Jokeasy: Exploring Human-AI Collaboration in Thematic Joke Generation

TL;DR

Jokeasy is a novel interactive system that enhances human-AI collaboration in thematic joke creation by integrating web content retrieval, visual organization, and multi-stage editing, supporting creative control and ideation.

Contribution

This work introduces Jokeasy, a search-enabled, visual, multi-stage joke writing system that improves human-AI collaboration and author agency in thematic joke generation.

Findings

Web content integration enriches joke ideation.

Participants valued real-time web material for creativity.

Identified needs for better search control and interface improvements.

Abstract

Thematic jokes are central to stand-up comedy, sitcoms, and public speaking, where contexts and punchlines rely on fresh material - news, anecdotes, and cultural references that resonate with the audience. Recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) have enabled interactive joke generation through conversational interfaces. Although LLMs enable interactive joke generation, ordinary conversational interfaces seldom give creators enough agency, control, or timely access to such source material for constructing context and punchlines. We designed Jokeasy, a search-enabled prototype system that integrates a dual-role LLM agent acting as both a material scout and a prototype writer to support human-AI collaboration in thematic joke writing. Jokeasy provides a visual canvas in which retrieved web content is organized into editable inspiration blocks and developed through a multistage workflow. A qualitative study with 13 hobbyists and 5 expert participants (including professional comedians and HCI/AI specialists) showed that weaving real-time web material into this structured workflow enriches ideation and preserves author agency, while also revealing needs for finer search control, tighter chat-canvas integration, and more flexible visual editing. These insights refine our understanding of AI-assisted humour writing and guide future creative-writing tools.