Special Delivery! Tips for Improving Your Humor
By Tom Antion
Delivering humorous speeches involves a lot more than simply
having good material. Take some time to incorporate these tips
into your presentations and watch the fun and laughter factors
rise.
In Fun
Sigmund Freud wrote: "The most favorable condition for comic
pleasure is a generally happy disposition in which one is in the
mood for laughter."
This concept is called "in fun." If you want your audience to
laugh, they must be in fun. You, the speaker, must be in fun.
The emcee or program coordinator must be in fun. The whole
program should be designed in fun. Do anything you can to be
sure your audience knows that it's OK to laugh.
Time Of Day
The first speaker of the day for an early morning program should
not expect hearty laughter. People are not conditioned to laugh
a great deal in the early morning. Many won't even be awake yet.
Use more information and less humor. It's important for you to
know when not to expect hearty laughter. It would be a waste of
time to use your best material at a time when laughter normally
wouldn't be expected. The poor response also brings your energy
level down. Many consider brunch and lunch to be the best times
of day to expect a responsive audience. In the afternoon people
are starting to get tired so don't expect laughter to be as
intense.
Male/Female Makeup of Audience
All-female audiences tend to laugh more easily and louder than
all-male audiences. Audiences that consist of more than 50
percent women are good too. The presence of the females provides
a good buffer and makes it OK for the "big-ego" men to laugh.
Size
No, I'm not talking about how much you weigh today. I'm saying
that the size of your audience has a direct effect on the types
of humor which are most appropriate. Members of small business
groups tend to be too self-conscious to laugh much. Use short
one-liners. Don't use any long stories or jokes. In larger
groups it's OK to stretch to jokes and short stories.
Pre-Program Research
The more you know about your audience, the better able you will
be to pick the humor that will get the greatest response. Your
research before the program will also allow you to uncover the
group's inside humor.
Seating
The best seating arrangement for laughter is semicircular
theater style. When audience members are seated close together
on a curve, they can look to their left or right and see the
faces of each person in the row. This togetherness allows
laughter to pass immediately from one person to the other.
Contact NSA member and seating expert Paul Radde for advanced
seating information.
Choose Funnier Words
Your word choice can be the key to creating a successful witty
line or a dud. In particular, words with the "K" sound in them
are funny. Cucumber is funnier than mushroom. Cupcake is funnier
than pastry. Turkey is a funnier word than loser.
Deliver The Punch
Some humorists will disagree, but I say deliver your punch line
to one person and make sure that person is going to laugh. You
must punch the line out a little harder and with a slightly
different voice than the rest of the joke. Lean into the
microphone and say it louder and more clearly than you said the
setup lines. If the audience does not hear the punch line, they
aren't going to laugh.
Deliver the punch line to a person you know will laugh, so that
others will be positively influenced to laugh. How do you know
if a person will laugh or not? Pay attention to those who have
been laughing, those nodding their heads in agreement with you
during the program, and those you identified before the program.
Pause
Pausing just before and just after your punch line gives the
audience a chance to "get" the humor and laugh. Absolutely do
not continue to talk when laughter is expected. If you do, you
will "step on" your laughter and squelch it quickly.
Make It Relevant
If you make all your attempts at humor relevant to your
presentation, you get an automatic excuse from your mother if
your humor is not all that funny. If your humor is received as
funny, so much the better; but if it isn't, at least you made
your point. Audiences will be much more tolerant if the humor
ties into the subject at hand. Use this formula:
A. Make your point.
B. Illustrate your point with something funny.
C. Restate your point.
Vary The Types
The above formula would get boring and redundant rather quickly
if you used the exact same type of humor every time for part B.
By varying the type of humor in B, you can go on virtually
forever, and no one will recognize that you are using a formula.
I have identified more than 34 different types of humor to plug
into the formula. You could use one liners, jokes, humorous
props, funny stories, magic, cartoons or other funny visuals.
Rule Of Three
One of the most pervasive principles in the construction of
humorous situations is the "Rule of Three." You will see it used
over and over because it's simple, it's powerful, and it works.
(See, I just used it there in a non-funny situation.) Most of
the time in humor the Rule of Three is used in the following
fashion: The first comment names the topic, the second sets a
pattern, and the third unexpectedly switches the pattern, making
it funny. Here's an example from a brochure advertising my
seminars:
In the "How to Get There" section
From Washington, D.C., take Route 50.
From Baltimore, Md., take Route 95.
From Bangkok, Thailand, board Thai Airways.
Look Funnier
I have been accused of being too "corporate-looking¨ to be
funny. When I'm being funny, I use facial expressions, odd body
angles and bizarre comments and props to make up for my "normal"
look. Those of you that have obvious physical characteristics
that can be used in teasing yourself have an advantage. People
love characters who are not afraid of teasing themselves. You
can enhance the funny look with fun patterns and colors on ties
and dresses, hats and funny glasses.
Bombproof Your Talks
Are you afraid of bombing when you get up in front of a group?
You don't have to be. With proper material selection, a few
prepared comments in case of unexpected problems and attention
to time, worries about bombing can be virtually eliminated. As
in tip above, make sure your material is relevant to your topic,
and keep it short. The longer a piece of humor is, the funnier
it better be.
A. Saver Lines
Saver Lines are what you say when your supposedly humorous
statement does not get a laugh. You shouldn't be ashamed to use
saver lines. The top comedians in the world need them and some
purposely make mistakes so they can get a laugh from the saver
line. Johnny Carson was an expert at this. After a poor response
to a joke, he would say a comically insulting line like, "This
is the kind of crowd that would watch Bambi through a sniper
scope." Don't overdo the saver lines. If you have to use too
many, your material must be pretty bad.
B. Pre-Planned Ad-Libs
Another way to keep from bombing is to "expect the unexpected."
Canned or pre-planned ad-libs are pre-written responses to
unexpected happenings or mistakes that occur during a
presentation, i.e., the microphone squeals, the projection bulb
burns out, you say the wrong thing, etc. Prepared ad-libs
actually do more than just save you. They make you look
tremendously polished. Here's the continuum: A bad presenter
will stammer around when a problem occurs. A ZZZZZs presenter
will say nothing and try to ignore the problem. A great Wake 'em
Up presenter will make a witty comment that appears to be
spontaneous. The audience believes you are originating humor on
the spot. You are just quickly recalling pre-planned responses.
Microphone Squeals
This is the portion of my presentation where I do my elephant
impression.
Projector Light Burns Out
This is the first time I have been brighter than my equipment.
Highlighter Runs Out Of Ink
I'm out of ink. I'll be back in a
wink. (remember . . . "k" words are funny)
Think Diversity
Our audiences are more ethnically diverse than ever before, so
it's crucial to watch your political correctness and eliminate
sexist language from your presentation. Not only is it easy to
offend, which will turn your audience off completely, easily
understandable word choice is more critical than ever to ensure
that your audience members "get" the humor. When speaking across
cultural lines, especially, visual humor such as magic, cartoons
and comic strips are the most readily understood.
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