Humor Power

Here is another Observational Humor monologue from a Toastmasters meeting.

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

1.  The Word Of The Day was SUCCOR.  Pronounced SUCKER.  Meaning:  Help, aid, relief.

2.  Four new members were voted into membership by the club members.

3.  The new members gave their introductory speeches.  It was obvious that they were all very intelligent and accomplished.

4.  The Table Topics Master presented impromptu speech topics to an unusually large number of club members.

5.  A speaker jokingly suggested that if you wanted a DO NOT RESSUSITATE order to be honored, that you should have it tattooed on your chest.

6.  The theme of the evening was First Ladies.  Clayton and Lauren knew the answer to most trivia questions about First Ladies of the 1700s and 1800s.

7.  In a speech, Clayton presented a one-sided phone call to Walter Winchell.

8.  Bryant Pergerson is the partner of our club President, Pamela Shinkle.

THE MONOLOGUE

The word of the day is such a practical word…SUCCOR.  It’s a word you could use tomorrow…if you don’t mind getting slapped.
(Using the Word Of The Evening often risked walking the tightrope of good taste.  My observation was a statement of the truth stated indirectly.  The truth is funny.  It paints a funny picture…getting slapped.  Slap is a funny word because it plays with onomatopoeia.)

When our four new members were out of the room and we were voting on your membership application…club members asked whether or not you were old enough to join the club.  It became a non issue when everyone realized that your average age was 18.
(The four new members were young, compared to the age of our average member.  In reality their average age was probably 27.  But exaggeration is the humorist’s friend.)

I’m impressed with our club’s new members.  They’ve lowered the average age in our club by 10 years…and raised our average IQ by 20 points.
(A joke and a topper.  A big laugh.)

Our Table Topics Master called on half the people in this room…but he didn’t call on me.  You may wonder how I avoid getting called upon for Table Topics.  It’s because I have NO TABLE TOPICS tattooed on my chest.
(I was on the watch for “something that I could have tattooed on my chest.”  This line was perfect as it was customized for the group.)

It amazed me that Clayton and Loren knew all the trivia about ancient First Ladies…until I realized they had both voted for their husbands.
(Clayton and Loren happened to be two of our older club members…along with many of the rest of us!).

I especially enjoyed Clayton’s impersonation of Bob Newhart calling Walter Winchell.
(This was a reference to Bob Newhart, a comedian famous for presenting one-sided telephone conversations in his work.)

And to close…a Carnack.
The answer is Bryant Pergerson.
And the question is:  Who was the first First Lady in our club to wear the pants in the family.
(A Carnack is a joke format popularized by Johnny Carson where the comedian gives the answer first, and then reads the question.  A good closer receiving a very big laugh.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 2:59 am and is filed under Case Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.