Humor Power

If you’re mainly looking for a bunch of jokes, skip this post.  However, if you’re interested in a deeper look at the principles and psychology of creating humor, read on. 

What’s the difference between Observational Humor and Customized Humor? 

Observational Humor, by my definition, is humor that springs from or is inspired by something that you’ve just seen or heard.  True Observational Humor lines are not jokes that you prepare in advance and bring to the event with the intention of using them. 

Customized humor may be funny lines that are written or adapted to fit a certain speech, event and audience.  For example, you might take a favorite golf joke and be prepared to tell it about the CEO of a company.  That’s a type of customized humor.  It’s not observational humor.  Sometimes I’ll round-out or fill-in an Observational Humor monologue with some of the lines I usually use in the opening of my keynote speech.  Those lines are not Observational Humor, they’re just an attempt to put a garnish on a monologue that might need some help.  Customized, pre-planned humor can have it’s place in a monologue, although I prefer to use it very sparingly.

My definition of Observational Humor does not exclude recycling previously used Observational Humor lines.  Nor does it mean you can’t use old jokes that are adapted to the present moment.  What makes Observational Humor special that it is inspired in the moment, not pre-meditated…although some pre-planned humor can certainly create the illusion of spontaneity.  Our goal is to become more skilled at in-the-moment humor and not solely relying on prepared lines.  Although a good monologue may contain some of both elements.

The focus of this article is about reusing old lines in a way that meets the intent and freshness of Observational Humor. 
What makes these “old” lines fresh is that you had no intent of using them until something at the event stimulated your recall of those lines.  Maybe five-percent of the time the lines I create for a monologue are lines I’ve used before or heard before, but I don’t bring them to the event with the intent of using them.  Here are some thoughts on the process of recycling lines in a fresh way.

I have, on many occasions, heard Patricia Fripp speak and have presented Observational Humor monologues on about eight of those occasions.  I attended a Lady and The Champs workshop in Las Vegas, presented by World Champion Speakers.  Most of he audience was hearing Fripp speak for the first time.  And the audience was mostly not familiar with my past Fripp-event monologues.

When I recycle an Observational Humor line (which happens most frequently at Toastmasters meetings), I often try to present the line with a different twist.  When you’re recycling a previous Observational Humor line, there are at least two reasons to change it.  First, you’re making an attempt to improve it.  Second, you’re challenging yourself to find a different angle for the joke.  That stretches your creative skills and helps you become a better creator of humor.  Sometimes the second time you tell the joke is not as strong as the first and that gives you the opportunity to analyze the process, to learn and to grow.

RECYCLE EXAMPLE NUMBER ONE

Here’s an abbreviated segment from a Fripp story which provided me a seed for Observational Humor:   She told about being in a Ladies Room and being approached by a woman who asked, “Are you British.”  And then added, “Aren’t you Patricia Fripp?”  The stranger had been in one of Fripp’s audiences in the past.

The first time I heard this story, here’s the monologue line I created.

I was in the Men’s Room during the lunch hour combing my hair.  A stranger came up behind me and said: “Are you British?”  I said, “No I’m not.”  And he replied, “For a second there I thought you were Patricia Fripp.”

This line was based on a reversal, placing me as the receiver in the men’s room, and got a very good laugh.  The second line was a topper.  And the absurdity of being mistaken for Fripp activated the joke.  I’m not British.  I’m not a woman.  I’m about a foot taller than Fripp.

About a year later, I was at another Fripp presentation and heard the same story.  I asked myself, “What can I do with this that would be different than the line I created the first time I heard the story?”

Here’s the approach I took:  During the lunch break, Fripp was in the restroom when a voice from behind asked, “Are you British?”  And then I realized I was in the Ladies Room.

In this joke, instead of reversing it to have me receiving the “are you British” line in the men’s room, I changed it to having it be ME as the person who said the line while accidentally in the ladies room.  The line received a strong response equal to the first line.

RECYCLE EXAMPLE NUMBER TWO

Here’s an example of a recycled joke where I didn’t change anything and which received a much weaker response the second time I used it, much to my surprise.  It’s also from a Patricia Fripp program:   Fripp is a successful speaker coach and often does her one-on-one coaching in a hotel room.  Some of the students had jokingly referred to meeting Fripp in their hotel room.  It became a running gag which came up at least three times during the day of the program. 

Here’s the line I created as a result of that seed:  I met Fripp 24 years ago when I joined NSA.  But I feel cheated.  Back then she wasn’t meeting men in their hotel room.

The line received a very strong response.

At a later program, another Fripp coaching client mentioned to the group that he had received coaching in his hotel room. It was a very specific reference, mentioning the hotel and room number.  I recycled the same line that I had used previously, since it had been such a strong line the first time.  It received a very weak response, just a titter. 

Here are some reasons for that luke-warm response to a line that previously received such a huge laugh.

Reason One:  It reminds me of the Curse-Of-Knowledge principle discussed in Made To Stick by Dan and Chip Heath.  (A highly recommended book.)  The principle refers to how we forget what it’s like not to know something.  Our knowledge blinds us. In this case, I was armed with the knowledge that “this joke is funny.”  The truth is that it was funny for the FIRST audience.  The second audience was a totally different event.  And surprise!  It wasn’t funny.  Every time you present a tested piece of humor, you still need to examine the circumstances, the set-up and the audience to evaluate whether the joke is structured right for THIS audience.  Don’t be fooled into KNOWING that a joke, which was funny once, will be funny again.

Reason Two:  The set-up seed at the second event had not become a running gag and had not been repeated three times during the day, as it was at the first event.  The group only heard the “met me in my hotel room” one time. 

Reason Three:  The relationship of Fripp to the two audiences was considerably different.  At the first event, it was HER speaker school.  She was on the platform the whole day, building a rapport with the audience and, in fact, was herself joking about meeting students in their hotel room.  She was the sole star of the day.  At the second event, she shared the platform with three other star presenters (Darren LeCroix, Ed Tate and Craig Valentine).  Many of the attendees had not heard her speak before and hence the relationship between Fripp and the audience was different from the first event.

Reason Four:  The audience perception of my relationship to Fripp was different from the first event to the second.  At the first event, I coordinated the registration desk for Fripp.  It was obvious we were friends.  At the second event, my connection to Fripp was not as obvious. 

When you combine Reason Three and Four, you have the issue of “permission” come into play.  Without the stronger relationship established between Fripp and the audience, and between Fripp and me (comparing the first event to the second), when the audience heard the line about Fripp “meeting men in their hotel room” they weren’t sure if they should laugh.  What’s Kinde implying here?  Will Fripp think it’s funny?  The laugh gets censored in the mind of the audience.  I hadn’t created the permission necessary for me to do the joke.

Here’s what I might have done differently. 

First, I needed to repeat the set-up since it had not been as strongly set-up during the day.  Since it had not been the subject of a running gag during the day, and only mentioned once, I could have opened the joke with, “Unlike the first speaker, I may not have met Fripp at the Suncoast Hotel, room 437.  But I did meet her 24 years ago…which was really a bummer, because back then she hadn’t started meeting men in their hotel rooms.”  This structure emphasizes the set-up necessary to give the joke a chance. 

Second, a set-up to establish that Fripp was in on the joke, an giving some clue that I’ve previously known her, would have been helpful.  Perhaps something like this:  “I’ve known Fripp for a long time.  I may not have met her at the Suncoast Hotel, room 437.  But I did meet her 24 years ago…which was really a bummer, because back then she hadn’t started meeting men in their hotel rooms.”  It makes the joke longer and a bit wordy (I like to say clunky), but sometimes a joke needs a more extensive set-up to work.  At the second event, the shorter version of the joke just didn’t work.

LESSONS LEARNED

Recycling previously used humor lines is a reasonable, and in fact a good thing to do.  I normally recommend trying to change the approach you use for the line to either improve it or at least give you the challenge just to do something different and make it a learning experience.  If you think a tested line is really strong, think twice and examine it within the context of THIS audience on THIS day.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because something was funny before, that it will be funny again.  Probability theory tells us that each repeat of a joke is a separate and independent event!

It’s time for our Cartoon Caption Contest for the month of July.  We feature the art of professional cartoonist Dan Rosandich.

New Cartoon Caption Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months).

New Joke Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months).  The next Joke Contest is August 1, 2010.

Here is the cartoon:

Write as many captions as you can.  Then select your best three captions and submit them.  Deciding which lines are your best lines is a great discipline for discovering if what you think is funny is also found to be funny to others.  You can submit more than three lines, the extra lines will be eligible for honorable mention.  Only your first three lines will be judged by our panel of judges for first, second and third place.  Submit your entries to HumorPowerTips@HumorPower.com by July 15, 2010.

Visit cartoonist Dan Rosandich who has an extensive and in-depth archive of categorized cartoons and cartoon pictures available for licensing at negotiable fees.

It’s time for the results of our Creative Cures humor contest.  The theme was inspired by Sol Morrison from Santa Barbara, California. 

New Joke Contests are announced on the first of the month (alternating months).

New Cartoon Caption Contests are announced on the first of the month (alternating months).  The next caption contest is July 1, 2010.

Here are this month’s top lines:

** FIRST PLACE **

The cure for military personnel having bad hair days:  Head and Soldiers Shampoo.
     Marty Bernstein, Oak Park, Illinois

** SECOND PLACE **

The cure for New Orleans:  Move Congress there to live.
     Tena Thompson, Las Vegas, Nevada

** THIRD PLACE **

The cure for awful lower back tattoos:  Require that the client view a 20-year age progression of the tattoo before the artist begins.

     Tom Nee, Oak Lawn, Illinois

 HONORABLE MENTION (in random order)

  – The cure for a happy attitude:  Watch the evening newscast.
  – The cure for an obsessive compulsion to be correct:  Become a Meteorologist.
  – The cure for Apathy:  Sitting on a Giant Red Ant hill.
  – The cure for lethargy:  Hitting a Beehive with a Baseball bat.
  – The cure for your witch spell not working:  Say it in cursive script.
  – The cure for the Stock Market Blues:  Stop trying to keep up with the Dow Jones’.
  – The cure for bad Father’s Day neckties:  Require that the giver wear the tie to two job interviews before Father’s Day.
  – The cure for Disease:  Just unionize germs.  They’re bound to strike and walk off the job sooner or later.
  – The cure for Dented Fenders:  Make all fenders out of Memory Foam.
  – The cure for Sunburn:  Red Tape.
  – The cure for bad haircuts:  Require that the coiffeur-challenged live in a house with mirrored walls and ceilings.
  – The cure for too-loud teen music:  Require that teens be given boom boxes that only play 70’s lite rock classics.
  – The cure for cell phone use while driving:  Require that those caught wear blindfolds and earplugs while driving.
  – The cure for the gulf oil spill:  Oil industry executives with mile long straws.
  – The cure for Marines with sore throats:  Halls of Montezuma.
  – The cure for burned bread:  Toastmasters.
  – The cure for dangling participles:  Marry an English teacher.
  – The cure for varicose veins:  Flesh colored markers.
  – The cure for male wrinkles:  Brotox.
  – The cure for heart disease in NY harbor:  Statin Island.
  – The cure for bad Federal Reserve Bank behavior:  Suethefed.
  – The cure for remote voting for corporate officers:  Proxycontin.
  – The cure for thieves with stomach aches:  Cleptobismol.
  – The cure for insomnia in southern California:  Santa Barbarituates.
  – The cure for tears:  Crylenol.
  – The cure for nosy people:  Prylenol.

Here’s another Observational Humor monologue presented at the end of a Toastmasters Club meeting.  It’s presented as a learning tool to help you find your own, original humor. 

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

1.  One of our speakers, George Irish, used a note card about the size of a Post-It note.

2.  George gave an excellent speech with good audience reaction.  In fact they laughed in a couple of places where he didn’t expect laughs.

3.  George listed some languages he had experience with, including “Hillbilly.”

4.  George said he was a 40-year on-and-off Toastmaster.

5.  George described himself as a compulsive poker player.

6.  Another speaker talked about a part-time job as a costumed mascot for a Smoothie company.

7.  At the start of every meeting we are reminded to turn off all cell phones and electronic devices.

8.  Frank commented on the hot weather (110 degrees Fahrenheit/43 degrees Celsius), and said that when he stepped into the elevator to come up to the meeting, a woman said to him in a sexy voice, “You’re so hot!”

9.  Donna talked about being a non-swimmer and going to a friend’s pool wearing goggles, a snorkel, a floatie, fins and a body board. 

10.  A speaker talked about an un-characteristic situation where she lost her cool and cussed someone out.  Her first language is German.

THE MONOLOGUE

I have eight observations to share with you tonight.  (I pulled out a one-square-inch note card.)
(This was a visual sight-gag.  I thought it stood out when George used a noticeably small note card, and nobody had commented on it.  So I chose to use an even smaller note card, without making any specific comment about it.)

George Irish gave a great speech.  Based on the audience response, I’d say that everyone here is fluent in Hillbilly.
(Fluent in Hillbilly was an OK line and received an OK laugh.  I primarily used it as something to read off the small note card and as a set-up/transition to the self-introduction which followed.)

Allow me to introduce myself.  I’m John Norwegian.  I’m a country boy from North Dakota, a long-time Toastmaster, and a repulsive poker player.  And I was formerly a smoothie mascot.
(A brief self-introduction based on several call backs.  Switched the sound-alike word REPULSIVE to add a touch of self-deprecation.)

I’m glad the Sergeant at Arms reminded us to turn off all electrical devices.  I almost forgot to turn off my electronic whoopee cushion.
(The humor trigger is Absurdity.)

I saw Frank’s car in the parking lot.  His personalized license plate says Chile Pepper…because he’s so hot.
(Linked his claim to be hot with a ficticious license plate.)

I noticed in Donna’s speech that when she went swimming at her friend’s pool, she wore goggles, a snorkel, a floatie, fins and a body board.  I also noticed that she did not wear a swim suit (huge laugh). Donna, I’d like to invite you to come swim in my pool (huge laugh).
(The first sentence is a set-up.  The second sentence is a punchline.  The humor trigger was “what wasn’t said.”   The third sentence is a topper.  These were the two biggest laughs of the night in a meeting filled with laughter.)

Going home tonight I’m going to be more careful than when I came here.  On my way to the meeting, I accidentally cut someone off on the freeway…and a nice lady cussed me out in German.  (Of course this didn’t really happen.  I dropped myself into someone else’s story.  The set-up builds the tension.  The “going home tonight” made it a good closer.)

The day after publishing my June newsletter, I received an email from a subscriber:

“honestly, i didn’t get your humor, why don’t you look for something else to do?”

Feedback like that can create thoughts which can be either destructive or productive.

DESTRUCTIVE THOUGHTS make us feel bad.  They can make us angry.  They block our growth.  They don’t serve us.  Thoughts such as:

   – I worked for hours creating that newsletter.  And I sent it out for free!  Neither of these thoughts are good cause to be upset.

   – What does he know!  I’ve done hundreds of monologues and over one thousand comedy programs over the last 40 years.  Lots of people think I’m funny.  But it’s still a fact that I’m not funny to him.

   – I’m being personally attacked.  Our humor can easily become a touchy area.  We take ownership of our funny lines.  We’ve created our jokes.  They’re part of us.  They’re a reflection on our judgment and our logic.  We invested time and effort in their design.  And when someone doesn’t like a joke, it can sting…but only if we allow it to.  Our attitudes, positive and negative, are always a choice.

PRODUCTIVE THOUGHTS help us to accept feedback positively.  Thoughts such as:

   – He was speaking the truth.  His truth.  My style of humor was not funny to him.  Only he is the judge of what is funny to him.

   – He probably has a good sense of humor.  If I were to observe him telling a joke to his friends, they would probably laugh.  There’s a good chance I might not find it funny.  Neither of us is bad, or wrong, just different.

   – He is coming from a good place.  Maybe this isn’t always true, but usually it is (98 percent of the time in my opinion).  And it’s a thought that serves you well.

   – We have different tastes in humor just as we have different tastes in many areas of life.  Not everyone likes heavy metal rock.  Not everyone thinks that rap music is music.  We like different movies.  We get excited about different TV shows.  Some people love reality programs.  Others think they’re totally fake.  So it is with humor…different jokes for different folks.

   – We thrive by accepting feedback.  It helps us to understand people better.  The better our understanding of what makes people tick, the more likely we’ll have stronger relationships with a wide variety of people.

   – No joke will ever connect with every member of a specific audience.  Few of us are experts in cultural humor, generational humor, regional humor, or in the differences between male and female humor.  I’m not an expert in those areas.  So I try not to beat myself up when one of my jokes doesn’t pass the test with a reader or an audience member.

   – It doesn’t matter that I think a joke was funny.  It doesn’t matter that other subscribers think I’m funny.  Those things are irrelevant.  Some people aren’t going to like my humor.  And that’s OK.

   – Let your expectations be positive.  It helps that my goal for the newsletter and blog isn’t primarily to be funny.  My aim is to help others get in touch with what they find funny.  And when I get an occasional email from someone who found a monologue really funny…I’m usually more surprised than I am pleased.  Because I know that the power of the humor is often based on the “you had to be there” factor.  So I expect most of my writings to be learning tools not laughter generators.

   – Don’t be needy.  Don’t be searching for validation.  It helps that over the last 40 years I’ve had audience feedback that I am funny.  Hundreds of Observational Humor monologues, and over 1000 comedy programs have passed the audience test and confirmed to me that I can be funny.  But not to everyone.

   – Fortunately, I don’t receive lots of emails like the one I quoted.  It isn’t that other readers don’t feel the same way.  Most of them just quietly go away and don’t tell me why.  That’s probably a good thing.  If I received 100 emails like that every week…I’d look for something else to do!

When I collect humorous observations, I am both eager to try them out with an audience and at the same time wanting to limit how many observations I use.  Let me share an example.

I had prepared my Observational Humor monologue, nine items, and was standing in the back of the room waiting to be introduced.  In our club, the person who introduces the Observational Humor Master is the General Evaluator.  The introduction comes at the end of the General Evaluator’s review of the meeting as a whole.  That evening, during his evaluation of the meeting, he noted that the club President announced an upcoming TLI event, but didn’t define TLI (Toastmaster Leadership Institute).

Normally, when I’m introduced as the Observational Humor Master, the first thing I do is ask “Does anyone have any Observational Humor to share?”  I decided to make a last second change, and instead I asked, “Does anyone have any TLI to share?”  It got a big laugh.

Sometimes I use my humorous observations…sometimes I choose not to.  Here are some thoughts on the process of adding the TLI opening to the monologue:

1.  A monologue or a speech is never set in concrete.  I’m always willing to add a new line at the last second.

2.  Adding an observation of something that just happened, strengthens the power of the humor.  An audience appreciates the quick wit, being in-the-moment.  It made a great opener.

3.  As part of my collection of observations, I came up with a creative definition for the acronym TLI.  However, I chose not to give the “definition of TLI” unless I was asked for it, because Less is More.  The power of not offering a definition was funnier than volunteering one.  The absence of a definition increased tension which magnified the humor.

4.  I had to prepare a definition, just in case I was asked.  I needed a definition that was relevant to Observational Humor.  So I came up with a line and a topper.  If someone had asked, my response would have been:  “TLI is Timely Laughter Insights…but I assumed you already knew that.”

5.  No one asked for a definition, so I never used the lines.  Humor is often best when used in moderation.  Forcing everything you have on an audience can work against you.  Leave them wanting more.

6.  Not providing a definition also plays with the principle of the implied punchline, letting them “fill in the blank.”  This is also linked to the laughter trigger of Audience Superiority…letting them “get the joke.”  Serving them everything is not always the funniest way to go.

Almost every time I prepare a monologue, I work at blending my observations together, while avoiding the temptation to use every observation on my list.  By doing that, the final piece will be stronger.

The challenge for this month’s Joke Contest is Creative Cures.  The theme was inspired by Sol Morrison from Santa Barbara, California.

Here are three examples:

The cure for global warming:  Outlaw political speeches.

The cure for federal deficits:  Require that salaries and pensions of congress and staff be paid only from surplus funds.

The cure for young people wearing low-rider pants exposing their underwear:  Require all parents to wear low-rider pants exposing their underwear.

It’s time for you to come up with your own cures.  Submit your top three cures for review by our panel of judges.  You may submit more than three cures and the additional entries will be eligible for Honorable Mention recognition.  Submit your best entries to HumorPowerTips@HumorPower.com by June 15, 2010.

The following was sent to me by Linda Evans, a very talented humor speaker, after she won her district’s Tall Tales contest.

Linda writes:

I’m still a little fearful of creating observational humor, but as John Kinde says, it just takes practice.  So, on May 8, 2010, I made a conscious decision to give it a whirl.  At the District 33 (California and Nevada) conference, I was honored to represent Division D in the Tall Tales contest.  Here’s the set-up:

1. There were nearly 200 people in the banquet room.  District 33 Governor Sherrie Parker wanted to recognize each of the Area Governors by name; numbering more than thirty.  In order to make enough time to recognize each one, she asked the audience to join her with one single clap of applause after each name.  We obliged.
(John’s note:  The large size of the audience is a plus.  The response, compared to a club meeting with 15 people, will be magnified.  Also, the set-up was strong.  Because of the repetitive nature of the single clap, it was something everyone noticed.)

2.  Looking at my speech, the 9th line was “All the other vegetables were applauding and smiling.”  A bolt of Observational Humor lightning struck!  I immediately changed that line to “All the other vegetables were smiling and gave me an applaud” and I clapped my hands once and waited.  A wave of laughter went through the audience.  I turned my head and stared at Sherrie Parker, and another wave of laughter went through the audience. 
(John’s note: Notice that not only did she switch in the word APPLAUD, she changed the order of the words to make APPLAUD the punch word.  Then she followed it with two toppers, both physical. The first one, she clapped once.  The second one she looked at Sherrie Parker.)

That was a great relief and I’m pleased to say that I won first place!  There was some great competition, but I really believe that the strength of the call-back to the one-clap applause made all the difference.  Thanks John Kinde.  You rock!  Linda Evans
(John’s note:  This is what Observational Humor is all about.  It’s not about monologues.  The true power comes when you add that gem to one of your speeches. Adding Observational Humor to a talk, especially early in the speech, can add a feeling of freshness to the entire talk.  I was not present at the contest, which is why I heard from several people telling me that her line was the funniest of the weekend.  Go Linda!)

It’s time for the top captions in our May Cartoon Caption Contest featuring the artwork of Dan Rosandich.  For the first time, our top three captions all came from the same state!

New Cartoon Caption Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months).

New Joke Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months).

Here are this month’s cartoon and the results:

** FIRST PLACE **

The DNA test came back.  I have blue genes.
     Marty Bernstein, Oak Park, Illinois

** SECOND PLACE **

You should see my tan lines.
      Tom Nee, Oak Lawn, Illinois

** THIRD PLACE **

And I changed my name to Ava Tarr.
     Sandy Kampner, Evergreen Park, Illinois

HONORABLE MENTION (in random order)

  – I could talk till I’m blue in the face…or the arms…or my whole body, and you STILL won’t listen!
  – John, you put way too much fabric softener on the clothes again!
  – I thought it said self tanner for Martins not Martians.
  – I can’t sue because my skin IS smoother.
  – You won’t believe the dream I had; there was this wizard Gargamell and I was the only girl among these little guys.
  – I was still inside when they did the Extreme Makeover.
  – My hairdresser thought red would look best.
  – Don’t hate me because I’m blue!
  – The doctor says I’m not depressed, just a little blue.
  – Are you the wise guy who locked me in the meat locker?
  – I must be having an allergic reaction to those blueberries we ate.
  – I think I put to much blue cheese on my salad.
  – The good news is that my acne cleared up.
  – I got tired of fuchsia.
  – What do you mean, Copy Cats?  Our act is called Blue WOMAN  Group!
  – I told you Mr McGee…you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
  – I joined the Army, but they turned me into an ultramarine.
  – I’m a frequent flyer on JetBlue.
  – That’s the last time I order the blue plate special!
  – You may like Popeye, but I’m partial to Bluto.
  – Next time, don’t let the bluebird of happiness get anywhere near me!
  – What “wild blue yonder”?  I’m the wild blue right here!
  – Underwear? Yes, I’m wearing bluemers.
  – I’m never going back to Kentucky!
  – I don’t care for my new job at Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
  – And you think your sunburn is bad?
  – I thought you knew I was a space alien when you viewed my Facebook profile.
  – No, I am not James T Kirk and I am not your father.
  – I should have paid more attention during the Heimlich manuveur portion of class.

Visit cartoonist Dan Rosandich who has an extensive and in depth archive of categorized cartoons and cartoon pictures available for licensing at negotiable fees.

Many of my posts give you insights into the Observational Humor monologues I present at my Toastmasters Club, PowerHouse Pros.  This post gives you a case study written by Dana Richardson.

During our Observational Humor segment of the meeting, several members share their humorous observations.

What I’ve learned from hearing other people’s observations is that humor is abundant.  I normally present my monologue after everyone else shares their observations.  Rarely does someone use one of my lines before I have the opportunity to speak.  And many of the lines other people present are terrific…the “I wish I had thought of that” kind of lines.  If we had different people attending the meeting, I know that they would come up with even more new and great lines.

Dana Richardson is one of our very funny members who also creates monologues at our meetings.  He recently posted one of them on his blog.

  – You will find his analysis interesting and valuable.
  – Notice his use of a Top-Five list.  It’s an example of using a “vehicle” for structuring humor.
  – I’ve included my monologue from that same meeting.  Notice how it’s totally different from his.  His monologue is also longer, indicating that more things caught his eye than caught mine.

Dana Richardson’s monologue.

My monologue from same meeting.