Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

By Dan Friedman January 18, 2017

We know that Louis CK is very funny, with a scathing take on contemporary society. But Nerdwriter1’s seven minute YouTube analysis explains that CK’s technique has three major pillars.

First. However spontaneous he sounds, CK has meticulously planned every word. As a matter of survival, comedians need clear premises. If the audience doesn’t know what comedians are talking about, it isn’t going to laugh at the punchline.

Second. CK uses every word. Punchlines are the biggest surprises, but there are laughs in, for example, judicious use of over-dramatic adjectives in the premise. His 6-year-old daughter will lose at monopoly. But saying she will “inevitably” lose “every” game is as clear — and funnier.

Third. CK stays in the moment, as taught him by Sir Jerry Seinfeld. If the audience is enjoying his anger, he stays angry. If they are enjoying his sadness, he stays sad. If they are enjoying his malevolent paternal glee at crushing his daughter in Monopoly, he stays malevolently paternally gleeful.

Dan Friedman is the executive editor and comedy correspondent for the Forward. Follow him on Twitter, @danfriedmanme

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a matched gift today.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT