Humor Power

Those of us in Toastmasters are about to enter a new Humorous Speech Contest season.  My club contest is September 8.

In this article, I’ll share with you some contest ups and downs experienced by Ken Egervari from Windsor, Canada, during last year’s contest cycle.

Ken is a relatively new Toastmaster, a member for about two years, and he is in his late 20’s. 

I’m impressed by his hard work and the analytical mind he applied to the task of writing and delivering a contest speech.  He belongs to four clubs.  He lost the Humor Contest last fall in his first club.  Then lost at the second club.  Then lost at the third club.  Finally winning at the fourth club, Ken went on to win the area contest and placed second at the division competition.  How many of us would have kept going after the second or third loss?

Let me share with you some lessons learned, in the words of Ken Egervari:

JOHN:  How did you get started on your speech?  How did you pick your topic?

KEN:  I thought, “What’s a big problem around here…something everyone could relate to?”  And the answer came to me–unemployment!  Windsor’s unemployment rate is one of the worst in Canada, and that’s the city I live in!  When I started brainstorming I had tons of ideas.  At Starbucks, I wrote for a few hours every single day for 30 days.  By the end of the process, I had 47 planned laugh lines…the very best of the hundreds of lines I came up with.  I think at that point, I had put over 80 hours into the speech.

JOHN:  At the first contest, did you try anything that turned out to be a mistake?

KEN:  One of the ways I wanted to separate myself from the other contestants was to use an unusually long title–47 words in fact.  After the contest, judges actually came up and told me they wanted to write me off the ballot because it took 1.5 minutes to say the title!   Whoops!

JOHN:  So you had 47 planned laugh lines.  How was the speech received?

KEN:  40 out of the 47 lines connected with the audience, and 20 of them were very good laughs.  However most of the laughs came in the beginning.

JOHN:  How do you account for fewer laughs at the end of the speech?

KEN:  I completely lost the audience when I said the word “prostitution.”  The energy in the room completely changed at that point–you can even feel it when listening to the voice recording.  I started to understand that Comedy Club and Corporate humor are two different things.  I thought the majority of the people would still laugh anyway, but I was wrong.  I learned that when you cross the line, offended audiences aren’t going to be on your side anymore and that it’s going to take a lot to win them back to your side. 

JOHN:  You decided to take the speech and enter it at a second club.  How did it go?

KEN:  Unfortunately, the speech went over horribly.  I managed to score 2 laughs from the audience with the same speech.  I felt like they were trying not to laugh!  Their lack of response threw off my pacing.  I began to anticipate their lack of response.  I may have even run over potential laughs.  Worse still, when I got into the adult entertainment industry, the smiles even dropped from the audience’s faces.  Between lines, all you could hear was silence.

JOHN:  So taking the speech to your third club, you decided to give the speech a major overhaul?

KEN:  That was a difficult thing to do…to “un-marry” myself from my own material.  It’s difficult to throw out 80-plus hours of work and start over.  I didn’t want to give up on the unemployment theme, I’m very stubborn.  So I looked at the old speech and asked, “Is there anything I can use from this?”  After looking at all the offensive material, or even potentially offensive material, I kept only 4 lines and started with a brand new document.  I really began to believe the old adage, “If in doubt, leave it out.”  I no longer had the urge to test lines just to “get it out of my system.”  I got audience response 30 times during the speech and ended up in third place.

JOHN:  I’m starting to think you’re the Energizer Bunny of Toastmasters.  You took the speech to your fourth club?

KEN:  Yes.  And then to the area contest with 37 laughs and a first place win.

JOHN:  And then on to a second place division contest finish.  Congratulations.

KEN:  For the first time, I genuinely felt good about my performance.  I knew I rocked the speech, prepared the best I could, and pretty much gave one of the best speeches of my life.  Sure, it would have been nice to make it to the district contest…but it didn’t matter anymore.  The biggest accomplishment was that I knew I did my best.

JOHN:  What lessons did you learn from this contest experience?

KEN:  First, brainstorm lots of topic ideas to find your passion.  When you find a speech that you really connect with, you’ll create lots of funny material.

Second, come up with more lines than you need…and select the best ones.  Create dozens of variations on the same line to find the funniest punch line for each one.

Third, don’t let the audience response throw off your pacing.

Fourth, if your speech has no chance to win, don’t be afraid to scrap it, regardless how much work you put into it.  Don’t ever get married to your material.

Fifth, listen to the old adage:  “If in doubt, leave it out!”

Sixth, it’s important to set the premise of your speech before you launch into your funny material.  Then all the humor makes sense because you have a strong premise to support it all.

And last, I learned how to handle myself better emotionally during and after a contest:  Dealing with losing.  Dealing with judging.  Dealing with audiences not finding you all that funny.

JOHN:  Thanks for sharing your roller coaster ride with us.  Any final words?

KEN:  Feel good about doing your best!

To listen to Ken’s speech CLICK HERE.

It’s time for the September Cartoon Caption Contest featuring the art of Dan Rosandich.

New caption contests are announced on the first of the month.

New joke contests are announced mid-month.

Here’s the cartoon for this month and one caption to get you started.

              Isn’t it amazing we both taste like chicken.

Write more than one caption.  Rewrite your captions to improve them.  Select your best captions and then send them to HumorPowerTips@HumorPower.com by September 14, 2008.

Visit the site of Dan Rosandich for information on how Dan can create custom cartoons for your next project, book, brochure, web site, T-shirt, and more!

by Eric Feng, The Public Speaking Blog

Why is humor so important?

Have you ever come across speakers who are downright hilarious? They make you laugh on cue, with extremely little effort. And after an hour of laughing out loud, the speaker leaves you wanting more. In fact, there is a tinge of disappointment when the speech ends.

Even when you are driving home, you can’t help but to play back some of the speaker’s funny lines so that you have an excuse to laugh again. Weeks after the speech, you still find yourself telling everyone about how funny this speaker is.

Sound familiar?

That my friend, is the unfair advantage you gain when you are a funny speaker. When you are able to make your audience laugh.

They like you more.
They learn faster.
They remember you…for all the right reasons.

In the professional speaking industry, your ability to make your audience laugh dictates how much more you will be paid.

So here’s the big question — how do you become funnier? And for those who swear that you have no funny bone, can you even be funny?

To the second question, my answer is a firm YES…and I speak from experience.

Humor can be learned. IT IS A PROCESS!. And there are many time-tested techniques that can help you become funnier. And in this article, I will like to share with you ONE. Trust me, just this ONE technique is sufficient to create 80% of your humor materials.

First, you need to understand this:

AUDIENCES LAUGH WHEN THEY ARE SUCCESSFULLY TRICKED.

So your job as a speaker is to trick your audience.

Let me give you a really simple example. Watch this video by Geoff Burch.

Downright hilarious isn’t it? And here’s why…coz half the time, you really thought that he was inspired by the boy. And he tricked you by telling you that this story is the reason why he is here today (which makes you think it is something really important). And he sounded so serious…even to the extent of being moved by what the boy said. And the surprise came when he fired the boy! That was something that you wouldn’t have expected…which is why we laugh. Unexpectedness. An element of surprise. Tada, you were successfully tricked by him!

The same princple can be applied to visuals as well. Check out this:

Got you laughing right? Why? Coz usually if you want to demonstrate how fast a runner is, you will show him out-run his fellow runners. But in this picture, you see how the runner out-runs his shadow. This is highly unexpected. Again, an element of surprise.

Let’s try one more.

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This is a no brainer. We laugh because we see Mc Donald buying a burger from his competitor — Burger King. It would have been funnier if it was a video clip. First we will see a man in trench coat ordering a burger. And when the camera pans in, you see that it was actually Ronald Mc Donald! Now that would have been funnier.

So guys, the principle is really simple. You have to successfully trick your audience in order to make them laugh.

And in order to successfully trick your audience, you need to first figure out what is your audience ASSUMING. And then you break that assumption. That will cause the laughter.

Here’s how.

A man and woman are making passionate love in the bedroom. Suddenly, the apartment door opens and a man walks in: “Darling! I’m home!” He walks into the bedroom, looks at the naked couple and says…

First, what are you assuming here?

We assume the man who walks in is the woman’s husband.

Or we assume that “darling” refers to the woman.

So let’s say we go with the first assumption. How we create a laugh is by inserting this line “Oh damn, I didn’t know your husband was home today.”

BUT…this is not going to be as funny as the second one : “What is SHE doing here??!!”

The 2nd one is funnier because it is more unlikely. The first one is highly possible. Get it? The more successful you are in tricking your audience, the more laughs you get. And in order to trick them, you got to first identify the assumption.

There are many more examples I could give you but I think you get my point. Here’s the bottom line, humor can be learned and it is a process.

To end, I shall share with this video. One of my favorites. It’s a tribute to Meryl Streep by one of the funniest guys in USA — Jim Carrey! If you study his lines, you will realize that he successfully tricks you which makes you laugh.

Here’s one without spoiling the entire video.

Jim Carrey (he was talking about his first encounter with Meryl Streep): “At first I was a little nervous. I don’t know what she was like. But lucky for me…she was open and willing to learn. (audience laughs).”

See the mechanics?  We assume that he was nervous because it was Meryl Streep! She is one of the best actresses in Hollywood…but the twist became apparent when Jim says “she was open and willing to learn,” making HIM the better actor.

Ok ok… I should just shut up and let you enjoy this hilarious Jim Carrey video. Happy laughing.

Eric Feng, The Public Speaking Blog
Eric is a energetic, young speaker and coach from Singapore.  Visit his blog and web site for lots of great information on becoming a powerful speaker.

Here are the results of the August cartoon caption contest selected by our panel of eleven judges (speakers and improv players).  Our contests feature the art of professional cartoonist Dan Rosandich.

Look for our next caption contest on September 1.

Our joke writing contests are announced in the middle of the month.

Here are this month’s top lines.

** FIRST PLACE **

You should of told me she was your wife!
     Jeanette Diss, Cowes, Phillip Island Victoria, Australia

** SECOND PLACE **

This is one expensive haircut.  In fact, I think I’ll be paying for this haircut for the next couple months. 
     Gary Bachman, Hagerstown, Maryland, USA

** THIRD PLACE **

No! I did not want a style that looked like the Chicago skyline.
     Jerry Smith, New Albany, Ohio, USA

HONORABLE MENTION (in random order)

  - I thought the sign that said 50% off referred to the price of a haircut.
  - I know I didn’t tip you so well last time, but did you have to do this?
  - I’d like to see you try cutting someone’s hair during an Earthquake!
  - The Last of the Mohicans?  Sure, I saw it….why?  Acckkkk!
  - I didn’t know your only previous experience was a landscaper!?
  - Have you been drinking that green stuff the combs are kept in?
  - I hope you aren’t expecting a tip.  The only tip I have for you is to go back to barber school.
  - Are you sure I look taller with this hair cut ?
  - If I wanted to be scalped — I’d call my bookie!
  - Now watch me shave a little off your TIP!
  - When I asked for a shave, I didn’t mean my head!

Visit the web site of Dan Rosandich for information on professional custom cartoons for your next project:  Book, T-shirt, Brochure, Web Site, etc.

Professional speakers who are at the top of their game are often known for their “signature stories.”  These are original, compelling stories on which reputations are built.

Signature stories are usually funny.  Often they are VERY funny.  But in spite of the power of humor, a signature story of the highest level must have more than just funny lines.  And they need more than a significant message.

The art of improv comedy teaches us that good scene work is
centered around characters, relationships and objectives.  So it is
with great stories in speaking.  In a great story the message is
built around drama, challenges or obstacles, relationships, strong
characters. 

A story which is relatively simple and predictable is less likely
to strike it rich as a signature story.  And a story which belongs
to someone else will never make YOU famous.  You want to work for
the original and compelling stories which have substantial real
life drama.  A bad relationship turned into a good relationship.  A
life-and-death situation survived. A dramatic or embarrassing
situation coped with.  A story with a strong colorful character
which teaches a great life lesson.

Here is a story which I really like.  It’s a true life experience.
But it lacks nearly all the critical elements of a GREAT story.  So
I rarely use it:

I was waiting at a red traffic light and my mind was wandering.
The car to my left started to go, so I automatically figured the
light was green and I started to go.  Then I looked up and saw the
light was still red.  The car next to me was turning left on a
green arrow.  So I slammed on my brakes. Unfortunately, the car
behind me, seeing that I was going, started to go.  And the driver,
not expecting me to stop suddenly, crashed into the back of my car.

A pair of assumptions caused an accident.  I assumed that the
person on my left was going the same place I was…and he wasn’t.
My assumption was wrong.  The driver behind me assumed that I knew what I was doing…I didn’t.  He was wrong.  We often make assumptions in life that lead us down the wrong path. We assume that what is right for someone else is right for us, when it may not be.  And we assume that someone else knows what they’re doing or possesses the truth, and sometimes they don’t.  We need to be awake and clear thinking in our choices and judgments or life will teach us hard lessons.

A good story.  Good lessons.  The lessons could probably be
expressed in a hundred different ways.  But it’s not a great story.
There is little humor. There is no drama.  There are no colorful
characters.  There are no substantial relationship situations.
There are no challenges or obstacles.   It’s a simple story and
some may say it’s predictable. 

But finding a great signature story is easier said than done.  It
may take years of searching and then experimenting from the
platform until the right story clicks for you.  My recommendation
is that you focus on your life’s experiences and primarily look for
situations which have obstacles to overcome, relationship problems,
and lessons learned.  Your story doesn’t need to be as significant
as surviving a hostage situation or a plane crash.  Life’s everyday
problems with interpersonal relationships can be just as dramatic.
You just need to tune in to your experiences so that you can
capture the magical story and put it into your speech.

What are the elements that make up a professional-quality speech?  What are the elements which would cause someone to watch a DVD recording and say, “I’d pay money to have that speaker talk to my group.”  What elements make a speech appeal to a business or corporate buyer.  There are many.

Some elements are significant.  Some are critical.  All are
important.

A significant element is a “Heart-Attack” element.  It’s something
that has a significant impact on the quality of the speech.  But a
shortcoming in this area COULD be survived.  It’s risky, but you
could live to tell about it.

A critical element is a “Cardiac-Arrest” element.  When your heart
stops, you’re in big trouble.  It’s critical.  A shortcoming in
this area screams Non-Professional.

Here are 12 important elements for delivering a professional-level
speech.  In my opinion, half of them are significant and half of
them are critical.

SIGNIFICANT ELEMENTS

1.  Be human.  Don’t sweat the mistakes.  Realize that mistakes
make you real.  A small mistake, here and there, isn’t going to
kill you.  Slick isn’t in.

2.  Be organized.  Have an easy-to-follow speech structure.

3.  Be energized.  Have a high-energy opening. 

4.  Be funny.  Humor is a terrific tool on many levels.

5.  Be silent.  Use the power of the pause.

6.  Be changeable.  Avoid sameness.  The key to vocal variety, for
example, isn’t WHAT you do with your voice, it’s how you CHANGE
what you do with your voice.

CRITICAL ELEMENTS

1.  Be connected.  Eye contact is the critical factor.

2.  Be conversational.  Speaking in a speaker’s voice, or with
sing-song delivery, or being on auto-pilot are the signs of an
amateur.

3.  Be yourself.  Trying to be another speaker is a mistake.
Trying to match the content or style of Les Brown, Suze Orman,
Anthony Robbins or some other successful celebrity speaker is
un-professional.

4.  Be original.  Do not give a book report.  Don’t share wisdom
that everyone has read in same best-seller books which you have
read.  Mine your own wisdom.  As Patricia Fripp would say: “Be
profound.”

5.  Be compelling.  Your talk must draw people in.  It should not
be a chore to listen to you or to stay awake.  Use stories to make
your points.  People will pay attention to stories and remember the
pictures you paint in their minds.

6.  Be clean.  Never use suggestive or off-color humor.

Let’s put this in perspective.  Both significant elements and
critical elements are very important to your success.  In my
opinion, it’s unlikely you’ll meet the measure of professional if
you’re missing a critical element.  On the other hand, missing a
significant element is not critical. 

For example, if you’re not naturally a high-energy speaker, having
a high-energy opening is probably not a good idea.  Although it
would be a good idea to put a touch of energy somewhere
in your speech!  The same with humor.  If you’re just not a funny
person, force-fitting humor into your talk may be a bad idea.  But
you should continue to work on developing your humor skills so that
you can eventually add a bit of humor into every talk. 

A speaker who is missing a significant element can often compensate
by being stronger in another area.  It’s difficult, maybe
impossible, to compensate for the lack of a critical element.

Good luck and happy speaking!

Here is another example of an Observational Humor monologue presented at a Toastmasters meeting:

THE SET-UP (What happened and what was said during the meeting before the monologue was delivered.)

1.  The meeting started with music reminding us of the Olympics.  The first speaker opened with:  “The music made me want to jump off a balance beam.”

2.  A speaker, who was presenting a humor contest workshop, asked who had heard his contest speech before.  About 80 percent raised their hands.  He said, “Well you’re going to hear it again.”

3.  A presenter referred to speakers who pace as having “happy feet.”

4.  A speaker offered the wisdom, “There’s no such thing as a perfect dairy cow.”

5.  After a break, the Toastmaster (emcee) said that there was so much information delivered in the first half of the meeting that he needed a break to do a quick dump to make room for more information.

THE MONOLOGUE

I was planning on opening with a back flip on a balance beam…but the ambulance hasn’t arrived yet.
(This joke has an element of self-deprecation, poking fun at my height, age, and lack of gymnastic ability.  The structure is a weaker set-up joke, followed by a stronger topper.)

How many people here have not heard my Tall Tale speech about Area 51 Space Aliens?  Well you’re not going to hear it this afternoon either.
(What drives this joke is a reversal of what the other speaker had said earlier.  The punchline is the opposite of what would be expected.)

I’ve got Norwegian happy feet.  I mention that, because it’s unlikely that you’d notice.
(My normal delivery is the opposite of someone with a habit of pacing.  My laid-back style makes the joke work.  The structure is a set-up joke followed to a topper.)

And I have a lot of information to share with you, but none of it will be more profound than “There’s no such thing as a perfect dairy cow.”  Which means that Bill won’t need to take another quick dump.
(This is a call back of the dairy-cow quote which had earlier gotten a big laugh.  It’s followed by a topper.)

Our Joke Contest for August challenges you to identify a group of people and then find their favorite form of entertainment.

From a creativity approach, you can start with the group first and look for the entertainment.  Or you can start with the entertainment and work backwards to figure out what group would supposedly be attracted that entertainment.

The group actually could be an individual.  The entertainment could be a rock band, comedian, TV show, movie, sport, or a wide assortment of other entertaining pastimes.

Here are three samples:

Vegetarians like Carrot Top.
Javelin throwers like Shakespeare.
Clock makers prefer 48 Hours to 60 Minutes.

Create as many lines as you can.  Select your best ones and submit them to HumorPowerTips@HumorPower.com by August 31, 2008.

It’s time for the results of the Big House joke writing contest inspired by Steve and Erin Pavlina.

Our Cartoon Caption Contests are announced on the first of the month.

Our Joke Contests are announced mid-month.

Here are the top lines from this month’s contest, selected by a panel of four judges.

** FIRST PLACE **

A condition of my house arrest is that I can’t leave the state, which of course makes it very difficult to go to the bathroom.
     J.D. Haack, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

** SECOND PLACE **

My house is so big, I wake up every morning to my wife’s fifth echo.
     Ken VanDrese, Escanaba, Michigan, USA

** THIRD PLACE (tie) **

My house is so big that we have You Are Here signs every 10 yards.
     Arun Ramkumar, Chennai, India

My house is so big, there are two toll booths in the east hall.
     Michael Cortes, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA

HONORABLE MENTION (in random order)

  - My house is so big, it has it’s own gravitational field.
  - My house is so big, it replaced Pluto as the ninth planet.
  - My house is so big, it’s not the Holiday Inn, it’s the Rest of the Year Inn.
  - My house is so big, a walk through it will take you through two time zones and three climates.
  - My house is so Big, Tom Hanks wanted to be in it.
  - My house is so big, in my den are 6 miles of Route 66.
  - Rain had threatened to ruin The National Drag Racing Finals so they ran it indoors in my house.
  - My house is so big, that bankrupt airlines are storing their unused 747s in my hall closet.
   - My house is so big that, when I went bankrupt, it wouldn’t fit into “for”closure.  They had to do a “five”closure.
  -  My house is so big, the backyard is just beyond the horizon.
  - What do you mean you can’t install a cell tower in our kitchen?
  - My house is so big, you need Google maps to get around it.
  - My house is so big, that we have different time zones in the west wing and the east wing.
  - My house is so big, that we have our personal border security force
  - My house is so big, you can see it from the moon.
  - My house is so big my carpet is shampooed with a crop duster
  - My house is so big my wife thinks she’s a Queen and doesn’t have to make me dinner.
  - Other families have a swing set in their backyard, my kids have a Six Flags.
  - My house is so big an asteroid could destroy 99% of it and my world record house of cards would still stand in the closet.
  - The Loch Ness monster has reportedly been sighted in my jacuzzi.
  - If all the toilets in my house were flushed at once everyone showering in New York City would be burn their naked behind.
  - If the Chinese dig past the waterline in China they might hit my septic tank.
  - I like to race monster trucks with my friends in my bedroom and my wife doesn’t seem to care since she sleeps right through it.
  - My house is so big my wife bulldozes the rooms that get a little dusty.
  - My house is so big that I have a different bedroom for each day of the week.
  - On the bright side, our house is in five different school districts.
  - My house is so big, I have to use my GPS to find my way to the master bedroom each night.
  - My house is so big, a life guard is always on duty whenever a guest takes a bath.
  - My house is so big, all the maids get travel expenses, inside the house.

The Funny Or Die web site features a parody of John McCain’s ad where he uses the image of Paris Hilton to make a point.  Paris Hilton appears in the parody responding to the original campaign ad with humor.  Regardless of whether you’re going to vote for McCain or Obama…or Hilton…it’s a good example of responding to an attack with humor rather than angry words.