some versions of it do not include a rimshot in the technical sense. A rimshot when used to accent the punchline of a joke being told by a live comedian may or may not simultaneously be played with a small cymbal crash. This was popularized in standup comedy by comedians performing at the resorts in the Catskill Mountains region. Many of these comics were of Jewish heritage and were known as "Borscht Belt comics", after a vacation spot in the Catskills. The best illustration of how a rimshot might be applied to a comedy routine is to look at the classic style of Henny Youngman who in addition to playing a violin would tell fast-paced, one-liner type of jokes. His most famous line was "Take my wife… please!"; after he said "please", it was the drummer's duty to play a rimshot to punctuate the humor and generate laughter from the audience. Sometimes, the comedian would react to the rimshot as if he did not expect it and in doing so, pass the reaction and responsibility for the rimshot on to the drummer. When in fact, the comedian had previously instructed the drummer when to use and when not to use the rimshot. There was really nothing surprising about the use of the rimshot because they were scripted into the routine by the comedian, but were designed to appear to be improvised by the drummer. And when the comedian jumped, or blinked or otherwise physically acted as if he was hit with a "slap" it would generally heighten the audience's response. The cymbal and rimshot together, or the rimshot followed immediately by the cymbal crash all worked together to maximize the reaction to the joke. References Drum strokes Percussion performance techniques