Meaning of “Neta(ネタ)”

“Neta(ネタ)” has some meanings.
Origin of “Neta(ネタ)” is “Tane(タネ)” which means seed. So most of meaning of it is related with something we can imagine from “seed”.

1. raw materials or something base
ex1-1: 寿司ネタ(Sushi neta) which means “sushi topping”.

2.something base of story kind of…
ex2-1: 話のネタ(Hanashi no neta) which means “topic to talk about”
ex2-2: ネタバレ(Neta Bare) which means “spoiler”. バレ(Bare) means find out or get caught.
ex2-3: ガセネタ(Gase Neta) which means “fake story”. ガセ(Gase) means fake.
ex2-4: ネタ(Neta) which means joke. *Comedians joke material is also “ネタ(Neta)”
ex2-5: 小ネタ(KoNeta) which means funny topic to talk.

It’s difficult to explain…
But in my image, “neta(ネタ)” just has “something funny image” and “sushi image”. That’s it!!

Example Conversation of comedian

A: I make neta(ネタ), so you just act stupid.
B: Got it!!
A: Let’s win next M-1!!
B: Got it!!

A: ネタ作りは俺がやるから、お前はしっかりボケてくれればいいよ。
B: わかった！
A: 次のM-1で優勝狙おう！
B: Got it!!

*If you want to know about M-1, check this article!!