Humor Power

We often have beliefs that lead us down the wrong path when deciding whether or not to use original humor.

1.  We often want to be funny so badly that we think it’s a good  choice to use every humor idea we can think of.  The logic is that   “it’s a numbers game” and the more times we swing at the ball, the  more likely that one of the lines will connect and get laughs.  A   preferable  approach is to become a better judge of what is very funny and what is only slightly funny.  Then you become a better censor of what to use and what to throw out.

2.  We sometimes think that bigger is better.  Sometimes it is.  More energy is often funnier.  Bigger gestures are often funnier.  More vocal techniques are often funnier.  But it depends on your natural style.  For you, maybe less-is-more.  That’s the case for me.  Yet even if over-the-top is generally your best choice, you will be served well by exploring minimization occasionally, for variety if nothing else.

3.  We sometimes forget that most humor requires “permission” from the audience to use it.  Without permission, your humor can work against the less-is-more principle.  If you persist in using humor without permission, the audience may be thinking:  “There he/she goes again.  Begging for laughs!”

Let me share an example from a Toastmasters Contest awards presentation.  I competed in 2008 at a Humorous Speech Contest  and a Speech Evaluation Contest at the Division level.  I was competing in both contests.  During the contestant interviews, one of the other contestants poked fun at my low-energy style.  She said: “When John Kinde is on the platform I’m amazed at how much he emotes.  He really emotes!”  Her style is the opposite of mine, very high energy.  So the contrast was funny.  And the humor trigger, Something-Funny, told me that this might be something I could use later for Observational Humor.

In my head, I wrote three humor lines based on her remarks about my style.  I had written a fourth line contrasting her style and mine, but threw it out thinking it might appear to be attacking her style.  The three lines I wanted to use were:  A quick, one-word line (which I almost consider a throw-away line, not a serious joke).  And a joke with a topper.

I felt comfortable using the quickie line in almost any situation, but felt that the two more substantial humor lines should be used only if I won the first-place trophy in at least one of the two contests.  Without being the winner, I felt I wouldn’t have had “permission” to take the microphone during the awards ceremony and do two humor lines.  Without being the winner, it could have looked like:  “There goes Kinde again, forcing another humor line into the program.”  On the other hand, it appears normal for the first-place recipient to make some remarks.

The Speech Evaluation Contest results were announced first.  I was awarded Third Place.  I chose to use my quickie line.  I received the trophy, waited for the applause to die down, and stepped forward and said in a low-energy way, “Wow.”  It received a big laugh since it was a callback to the other speaker’s remarks.

And then I waited for the results for the Humorous Speech Contest.  I made the decision that I would only use the two prepared joke lines if I was the winner.  The good news is that I did win first place.  I received the trophy and said:  “Right after the contest I’m going to Wal-Mart.  They’re having a Two-For-One Sale on emotions.  And I want to thank my Emoting Coach…Stephen Wright.”

Less-Is-More.  Being selective adds power to your humor lines.  Use only your best lines and remember to ensure that you have permission to use them.

I attended the District 33 Humorous Speech Contest this past weekend.   I wasn’t speaking.  I wasn’t judging.  I was a spectator.  What a great way to enjoy a contest!

A conversation with a friend led to the subject of “how soon should we expect a laugh in a humorous speech?”  A lot of people believe that you should get your first laugh as soon as possible.  I take a different approach.

When you’re preparing a humorous speech, it’s your opening that will lay the foundation for the humor which follows.  Don’t be in a hurry to put in your first punchline.  The foundation comes before the funny.

Your opening establishes your premise.  It tells your audience what speech will be about.  Without a solid foundation in your opening, a speech becomes nothing but jokes.

I competed in the Toastmasters Tall Tales Contest last year.  In the five-minute speech, a punchline came every 41 words (on the average).  But the first punchline came 83 words into the speech. Although punchlines came about once every 12 seconds, in my opening I spent 30 seconds laying the foundation before the first punchline was introduced.  Sometimes in a seven-minute humorous speech contest, it’s not unusual for me to spend 60 to 90 seconds laying the premise of the speech, with no laugh lines. 

I like to think of the opening of my speech as creating the “vehicle” which will carry my humor.  It often creates the structure or the reason for the humor that follows.  Examples of comedy vehicles are Top-Ten Lists and Roast formats.  A typical speech introduction will usually give an organization to what follows, giving the humor proper context. 

In my Tall Tales speech, my opening provided the PLATFORM.  I established that I was a retired research scientist from Area 51.  That laid the foundation to speak about space aliens for the next five minutes. I left the platform (my opening foundation) with my first funny line, the TILT, and I was off and running.  The platform says “this is what the speech is about” and the tilt says “it’s going to be fun or interesting.”

The opening to my humor speech is rarely the first thing I write, but I never skimp on spending time to develop the introduction of the speech.  Even though it usually contains no humor lines, it’s just as important as the jokes to the overall success of the humorous speech.

Hot Tip!  Patricia Fripp’s Speaking School is in Las Vegas in just two weeks, November 14-15, 2009.  Fripp is one of the world’s best public speaking coaches.  I’ve heard Fripp speak more than 20 times.  I always learn something new.  Attending her school needs to be on your to-do-list!

In just a little over three weeks, Darren LaCroix is offering his two-day Humor Boot Camp in Las Vegas.  This is an opportunity you shouldn’t miss.  Stage time, personal coaching and insights from a humor expert.  I highly recommend everything Darren offers.  He’s the Toastmasters 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking.  Visit Darren’s web site for details about the event, November 21-22, 2009.  You’ll find lots of testimonials from people just like you who attended past Boot Camps.  Don’t miss it!

When it comes to humor delivery and getting good laughs, it’s important to avoid the energy zappers that could suck the energy right out of the room.

1.  Your attitude.  A negative or pessimistic attitude can sabotage your laughter.  Sometimes it’s easy to slip into a “negative expectation” mode.  If your first line or two of humor bombs, a speaker may start to interpret the inner motivations of the audience.  Negative thoughts attract negative results.  Solution:  Always assume the audience is enjoying your program even if they aren’t showing it.  Perform now. Critique later.

2.  Eye contact.  Lack of good eye contact is an energy zapper.  Great eye contact gives you a presence and a connection with the audience that is critical to your success.  Great eye contact completes the conversation loop.  A speech is never a monologue.  It’s always a two-way conversation.  The feedback you receive from the audience works to energize you.

3.  Warm ups.  Failing to warm up your body and your voice can have negative consequences.  I remember watching Leo Cortez, one of our most experienced actors in my California improv troupe ten years ago.  Before a show he would always walk around back stage waving his arms, stretching, humming, singing, massaging his face.  He had a regular warm up routine that prepared him for the performance.

Often, before I take the stage for a keynote speech, I use some group warm-up exercises borrowed from improv theater.  I  do them alone when I can find a private spot.  Before you speak, take a brisk walk, or do some jumping jacks!   Warm up before you speak…or you’ll warm up in front of the audience as you begin your speech.

4.  The seating.  A bad seating arrangement can pull energy out of the room.  Tall centerpieces that block some audience members from seeing you is not good.  An aisle down the center of the room is not ideal.  A large gap between the first row of audience members and the platform on which you speak is not good.  Be proactive in setting up good seating for your listeners.

5.  The lighting.  Poor lighting results in dim laughter.  The audience needs to see you and your facial expression.  And the audience needs to see each other.  It’s a myth that comedy plays best in a darkened room.  I much prefer a lit room.  I’m not talking about a blinding light, but enough light so that a listener can easily see others in the audience…and so that the speaker can see the audience.  The contagious nature of laughter is magnified when the room is not dark.

6.  Distractions.  Anything that pulls attention away from your humor is a zapper.  If the wait staff is bussing dishes during your talk…not good.  If a band is playing on the other side of the sliding wall divider…not good.  You get the picture.  Take the responsibility to eliminate as many of these potential distractions as possible before you take the platform.

Eliminate the energy zappers and you’ll increase the odds that your humor will connect and laughter will fill the room!

As a magician, I learned many years ago that the best magic to perform was the magic that the audience loves.  That seems obvious.  But sometimes, those popular magic tricks were not the same ones that were MY favorites.  In fact, what became one of the hit items of my walk-around, close-up magic act was a trick that I never liked.  The first time I saw it performed at a magic convention, it was obvious to me how it was done.  But I was a magician…and I needed a lay person’s point of view.  In time, I learned to like the trick, because my audience loved it.  The true test is the audience response.

The same situation exists when delivering humor from the platform.  You want to use humor which grabs the audience.  If you’re doing humor YOU love…but which the audience doesn’t…you lose.  If you do humor that doesn’t turn you on…but which knocks your audience out of their seats with laughter…you win.

The trick is not to be able to know what YOU think is funny.  The skill you need is the ability to predict, in advance, what YOUR AUDIENCE will think is funny. 

I’ve sometimes heard that comedy is a numbers game.

Yes and no.  It’s a numbers game in the creation process…but not in the delivery.

When brainstorming, you want to create as many funny lines, as many choices, as you can.  From a multitude of choices you distill the list to the funniest line or word.  It’s definitely a numbers game.

Some people treat the delivery process as a numbers game too.  They throw a lot of lines against the wall to see what sticks.  And while that process does tell you which lines are funny…which lines the audience laughs at…it doesn’t train you to be able to PREDICT which lines are going to be the best. 

You become a better judge of what the audience thinks is funny by trying to predict which lines are strongest BEFORE you deliver them.  Rather just delivering a quantity of lines to find out which ones are funny…you instead are delivering lines to verify the accuracy of your predictions of which lines are the funniest.  Because in real speaking situations, you normally have the time and space to use only your best single line.  You need to train yourself to know how to pick it.  And that skill comes from understanding that humor creation is a numbers game…humor delivery is not.

That explains the change in our monthly humor contest submission process.  Most of our readers submit more than one line.  Many submit more than 10 lines for every contest.  That’s great.  We’re hoping to improve our contestants’ humor skills by requiring them to pick what they feel are their best three lines before they submit them.  When someone does that, they learn to be a better judge of what’s funny to someone else.  And that’s a key skill for using humor from the platform.

Here’s a methodical way of creating a joke.  It’s a three-step process. Even if you never formally use this process, understanding it will give you insight into the inner-workings of a joke.

   1.  The Connection
   2.  The Conceal
   3.  The Reveal

The Connection.  This is normally the foundation for most jokes. It’s the connection or relationship between two things which makes the joke tick.  The process of creating a joke normally starts with finding an unusual way in which two things or concepts are related.

The Conceal.  Once the connection is made, the setup of the joke
usually needs to conceal that connection.  Without concealment, the
joke is telegraphed or is too obvious.  You want the punch to sneak
up on the listener.  Concealment provides that misdirection.

The Reveal.  Once the setup is delivered, you’re ready for the
reveal…the punchline, the punch word, or the activator word which
sets the joke in motion.  The reveal creates the surprise, the
tension or the superiority factor necessary to get the laugh.

Let’s look at some examples.  Here’s a classic Groucho Marx joke:
“One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas.  How he got in my
pajamas I’ll never know.”

The Connection.  The elephant was wearing his pajamas.  That’s a
connection, or a relationship, that one would not normally make.
It’s a funny relationship.  It’s a funny picture.

The Conceal.  One would normally assume that Groucho was wearing the pajamas.  So the joke in “I shot an elephant in my pajamas,” is fairly well concealed right from the start.  It’s further hidden by the addition of “one morning.”  This would lead one to think, “he just got out of bed and obviously was wearing his pajamas.”

The Reveal.  “How he got in my pajamas,” reveals the humor
connection.  The listener thinks, “I get it…the elephant was
wearing the PJs!”  Getting the joke (superiority theory) he or she
laughs.  Or maybe the surprise of the unexpected connection gets
the laugh.

So creating the joke is often:  The Connection.  The Conceal.  The
Reveal.

But the experience of receiving the joke is just the opposite.  The
listener experiences it this way:  The Reveal.  The Conceal.  The
Connection.

Although in the delivery process, the concealed part of the joke
comes before the reveal, to the listener The Conceal is invisible
(if it’s done right), and not noticed,  until after The Reveal
happens.  Initially, The Conceal is totally hidden.  It’s
disguised.  It’s camouflaged.  The listener doesn’t experience a
joke until The Reveal takes place…How he got in my pajamas.
“Wow!  The elephant was wearing the pajamas.  I thought Groucho was wearing the pajamas.  I didn’t see that coming. (The Conceal is
recognized).  Hey, the elephant isn’t supposed to be wearing the
pajamas! (The Connection)”  Then the laughter follows.

Let’s look at another classic joke, one that’s very different from
the Groucho joke:  “Why did the chicken cross the road?  To get to
the other side.”

The Connection.  The obvious answer to the joke is “To get to the
other side.”  This is a riddle connected to the obvious, which is
an unexpected relationship.  A riddle would normally be connected
to a twist or clever word play.

The Conceal.  Being presented in the form of a riddle, the listener
is tricked into thinking that the answer couldn’t be the obvious one, but must certainly be a clever or tricky one (such as, to avoid walking by Kentucky Fried Chicken).

The Reveal.  In this case the punchline is simply stating the
obvious answer. The listener experiences the joke in reverse order.
 
The Reveal.  To get to the other side.  “Oh, of course, that’s why
a chicken crosses the street.”

The Conceal.  “So you were looking for the obvious answer.  I
thought it was a riddle where you were looking for some kind of
twist!”

The Connection.  “I didn’t expect the answer to a riddle to be so
obvious.”

The next time you’re creating a joke:  Start by brainstorming The
Connection.  Look for an unusual relationship.  Next, you conceal
The Connection so the listener doesn’t see it coming. And then you
Reveal the connection, turn on the light switch, so the listener
can see through the conceal, get The Connection and see the humor.

The listener gets the joke in reverse order allowing him or her to
connect the dots and discover the funny connection that makes the
joke work.

A Top-Ten List is a great vehicle for creating and delivering humor.  It’s a regular feature on the David Letterman show.

The key isn’t TEN items.  The key is that it is a LIST.  Yours could be a Top Five List.  In fact, you’re usually better served to make your list shorter.  It’s better to be short and brilliant, than long and good.  The risk of using a longer list is that you run out of funny lines before the list is complete!

It works well to make the theme of the list topical.  In other words, select for the theme of the list something that is current and a subject of discussion. Some examples: 

     – If the boss is retiring:  Ten Things the Boss will Be Doing in Retirement.

     – If you best friend is turning 50.  Ten Great Things about Turning 50.

     – If your sister just had twins.  Ten Reasons Twins are More Fun.

Once you’ve selected a theme, you have a structure to work with.  Writing jokes to fit a structured theme is easier than just writing jokes in a vacuum.  Let’s look at the first example and ask some questions:

1.  What hobbies does the boss have?  Make a list.  Then look for funny twists.  Golf?  Cooking?  Going to Las Vegas?

2.  What does the boss hate to do?  Wash the dishes?  Make her own coffee?  Get up early?

3.  Any characteristics or habits that stand out?  Tall or short?  Speaks with a strong accent?  Always smiling?

4.  Find trivia by using all resources.  A spouse?  A secretary?  Friends?  Conduct some interviews.

5.  Come up with your own list of questions that will enable you to create a working list from which you can mine humor.

Create as many lines as you can.  If you’re doing a Top Ten List, try to create at least 20 or 30 lines.  From that list you can then select your best ten.  I the “boss” example, working your list of questions maybe you would come up with some list items like:

Ten Things the Boss will Be Doing in Retirement
1.  Going to Las Vegas to invest her retirement funds.
2.  Buying some golf balls that float.
3.  Replace her fine china with paper plates.
4.  Move to Germany where her accent will not be noticed.
5.  Etc.

After you pick your top ten (or five), figure out which lines are the funniest.  I’d suggest closing with your best line…and opening with your second best line.  Weave your stronger lines throughout the list.  Some lines may have the sequence set, as one line may provide the set up for another line.  And the final product is presented as a countdown, from the TENTH reason all the way to reason number ONE (your best line).

There you have it.  Good luck.

Humor Delivery Vehicles — Part 1 

A great tool for creating and delivering humor is to use a delivery “vehicle.” Your vehicle is something that gives a structure or a pattern to the humor. Or it gives you a reason or an excuse to deliver the lines.  The vehicle gives a rhythm which helps the audience get the punchlines.

An example of a delivery vehicle is the Reverse-Question formula (giving the answer first and then giving the question). Johnny Carson is best known for using this form of joke (Carnac the Magnificent), although he wasn’t the first. It was used by Steve Allen before him (The Answer Man). And Ernie Kovacs before him (Mr Question Man). And probably Plato before him: “The answer is: When people confuse me with Mickey Mouse’s dog.  And the question is: What do you find really irritating?”

Being able to take almost any joke and turn it into a Reverse-Question is an art. It’s not hard to do. It just takes a little practice.

A standard joke: “Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.” In Reverse-Question form: The answer is, To get to the other side. And the question is, Why did the chicken cross the road?

Or you could switch it around: The answer is, He crossed the road. And the question is, How did the chicken get to the other side?  Both structures work. You have to decide which is funnier. I think the second choice is better. It does a nicer job of disguising the joke. The first version (To get to the other side) is a classic punchline, and the rest of the joke is predictable. “He crossed the road” is a sufficiently vague setup that the audience is unlikely to know that it’s a chicken joke. And therefore, it’s probably a funnier structure, because the punchline is a bit more of a surprise. Neither is especially funny, but the versions serve as an example that with the Reverse-Question format, either the set up or the punchline of your first effort can normally be used in any order when switching it to the Reverse-Question format.

So when you first come up with a joke, you need to decide what is the setup and what is the punchline. The original joke order is sometimes better if it is reversed when using the Reverse-Question formula. And create your own jokes to avoid stealing lines from a Johnny Carson routine. Your own lines will be fresher, more customized and funnier.

In this post we’re featuring the Wit Pleasure Advanced Toastmasters Club in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  Palmo Carpino, Club Sponsor and Mentor, Immediate Past President.

This information is provided to give you ideas on adding humor elements to an existing club or starting a new one.
 
AGENDA HUMOR ITEMS
Monologue or Current Events
Toast or Roast
Cartoon Caption
StandUp Performance
Improv Master
Observational Humor
Ha Counter
 
Club Information:
Meets every third Monday of the month at 7:30 pm.
Phone: 403-284-0427
Email: calgaryhumourtm@gmail.com
Web site:  witpleasuretm.wetpaint.com
 
If you have a unique humor club or improv troupe, send some details about your group to HumorPowerTips@HumorPower.com