Humorous writing usually plays against the reader’s expectations. Often, a humorist will start with a cliché or a commonly held belief, leading the reader down a familiar road, before shifting in a surprising new direction. In comedic terms, this is called a set-up.

Take, for example, Brian White’s humorous essay, “An Answer to Stress,” in which the author depicts a universal experience — a stressful morning —  before offering an outlandish solution to life’s woes: food! See how Brian sets up the reader’s expectations in this introductory paragraph before playing against them.

Excerpt:
“Perhaps you've had a few days like this. It is 8:00 a.m. Monday morning. You are at home. You look at your watch and see that you are running more than a few minutes late for school. You hop into the car and in a mad rush, push your foot too hard on the accelerator and before you know it, there are flashing lights in your rearview mirror. After your encounter with the officer, you finally arrive late to school and find that your favorite parking spot has been taken, so you have to drive around the block and park across the street. You enter the school, walk up to your classroom, and turn on your computer. You open up the file that you need for that day. To your amazement, there is nothing under the file name. It's just not there! You search all folders and finally, you have to accept the fact that your work is lost. How will you hand in your term paper that is due today? You don't even want to imagine what your teacher will say. The day has barely started and it’s already a disaster. What could possibly help? There is an answer to life’s challenges, difficulties and stressful situations. It’s food!”

Read Brian White’s “An Answer to Stress.”

Another good example of writing against expectations comes to us from Ben Schwartz, in his award-winning story, “How I Scammed the Tooth Fairy (or tried to).” See how Ben sets up the common convention of the Tooth Fairy and quickly exposes its absurdity.

Excerpt:
“Upon the loss of my first incisor and, coincidentally, the day after my fourth birthday, I began, or so I am told, a quiet obsession with the institution formally known as the tooth fairy. Following the advice of my older brother and sister, I warily inserted the wrapped tooth underneath my bed pillow and unsuccessfully tried to thwart the pixie’s efforts by refusing to shut off my lights or go to sleep, refusal met with marked opposition from my mother and father. I awoke the next morning to the horror of discovering that indeed this fairy had gained access to the very place where I slept and exchanged the cusp for currency which, at the time, had no value to me. Deeply disturbed, I recommended to my parents we install a security system of some sort, but more importantly, I began habitually sleeping underneath my bedcovers with an arsenal of stuffed animals to ward off any other impending magical beings. With the loss of more teeth came increasingly complex machinations to stymie the sprite’s intrusion, including sibling patrols and K'NEX security systems, both of which the cunning fairy managed to elude.”

Read Ben Schwartz’s “How I Scammed the Tooth Fairy (or tried to).”

	Your Turn Draft a humorous story or personal essay that sets up the reader’s expectations — with a common cliché or convention — before shifting in a surprising, unexpected direction/