Good news, roofers!
You’re WAY funnier than ChatGPT.
AI is everywhere these days. AI images clog up your social media feed. Remember that Shrimp Jesus image from a few months back? That’s an AI classic. And LinkedIn is full of comments copy and pasted straight from ChatGPT.
But AI isn’t all bad. It’s all about who’s steering the ship. Give the right prompts and you should get gold, right?
Well, we’re putting AI to the test here at ProLine. We’re going to see if ChatGPT can come up with the funniest roofing joke of all time. It’s a tall order. And it will almost certainly fail. But hey, why not see if you can learn something about how you can use AI for your business?
The First Attempt
The direct approach is the best approach, right? So we went straight for the throat. Here’s the prompt…
Prompt: Hey chat! Come up with the funniest knee slapping roofing joke of all time!
ChatGPT: Why did the roofer go to therapy? Because he was feeling a bit shingle-minded and couldn’t shake off his tile-anxiety!
Har har… does this joke even make sense? The shingle-minded bit checks out. But tile-anxiety? Is that a real condition?
This is going to be an uphill battle. Let’s try again!
Prompt: Dang, that sucked! Try again.
ChatGPT: Why did the roofer bring a ladder to the bar? Because he heard the drinks were on the house!
Okay, that’s a little better! Only one problem. It’s not original. In fact, it’s a time-honored dad-joke and roofer joke. And that’s not what we’re going for! It’s got to come up with something original.
But here’s the catch…
How ChatGPT actually works.
ChatGPT is a Large Language Model (LLM). It reads a bunch of stuff, looks for patterns, and then imitates those patterns. Obviously, LLMs are more complicated than that. But for most people, that’s what you need to know.
So instead of coming up with a new joke, ChatGPT imitates what’s already out there. Strange to believe, but ChatGPT has never climbed on a roof. It’s never talked to a roofer. It has no experience to draw from. So it just reads a bunch of webpages and imitates what it finds.
But there’s got to be a way around this! The prompts got to get an upgrade if ChatGPT’s going to come up with the funniest roofing joke of all time.
Getting Creative
We know ChatGPT copies patterns. So let’s feed it some new ones. If we want fresh jokes, we need fresh material.
Prompt: Imagine you’re a roofer at a comedy club. Give us a joke that will make the audience roll on the floor!
ChatGPT: Why don’t roofers play hide and seek? Because good luck hiding when you’re always on top of things!
Uhh… Well, it’s a joke. And it’s not original. And you’d definitely get boo’ed if you pulled that one out on stage.
Let’s try another prompt…
Prompt: Combine roofing with a popular movie plot and make it funny!
ChatGPT: Why did the roofer audition for a role in Titanic? Because he knew how to handle all the leaks!
Okay, that’s a new one! Searching for the punchline didn’t bring up any results, so it’s probably original. It’s just not very funny.
Let’s go back to drawing bored. What actually makes a joke funny?
Anatomy of a Joke
Scientists have been studying humor for years. And yet they still don’t know what makes a joke funny. But if you listen to your favorite stand-up comedians, you’ll notice some common threads…
- Surprise! Why did the roofer cross the road? To get to the other side! Not very funny, right? That’s because it’s obvious. There’s no surprise at the end. Your brain hears and thinks, “Yeah, no duh!”
- Sense. Why did the roofer cross the road? To escape the aliens throwing daggers at him! Again, unfunny. There’s no payoff because it’s nonsense.
- Embarrassment. You can fill in the blanks here. There’s something hilarious about embarrassing situations, especially if they happen to someone else!
- Superiority. Jokes that make you feel better than other people? Pure gold. Especially if you feel like other person needs to get taken down a peg.
Now, can we plug these components into a ChatGPT prompt that actually makes a good roofing joke? Let’s try it again and see what happens…
The Second Attempt
For the second attempt, ChatGPT got the four points above. Before that, the prompt read…
Prompt: Okay, chat, come up with a completely, 100% original joke. Use these components to create your joke…
The results?
ChatGPT: Why did the roofer cross the road?
To escape the homeowner who finally found out he was using duct tape instead of shingles!
Surprise! You thought it was a normal roofer. Sense! Because who wants to deal with an angry homeowner? Embarrassment! Caught in the act. Superiority! Because we all know we wouldn’t make such a rookie mistake.
Man, that might be the worst joke yet. Let’s give it one more try…
ChatGPT: Why did the roofer cross the road?
Because he saw the homeowner on the other side holding up a shingle that said, “Is this your hammer?”
Surprise! You expect something ordinary. Sense! He needs his hammer to work. Embarrassment! Forgetting your tools is rookie behavior. Superiority! You’d never leave your tools behind.
Okay, this is going nowhere. Are the jokes original? Sure. Are they funny? Nope. Imagine hitting one of your roofing buddies with one of those. They’d look at you like you’re a moron.
Back to the drawing board.
How to Come Up With a Great ChatGPT Prompt
As already said, the quality of your prompt decides the quality of your output. So if you want a great ChatGPT joke, you’ve got to give it more than a few rules. You’ve got to throw the whole kitchen sink at it.
So after about 5 minutes of research and watching this YouTube video, here are a few things to add to the prompt…
- Role. We’re going to ask ChatGPT to pretend to be a seasoned roofer who knows the industry like the back of his hand.
- Action. We’re going to ask ChatGPT to come up with a knock-knock joke. Nothing crazy or outside the box. Just something simple that works.
- Context. We’ll tell chat to pretend their in a truck with their buddies and there’s a lull in conversation. Spring this joke on the guy next to you!
- Give examples. We’ll give it this incredibly tasteful joke: “Hot Shingles in your area looking to get nailed.”
- Constraints. We’ll tell ChatGPT to write knock-knock jokes with surprise, sense, embarrassment, and superiority.
Alright, let’s see what we get!
The Third Attempt
Prompt: Hey ChatGPT, I need you to come up with the funniest knock-knock joke of all time. Here’s what I need:
Role: Pretend you’re a seasoned roofer who knows the industry like the back of your hand.
Action: Create a knock-knock joke. Keep it simple and effective.
Context: Imagine you’re in a truck with your buddies during a lull in conversation. Spring this joke on the guy next to you.
Elements to Include:
Surprise: The punchline should be unexpected.
Sense: The joke should make logical sense.
Embarrassment: Include an element that makes the listener feel a bit embarrassed.
Superiority: The joke should make the teller feel superior or clever.
Example of a joke: “Hot shingles in your area looking to get nailed.”
Go ahead and craft that perfect knock-knock joke!
ChatGPT
Roofer: Knock, knock.
Buddy: Who’s there?
Roofer: Ice.
Buddy: Ice who?
Roofer: Ice the roofer who fixed your last leak… and you still haven’t paid me!
Welp, that sucked. One last try…
ChatGPT
Roofer: Knock, knock.
Buddy: Who’s there?
Roofer: Roof.
Buddy: Roof who?
Roofer: Roof us down! You’re too heavy for this ladder!
Imagine the laughter from the crew as they all rib your buddy about his weight while you, feeling clever and superior, get a good chuckle at his expense. The unexpected twist and the subtle jab add the perfect mix of surprise, sense, embarrassment, and superiority.
Can you believe that? ChatGPT even threw in a blurb about how funny it is! The gall.
Takeaways
Bottom line: AI might get a giggle, but it’ll never steal your comedic thunder. For creating fun and exciting content, it’s the punchline, not the comedian. Does that mean it’s useless? No. It can still help you out a few ways..
- Content Creation. Let AI outline and draft your blogs, social media posts, and marketing blurbs. It’s like having a super-speedy intern who never complains about overtime. Just make sure you edit it for accuracy and quality control
- Customer Service. Deploy AI chatbots to answer those “How much for a new roof?” questions at 2 AM. Your team can then focus on more complex queries and saving the world, one roof at a time.
- Data Analysis. AI’s got the brains to crunch numbers, analyze customer behavior, and spot trends that you might miss. It’s a far better pencil pusher than Creative.
Refining AI Prompts for Better Results
It’s true that prompts make all the difference.
- Be Specific. Tell AI exactly what you want – the who, what, where, and why.
- Provide Examples. Give AI some golden nuggets to work from. Feed it your best-performing ads, quotes, and sales letters. Just make sure they’re in a format it can actually read!
- Set Constraints. Lay down the law on what elements to include and exclude. The more constraints, the better the output.
And whatever you do, don’t let ChatGPT write your next roofing stand-up set. You will regret it.
Something you might not regret is booking a demo of ProLine CRM.
It does what technology should focus on. Making your life easier.
Roofers use it to make more sales with less work. Book a demo to see it for yourself!
