A priest, a minister, and a rabbi walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, “What is this, a joke?”
– ChatGPT’s attempt at writing humor.
Does artificial intelligence have a sense of humor? Can ChatGPT change a writer’s process? Particularly humor writing? To the uninitiated, ChatGPT somehow “sterilizes” humor writing. That it’s incapable of understanding and creating entertaining humor. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Whether it’s written by a gifted comedy writer or ChatGPT, creating great humor requires mastery of at least three key elements: Irony, Absurdity, and Wordplay. Elements that ChatGPT can’t appreciate…yet. Situations, where the outcome is unexpected or surprising, and can lead to laughter, like laughing at someone wrestling with their umbrella in the rain.
In his article, Can ChatGPT Be Funny? Business Insider writer, Jeff Cardello writes, “ChatGPT has been trained on basically the entirety of the internet, so it can—in theory—make jokes that will appeal to anyone. But it’s only as good as the prompts you put into it.” And that’s where the rubber meets the road. At the time of this writing, it still takes a human being to recognize the humor in day-to-day events. In other words, “someone still has to drive the bus.”
Driving the bus means creating high-quality ChatGPT prompts. Prompts that require writers with analytic minds, and verbose vocabularies, to patiently “coax” prompts into delivering entertaining results time and time again. Unlike a humor piece that remains static forever on the pages of a magazine, ChatGPT prompts constantly tweak the outcome of your writing. You can run the same prompt 100 times, and receive 100 slightly different outcomes. Which can be entertaining and frustrating at the same time.
Last week I read a post on social media that had something to do with “Seven Questions to Ask Yourself to Make the Most of Each Day.” While it was designed to be a self-help post, it immediately triggered my comedic imagination. What if I turned the subject on its head and asked, “What’s the Least I Can Do Today?” Sort of a “reverse Anthony Robbins motivational pitch.”
Below is an AI-generated article that I wrote using a ChatGPT prompt using multiple, concise prompts, with the help of some Python coding. The prompt is seven pages and 1,628 words, so I’m attaching this link to the PDF of the entire prompt. Interestingly, the resulting article is only 452 words.
Your prompts don’t have to be that involved, but I wanted a prompt that would repeatedly combine disparate elements of the name of a well-known personality, their awful job description, and three ridiculous questions that would be different every time you run the script. Here we go…
The Art of Minimalism
What’s the Least I Can Do Today?
Hello, everyone! It’s me, Dr. Zaphod Zinglemeyer, your beloved TV star and psychological therapist extraordinaire. Welcome to another episode of The Weekly Whine, the show where people from across the nation call in to share their woes and ask me for advice. I know, I can’t believe it either. Alright, let’s jump right into the pit of despair. Who’s our lucky caller today?
Ah, it’s Paris Hilton. “What do you do, Paris? Tell us a little about yourself.”
“Well, I work as a hazardous material suit tester at Mirthless Mountain Co. Every day, I suit up to face the most toxic and dangerous substances you can imagine. It’s a glamorous life of constant danger and zero glamor.”
Wonderful! So, Paris, are you ready to ask your questions?
“Yes, I am. Here’s my first question: ‘What’s the least I can get away with doing today?'”
Ah, Paris, aiming low as always. The least you can do is exactly what you’re doing now – breathing. It’s super low effort and keeps you alive. It’s a win-win!
“Okay, next question: ‘Why should I bother reflecting on the day?'”
Why indeed? Reflecting on the day is like watching re-runs of a bad sitcom. You already know the plot, the characters are disappointing, and the ending is always the same. So, save yourself the trouble and just assume it was all a bust.
“And my last question: ‘Why should I be empathetic and understanding today?'”
Empathy? Understanding? In your line of work? Paris, that’s like bringing a pillow to a sword fight. The only thing you need to understand is which hazardous material is about to turn your suit into Silly Putty. Empathy is overrated when you’re trying not to dissolve.
“Well, look at the clock! We’re all out of time for this week’s show. I want to thank you for tuning in to another inspiring episode of The Weekly Whine. Today, our callers, like Paris here, have once again shown that no matter what life throws at us, things can always get worse. We hope our callers’ complaints have inspired you to get away with as little as humanly possible, as much as they’ve inspired me.
Remember, every obstacle is an opportunity to whine, fabricate ridiculous excuses, and accomplish nothing. In the end, it will make you more offensive to people and they’ll want to steer clear of you. Keep tripping over your life hurdles, and join us next time here at The Weekly Whine, for more thrilling challenges and depressing failures.
Stay whiney, stay negative, and keep complaining!
- 195 ChatGPT Prompts & How to Write Your Own – This article by Semrush covers a comprehensive list of 195 ChatGPT prompts, providing insights on how to craft your own effective prompts 1.
- How to Write Better ChatGPT Prompts for the Best Results – ZDNet’s article gives tips on improving ChatGPT prompts to get the best responses, based on a series of questions and responses 2.
- How To Write ChatGPT Prompts: Your 2024 Guide – Coursera provides a guide specifically tailored to 2024, offering advanced strategies for creating effective ChatGPT prompts 3.
- Awesome ChatGPT Prompts – This GitHub repository showcases various prompts for ChatGPT, including a task to create an article outline using specific keywords 4.
- How To Write Effective Prompts For ChatGPT: 7 Essential Steps for Best Results – Forbes offers a detailed guide featuring seven essential steps to write effective prompts for ChatGPT 6
