Observational Humor — Case Study #24
Normally when I present an Observational Humor monologue at a Toastmasters meeting, I almost never present all of the ideas that pop into my head. In the following monologue, I created only 5 lines from the 12 ideas that I came up with.
SET-UP (what was said or what happened at the meeting before I presented the monologue)
1. Someone mentioned Moses from the Bible.
2. During the Observational Humor part of the meeting, a member opened his observations with the fact that, because I always brought a clip board to the meeting, he decided to bring one that evening.
3. That meeting, instead of my normal clipboard, I had brought a large notepad of paper to write on.
4. We had a celebration-type cake. It had someone’s name on it. Someone had jokingly requested to be served a piece of cake with his own name on it.
5. Someone in the dating scene said that she was in search of an enlightened man.
6. A new member of the club mentioned that he had bought some sexy wine glasses.
7. Someone mentioned that there was nothing to do in their hometown except to have a Bar-B-Que with the neighbors.
THE MONOLOGUE
I’m Moses. And I brought my tablet.
(I combined two elements from the meeting. Without saying it, I noted that I had not brought my normal clipboard. I linked the writing tablet that I did bring, with Moses, who came down from the mountain with two tablets.)
I wanted a piece of cake with my name on it too. But since they didn’t have one, I made do by eating it in the John.
(Light self-deprecation, making fun of my own name.)
I woke up this morning…jumped out of bed…and looked in the bathroom mirror hoping to find an enlightened man. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.
(Self-deprecation, suggesting that I was less than enlightened.)
Steve…I’ve never had any sexy wine glasses. But I do have a really hot corkscrew. We should get together sometime.
(The member’s comment about the sexy glasses got a laugh when he said it. Corkscrew is a funny word. This line approached the edge, but I decided it was OK to use it. The line received a good laugh.)
I grew up in a neighborhood of cannibals. It was a boring town. They rolled up their sidewalks at 8pm. There was nothing to do except “bar-b-que the neighbors.”
(A good twist of words. A good closing line.)