One Funny Line 2025 Day 4: Two Prompt Options

Choose between an age-related joke and a dialogue joke

Welcome to day 4 of the One Funny Line challenge. Friendly reminder that if you have not been receiving emails for the challenge and you 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).

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Welcome to day 4!

Today I have two prompt options for you—if you are having trouble coming up with an idea right away it may be helpful to give it a little time to marinate. Thinking about where I might find the humor in something throughout the day can sometimes help me come up with something later in the day.

And if your week has been busy and you are falling behind on the prompts, you can always come back and catch up later.

Now, onto today’s options…

Option 1: Write an “I am [insert joke] years old” line

I keep a file in my phone’s notes app for when I get ideas for things that might be good for a joke or humor piece. A lot of times they are just random thoughts that feel like they could be something funny.

When it comes time to form them into a joke, it sometimes helps me to put them into an existing joke format. One such format is the “I am [insert joke] years old” line.

You’ve probably seen jokes like this on social media and Janine Annett and Ali Solomon wrote a popular illustrated McSweeney’s piece that turned into a book in this format.

These types of jokes are usually relatable comments on something you currently do at your age. Some things that may help to generate this type of joke:

1. What is something that you used to do that you no longer do?

2. What is something that you used to be able to eat or drink that you no longer can?

3. What is something funny you consumed/watched/did as a kid that others would relate to?

I thought of this joke after realizing my husband and I have a running joke about whether or not we will recognize the host and musical guest on SNL:

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Option 2: Use dialogue as part of a joke

Your second option is to write a funny line (or two) involving dialogue. If this is going to be a standalone joke you may need to write more than one line for context, but if you’ve got a longer work in progress (story, book, screenplay, etc.) you could just try writing one funny line for it.

This could be something made up or something funny your friend/spouse/kid/a stranger in a coffee shop said. It can be something that has stuck in your head or something you just heard today.

Here are some examples of funny lines with dialogue:

kristenmmm

A post shared by @kristenmmm

Another example—there is a grocery store clerk who I have seen frequently at the store for the past 10 years and every time I ask how his day is going he always responds, “Oh you know, it’s just another day.” Every. Single. Time. I could work with that for a dialogue joke.

If you are drawing a blank, maybe just go to a public place and start eavesdropping on people?

And if you aren’t already, definitely start keeping notes of funny things you overhear in a notebook or notes app.

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Once you write at least one line, feel free to comment on this post or in the chat.

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!

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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.