How to write comedy tags
A tag is a short extra line after the first laugh that keeps pushing the same premise. Write two or three, keep each one shorter than the last, make each add something new, and put the strongest one at the end.
Turn your own story into a bit
Write what happened. Get a bit: hook, setup, tags and button.
What a tag is
A bit has a setup and a punchline. A tag is any line you add after that punchline using the same setup. The audience has already agreed to the premise, so each tag is cheaper to land than the first joke. Good bits are often mostly tags.
How to find them
Go back to the premise and ask what else is true about it. Who else is in the situation? What would happen next? What is the most extreme version? Each answer is a candidate. Write ten, keep the best two or three.
Keep them short
Tags should get shorter as they go. A long tag restarts the setup and costs you the rhythm. If a tag needs explaining, it is a new bit, not a tag.
Do not repeat the shape
If every tag is built the same way, the audience hears the pattern and stops laughing at the content. Change the shape: a question, a comparison, a quiet understatement.
End on the best one
Order tags by strength, weakest first. The last line is what people remember, so make it the strongest, then stop. That closing line is the button.
Let Shutap draft tags
Every bit Shutap writes includes tags. Use them as a starting list, cross out the ones that sound like anyone could have said them, and write your own in their place.
Write your story, get the bit →
Turn your own story into a bit
Write what happened. Get a bit: hook, setup, tags and button.
