 80 seats at $7. Costs are $245. What is the profit for a full room? What is the break-even number of tickets?
Equations
A1–A2 (pp.17–18).Solve for tickets
A made-up show’s profit is P = 8t − 200. How many tickets make a $360 profit? Solve 8t − 200 = 360.
Two venues
Venue A costs 150 + 3t; Venue B costs 60 + 5t, for t tickets. When are they equal, and at what cost?
Script length
A script has a 20-word intro plus 140 words for every minute of jokes. Solve 140m + 20 = 510 for the minutes of jokes.
Stage
A made-up stage is 3 m longer than it is deep, with an area of 40 m². Solve w(w + 3) = 40.
Your turn to be the comedy writer
- Pick a number from the book: a beat, a laugh rate, a word count or a ticket price.
- Write a question that uses it with a made-up, clean set or show.
- Solve it, and say what you’d check with a real audience.
My problem, and my worked answer:
Try every problem first, then check here. Wrong answers are useful: find the step where your work and the key split apart.
The key never prints with Print my work or Print blank. Open it to get its own Print the answer key button.
Answer key
Worked solutions. Sets, shows, venues and prices are made-up examples unless the book cites them.