how to tell a joke - improve your humor skills
TRANSCRIPT
Let’s get funny – develop your humor
With Debbie Iancu-Haddad
READY TO START?
Good news. You can improve your humor and learn to be
funnier All it takes is practice
ARE YOU TOO SERIOUS?
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
Having a sense of humor means possessing the
capacity to see something as funny
Amusement Passive use of humor
Enjoyment
Positive emotional change Laughter
Performance
Active use of humor
Using humor in communication with
others
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
The problem with jokes
Most people experience one of two problems:
Memory Performance
You get lost in the details. You cant remember the important parts of the joke or forget the punchline
You don’t know how to tell the joke. You start laughing during the telling, reveal crucial information too soon and spoil the surprise
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
Solving the problem with jokes
The solution to both problems starts with practice
Memory Performance
1. You more often you repeat a joke the less likely you are to forget it. Tell the joke several times to memorize it. 2. We are going to learn how to simplify the joke so there are less details to remember
Once you practice what works best and have the joke memorized you stop laughing during the telling, build suspense correctly, and learn what details to include for your audience
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
How to make things funnier
When you start speaking, people start to anticipate what comes next. They base their anticipation on common patterns, social norms and past experience. To make them laugh you need to surprise them, but there are lots of ways to do that.
The secret to humor is surprise but how can you make your surprise funnier?
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
What ending does your audience expect?
Try to find the opposite of what they would expect.
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
Anatomy of a joke
The joke skeleton is the inherent structure that leads up to the punch-line and cannot be changed – or the joke won’t work.
To find the skeleton break the joke down to its essential components.
The punch-line is the surprise – the skeleton leads up to the punch line
For a joke to work:
Most jokes are based on incongruity = surprise. In the first half of the joke we create misdirection. The punchline reveals the misdirection.
Don’t rush it – take 2 breaths before and after the punch-line
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
The punchline = misdirection revealed
• Assumptions are based on the socially acceptable course of action.
• If there is a common way of doing something (or a "right" way to do something) my audience will immediately assume that is what is going to happen.
The punchline is based on revealing that what we expected to happen – did not. In fact something completely different happened. The less we expect what actually happened – the funnier it becomes (of course that should be within certain boundaries that my audience will find funny rather than shocking or offensive).
The misdirection is based on my audience's assumptions.
What my audience though would happen
What actually happens
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
Example joke
A man was walking down the street with a penguin when a policeman came up to him. • "That is an endangered animal you can't just walk
around with it. Take it to the zoo". The next day the same policeman sees the man with the penguin again. • "I thought I told you to take that penguin to the
zoo" • "I did", said the man, "we had a great time. Today
we're going to the movies".
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
So let's break it down:
• My essential components are
– Two people – one can be an authority figure – and
– An exotic animal you would not have as a pet.
• Misdirection: Take him to the zoo – my audience will assume
– A. "take the animal to live at the zoo"
• Rather than option
– B. Take him out to have fun
• Punchline – misdirection revealed – "We went to the zoo and had fun, today we are going to have fun somewhere else".
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
Base situation
•Essential components
Creating misdirection
•Make audience expect one thing
Use alternate meaning
•Punchline goes in
another direction
Creating humor – understanding joke structure
Expected
Unexpected
+ Flexible Decorations
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
Place exotic animals live
Fun place to visit
Documenting the joke: I have a visual memory so I like to create a picture in my mind, or draw on a piece of paper. You can also make a very short list. I often find this is enough to remind me of a joke after I have told it a few times.
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
Improving your joke skills
• In order to remember jokes follow these simple
rules:
1. Write down the joke the first time you hear it 2. Break it down into elements: the punch-line
and the joke skeleton 3. All the rest is just decoration you can change 4. Tell it several times to different people soon
after learning it (start with safe audiences) 5. Customize it to your audience
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
Exercise • Practice breaking down the joke to its
components. • It was New Year's Eve and I was out at the local
pub, drinking and having a great time with my mates. When it got late I decided to do the responsible thing. I left my car in the pub's parking lot and took the bus home. I was really proud of my responsible decision; the only problem was that I had a lot of trouble backing the bus into my driveway…
•
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
How to use humor in a conversation
3
Try to work the joke into the context of the conversation
Don’t ask if they want to hear a joke, let it be a surprise
Have a strategy to fall back on if they don’t get the joke, for example: “I guess you had to be there..”
Practice on someone friendly
Have the joke elements clearly mapped out into your mind before starting
Breathe – take a breath and pause before and after the punch line
Smile and wait for the joke to sink in
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad
Let’s get funny – develop your humor
Debbie Iancu-Haddad
Join my online course in English for improving your humor and learning to laugh more. Join me to see how you can have more fun in everyday communication, at work and with your friends and family
Want to learn more and develop your humor?
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