One Funny Line 2025 Day 2: A Wordplay Prompt
Practice some wordplay with familiar phrases
Welcome to day 2 of the One Funny Line challenge. Friendly reminder: if you have not received emails for the challenge and want to, you might need to turn on notifications for the humor challenge section (click the button under “Notifications” next to the humor challenge section here).
For today’s prompt, I want you to take an existing phrase or sentence (like a common saying or something from a movie, book, or song) and turn it into a funny line.
This type of funny line has the satisfying mashup of something familiar with something unexpected.
Here are some examples that riff on familiar phrases:
And some that use songs as a starting point for a joke:
To come up with jokes in this format, you might:
Think about song lyrics that are funny or don’t make sense.
Look at your bookshelf and see if any book titles are a good jumping-off point for a joke. (I know I’ve seen a joke riffing on Interview with a Vampire, but am now having trouble locating it!).
Think about (or search for a list of) common idioms and see if any of those give you ideas for a funny line.
Once you write at least one line, feel free to comment on this post or in the chat to tell us how it went or share your funny line. It’s okay to post more than one line too.
Please just keep any comments/jokes shared in the comments or the Humor Me chat appropriate for the general audience doing the challenge. I reserve the right to delete anything offensive or skeevy.
Otherwise, have fun!
Thanks for reading Humor Me, a newsletter featuring funny stuff and writing tips. In case you’re new here — I’m a humor writer and freelancer whose work has appeared in New Yorker Shouts, McSweeney’s, Real Simple, and more. I’m the author of a humorous advice book for introverted parents that would make a great gift for the new or expecting parent in your life. Find out more about me at julievick.com.
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