Injecting light humor into predictable first-impression questions, and preparing for it in advance rather than relying on live improvisation.
The "wit" counterpart to the warmth habits Genuine Compliments (Direct & In Absentia) and Encouraging Listening, following the tone set by Confident Entrance (Body Language & Energy).
One recommended progression separates "having the balls to deliver a line" from "coming up with a line": start with canned lines — borrowed or memorized teases (stock examples, an infield, a "Steal My Lines"-style reference) — so the only skill required at first is delivery, not invention. Graduate to improvised teases once delivering canned material is comfortable.
Once a guy is in a confident, high-value state, he may start spontaneously inventing his own teases; the recommendation is to note these down so they become his own future canned lines rather than relying only on borrowed material — a feedback loop from improvisation back into the prepared-answer toolkit. See Cocky Attitude as a Frame Substitute for Scripted Teasing for the other easy substitute that works without needing prepared content at all, and Teasing Line-Format Toolkit (Exaggeration, Cold Read, Future Projection, Nicknames, Callbacks) for the specific formats worth memorizing first.
Per 4 Jokes That Make Women Notice You (Charisma on Command), the icebreaker-joke format is a direct instance of Prepared Playful ("Home Run") Answers: instead of answering common opener questions ("what do you do," "where are you from") literally, give an obviously untrue or absurd answer first, then circle back to the real one. The stated reason this works: most guys answer literally at this phase, conversation fizzles as a result, and a playful non-answer is "instantly more fun."
Example cited: answering "what do you do" with "I'm a licensed therapist... in my own mind."
Distinguish from Building a Fake World (Absurd Premise Stacking) — icebreaker jokes are typically single-beat non-literal answers to a specific opener question, while building a fake world is the multi-beat escalation of an absurd premise once introduced.