The Art of Using Humor in Public Speaking

The Art of Using
Humor in Public Speaking

Prepared By
TM Manu Melwin Joy
Kerala Toastmasters
Area – G3,Division G
District 92, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
Kindly restrict the use of slides for personal purpose.
Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public forms and presentations.

Introduction to Humor in Public speaking
1. Humor in public speaking.
2. Why use humor?
Slide 31 to Slide 38

7 Things you should know about your
sense of humor
1. It can change the way you see yourself and the world
around you.
2. It improves relationships. Your sense of humor makes
relationships works.
3. 4 out of 5 doctors recommend it. Your sense of
humor is good for your health.
4. Everyone has a sense of humor.
5. Moods change, but your sense of humor doesn’t.
Your sense of humor is not a mood.
6. It is a welcome mat for solutions to your problems.
7. It is the real your. Your true sense of humor can’t be
faked.

12 Benefits of using humor.
1. Makes you more likeable.
2. Helps you connect with the audience.
3. Arouses interest and keeps attention.
4. Helps emphasize points and ideas
5. Disarms hostility
6. Shows that you don’t take yourself too seriously
7. Makes information more memorable
8. Lightens up heavy material
9. It answers the question everyone wants to ask
10. Gives the audience some shuffle time
11. Improving Health
12. Antidote for stress.

Famous quotations about humor

Definition of Humor
1. Definition of humor.
2. Definition of wit.
3. Difference between humor, wit, satire and farce.
4. Who should use humor?

Theories of humor
1. Superiority theories.
2. Incongruity theories.
3. Relief theories.

Laws of Humor
1. First Law : Things can be funny only when we
are "in fun".
2. Second Law : When we are "in fun", a
peculiar shift of values takes place.
3. Third Law : Being "in fun" is a condition most
natural to childhood.
4. Fourth law : Grown-up people retain in
varying degrees this aptitude for being in fun
and thus enjoying unpleasant things as funny.

Types of humor
1. Self – effacing humor
2. Personal anecdotes
3. Similes / metaphors
4. Quotations
5. Lists
6. Predictions
7. One liners.
8. Puns.
9. Props.
10.Stereotypes.

Using of verbal humor.
• Anecdote
• Aside
• Banter
• Blend word
• Blunder
• Conundrum
• Freudian slip
• Hyperbole
• Irony Words
• Joke
• Parody
• Recovery
• Repartee
• Satire
• Situational Humor
• Understatement

The MAP to being a successful
humorist
• M – Material.
• A – Audience.
• P – Performer.

The THREES formula for humor
• Target.
• Hostility.
• Realism.
• Exaggeration.
• Emotion.
• Surprise.

POW : Play of Words
• Double entendre.
• Malaprop.
• Oxymoron.
• Pun.
• Reforming.
• Simple truth.
• Take-off. Slide 298 to Slide 333

The Harmony of Paired Elements
• Phrases.
• Words.
• Statistics.
• Aphorisms.

Triples : SAP Technique
•S= Setup (preparation)
•A= Anticipation (triple)
•P= Punch line (story payoff)

Where to use humor in your speech?
1. Beginning of your speech.
2. Middle of your speech.
3. End of your speech.

Tips to tap into your inherent humor
1. Tip 1 -Identify Things That Make You Laugh.
2. Tip 2 - Identify the Things You Already Do
That Make Others Laugh.
3. Tip 3 - Learn the Basics Of Humor.
4. Tip 4 - Understand That Humor Comes In the
Rewrite.
5. Tip 5 - Keep Working at It.

7 Simple Techniques to Put Humor
Into Your Speech
1. Develop a stockpile of stories.
2. Observe other speakers.
3. Memorize the stories.
4. Be prepared to deliver “impromptu” stories.
5. Practice.
6. Move On.
7. Plan the “spice” in your speech.

Developing Original Humor for Your
Talk : STR technique
1. Surprise
2. Tension.
3. Relationships.

Delivering the speech
• Rule 1 : Use humor in the beginning.
• Rule 2 : Use humorous anecdotes rather than jokes .
• Rule 3 : Don't try to make jokes about areas outside
your expertise .
• Rule 4 : Use self-deprecating humor .
• Rule 5 : Keep it clean .
• Rule 6 : Keep it relevant

Delivering the speech (Cont..)
• Rule 7 : If You Use Borrowed Material, Give the Source .
• Rule 8 : Practice, Practice, Practice .
• Rule 9 : Keep Emergency Back-Up Material Handy .
• Rule 10 : Engage Your Audience .
• Rule 11 : Keep Your Presentation a Work in Progress .
• Rule 12 : Use Exaggeration to Be Funny

Delivering the speech (Cont..)
• Rule 13 : Gestures, Vocal Variety and Pauses Are Important.
• Rule 14 : Know your audience.
• Rule 15 : Use the rule of three.
• Rule 16 : Use understatement after making a strong point.
• Rule 17 :Set and Break Expectations.
• Rule 18 : Uncover Humor from Dialogue.
• Rule 19 : Humor Doesn’t Mean Stealing Jokes from the
Internet .

How to use humor when things go
wrong?
• You are given a terrible introduction.
• You trip on the way to the lectern.
• Your funny line or story bombs,
• An audience member walks out during your speech.
• There’s a sudden crash from outside the room.

Source of materials for humor
• People.
• Personal Anecdotes
• Printed sources.
• Joke books.
• Internet.

Pitfalls of Public Speaking Humour
• You are not a stand up comedian.
• All speeches should contain at least one serious point.
• Never use offensive humor.
• Don’t stop the audience laughing.
• Use bombproof humor.
• Honest.
• Making the “Funny Story” Announcement.
• Put a Ban on Sarcasm.
• Avoid, Avoid and Really Avoid.

15 shades of laughter
• Smirk.
• Smile.
• Grin.
• Snicker.
• Giggle.
• Chuckle.
• Chortle.
• Laugh.
• Cackle.
• Guffaw.
• Howl.
• Shriek.
• Roar.
• Convulse.
• Die laughing.

Mel Helitzer
Comedy Writing Secrets

Author and Toastmasters

Introduction to Humor in Public speaking

Humor in public speaking
• Some consider humor to be the
Holy Grail of public speaking. The
old adage, ‘Always start with a joke’,
endures like no other. Behind this is
the idea that a well-timed gag will
win over any audience and open
them up to your message. But the
role of comedy in public speaking is
far more complex and subtle than
this phrase would have you believe.

The Art of Using Humor in Public Speaking

Humor in public speaking
• For any person who must
speak in public or private,
to business or pleasure
groups, humor is an
invaluable indispensable
tool for getting your
message across.

'Business executives and political leaders have
embraced humor because humor works. Humor
has gone from being an admirable part of a
leader's character to a mandatory one.‘
– Bob Orben, Special Assistant to President Gerald Ford
and Former Director of the White House Speech
writing Department.

Why Use Humor?
• People will enjoy what
you have to say if it is
presented with humor.
• You will be appreciated for
providing heartfelt
laughter; laughter that has
therapeutic effects on
listeners.

Why Use Humor?
• If you are in a situation
where important and
perhaps controversial
ideas must be presented
to less than open minds,
humor allows those ideas
to be presented in a non-
threatening manner.
• Abraham Lincoln was
famous for his ability to
relate humorous stories to
make a point.

Why Use Humor?
• You will be remembered,
talked about; your
reputation as a truly
great speaker will be
enhanced and spread
about.

Benefits of using humor
• Makes you more likeable
– this one is a no brainer.
We all like people who
make us laugh and believe
me, you really do want
the audience with you not
against you.

• Helps you connect with
the audience – as the
audience start to relax
they start to see you as
someone they know, a
friend.

• Arouses interest and
keeps attention – if the
audience are having a
good time they want
more, so they are more
inclined to forget about
their worries and listen.

• Helps emphasize points
and ideas – if you
emphasize the main
points of your speech with
a little humor the
audience will actually
remember what you’ve
said.

• Disarms hostility – you
won’t always be
speaking to an audience
who are on your side,
but if you’ve made them
laugh they will be more
sympathetic.

• Shows that you don’t
take yourself too
seriously – nobody likes
listening to a stuffed shirt.
A little self-effacing humor
will let the audience know
that you are just like
them.

• Makes information more
memorable – if you
illustrate the main points
of your speech with a little
humour, the audience are
more likely to remember
those points.

• Lightens up heavy material –
nobody wants to listen to a
heavy message for twenty
minutes but if you start with
a little humor, hit the
audience with your main
message and then finish with
something light hearted…
they might last the distance.

• It answers the question
everyone wants to ask –
when Abraham Lincoln was
accused of being two faced,
he answered with the now
famous…
“Friends, I ask you, if I were
two-faced, would I be
wearing this one?“

• Gives the audience
some shuffle time –
during the laughter the
audience can shuffle
around and get
comfortable in their
chairs.

• Improving Health - If you enjoy
a good laugh on a regular basis
you will usually have a lower
blood pressure than average. If
your humor makes people
laugh, your contributing to
their health. It also results in
deep breathing which in
numerous ways.

• Antidote for stress - Numerous
studies show how laughter
helps to ease tension and
stress. It is also a way to help
keep the brain alert. This
means if incorporated in public
speaking, it can serve as a way
to tap into the audience mind,
helping them to retain more of
what they hear you say.

Humor is Like an Old Shoe
• Humor will serve to relax the
audience resulting in them being
more comfortable with you. It is
kind of like an old shoe. When you
get up on podium and start
speaking, you are like a new shoe.
New shoes look great but are not
always comfortable. Once broke in
however, they are not only
comfortable, they make you feel
comfortable.
• Humor allows the audience to feel
comfortable around you. This makes
what you say have more weight and
builds rapport with your audience.

The use of off-color, risque or blue humor,
humor which derives its "effectiveness" from
shock value, sexual content, or relation to
bodily functions has no place in the
repertoire of the professional speaker.

"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few
people are interested, and the frog dies of it.“
E.B. White

Definition of humor
• Humor is defined as "the
mental faculty of
discovering, expressing
or appreciating the
ludicrous or absurdly
incongruous".

Definition of humor
• Ludicrous is an adjective
meaning amusing or
laughable through obvious
absurdity, incongruity,
exaggeration or eccentricity.
What is incongruous? It is
something lacking congruity,
inconsistent within itself.

Definition of humor
• Doctor Jarvis was a
professional public speaker
who focused on humor, and
he defined it in two ways.
One, humor is a painful thing
told playfully. Two, humor is a
tragedy separated by time
and space.

Definition of wit
• Wit is defined as, "the
power to evoke laughter by
remarks showing verbal
felicity or ingenuity and
swift perception, especially
of the incongruous".

Definition of wit
• Synonymous with wit are,
humor, irony, sarcasm, satire
and repartee, which are all
modes of expression intended
to arouse amusement. But there
is another element to wit which
Dr. Jarvis explains by saying,
"Wit punctures, humor
pictures."

Definition of wit
• A person with wit delivers
witticisms which are defined
as cleverly witty and often
biting or ironic remarks with
the ability to relate seemingly
disparate things so as to
illuminate or amuse.

Difference between humor, wit, satire
and farce
• In its narrower sense, humor is
distinguished from wit, satire, and
farce. It is less intellectual and more
imaginative than wit, being
concerned more with character and
situation than with plays upon
words or upon ideas; more
sympathetic and less cruel than
satire; more subtle than farce.

Who should use humor?
• Anyone whose job it is to
communicate to groups of
individuals, to share
information or to motivate,
could use humor to invigorate
their message and improve
the reception of their
audience.

If deep, deep down, you know that you are a
klutz when it comes to delivering the punch
line, if you can't seem to get jokes right, then
consider carefully your decision to use
humor.

Theories of humor
• What exactly is it about a
situation that makes it
laughable? We all know
that some things do make
us laugh; but it is very hard
to say just what it is that
these laughable things have
in common.

Theories of humor
• Theories of humor (in the
wider sense) are attempts
to solve this problem. They
may be divided into three
main types: Superiority
theories, incongruity
theories and relief
theories. A fourth type of
theory, which takes the
central feature of humor to
be ambivalence, a mingling
of attraction and repulsion,
is of minor importance.

Superiority Theories
• Very often we laugh at
people because they have
some failing or defect, or
because they find
themselves at a
disadvantage in some way
or suffer some small
misfortune.

• The miser, the glutton,
the drunkard are all
stock figures of comedy;
so is the henpecked
husband or the man
who gets hit with a
custard pie.

• We laugh, too, at mistakes:
at schoolboy howlers, faulty
pronunciation, bad
grammar. These are all
fairly crude examples, but it
may be that even the most
subtle humor is merely a
development of this, and
that the pleasure we take in
humor derives from our
feeling of superiority over
those we laugh at.

• Thomas Hobbes (1588-
1679) is probably the
originator of this theory.
"Laughter," he says, "is a
kind of sudden glory"; and
he is using "glory" in the
sense of “ Vainglory” or
"self-esteem.

• He adds that we laugh at the
misfortunes or infirmities of
others, at our own past
follies, provided that we are
conscious of having now
surmounted them, and also
at unexpected successes of
our own.

• Arguing on these lines,
Alexander Bain (1818-1903)
maintains that all humor
involves the degradation of
something. Bain expands
Hobbes in two main
directions.

• Firstly, He says that we need
not be directly conscious of
our own superiority; we may,
for example, laugh
sympathetically with another
who scores off his adversary.

• Secondly, it need not be a
person that is derided: it may
be an idea, a political
institution, or, indeed,
anything at all that makes a
claim to dignity or respect.
Even a sunrise may be
degraded, as when Samuel
Butler compares it, in
Hudibras, to "a lobster
boiled."

Incongruity Theories
• Incongruity is often identified
with "frustrated expectation," a
concept we owe to Immanuel
Kant (1724-1804), who says
that humor arises "from the
sudden transformation of a
strained expectation into
nothing."

• More is implied here than
merely surprise: the
suggestion is that humor
consists in the violent
dissolution of an emotional
attitude. This is done by the
abrupt intrusion into the
attitude of something that is
felt not to belong there, of
some element that has
strayed, as it were, from
another compartment of our
minds.

• On this view, what is
essential to humor is the
mingling of two ideas which
are felt to be utterly
disparate. One or the other
may be "degraded" in the
process; but this is incidental.

• The neatness of the joke will
depend on two things: the
degree of contrast between
the two elements, and the
completeness with which
they are made to fuse.

• Oscar Wilde’s witticism, "Work
is the curse of the drinking
classes," is funny, not merely
because of its close
resemblance to the wording of
the conventional remark which
it replaces ["drinking is the
curse of the working classes"],
but because it presents us with
a quite different, but perhaps
equally appropriate, evaluation
of the social fact referred to.

• Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
thinks that all humor can be
explained as "descending
incongruity."Spencer agrees
with Bain that incongruity
always involves a contrast
between something exalted,
or dignified, and something
trivial or disreputable; but he
thinks that it is the
incongruity, and not the
descent or "degradation,"
that is the important feature

• Humor, according to
incongruity theories, may be
said to consist in the finding
of "the inappropriate within
the appropriate."

Relief Theories
• Since humor often calls
conventional social
requirements into question,
it may be regarded as
affording us relief from the
restraint of conforming to
those requirements.

Relief Theories
• The relief may be only
temporary: a smoking room
story, for example, is not
usually a serious challenge to
conventional morality; but it
does enable us to air the
sexual impulses which
society makes us repress.

Relief Theories
• Moreover, people who have
been undergoing a strain will
sometimes burst into
laughter if the strain is
suddenly removed. It may
be, then, that the central
element in humor is neither
a feeling of superiority nor
the awareness of incongruity,
but the feeling of relief that
comes from the removal of
restraint.

Relief Theories
• This theory has been reinforced
and brought into prominence by
the psychological discoveries of
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
[Viennese founder of
psychoanalysis: if you want to go
to the source for this, it's Jokes
and their relation to the
unconscious.

Relief Theories
• Freud himself regards humor
as a means of outwitting the
"censor," his name for the
internal inhibitions which
prevent us from giving rein to
many of our natural
impulses. It is not only our
sexual impulses that are
repressed by the censor, but
also our malicious ones.

Relief Theories
• In this way Freud is able to
account, not only for
indecent jokes and for the
appeal of comic characters
like Falstaff who ignore
conventional moral
restraints, but also for the
malicious element in humor
to which superiority theories
call attention.

Relief Theories
• According to Freud, the
censor will allow us to
indulge in these forbidden
thoughts only if it is first
beguiled or disarmed in
some way. The beguiling is
done, he thinks, by means of
the techniques of humor:
such devices as punning,
"representation by the
opposite," and so on.

Relief Theories
• Freud finds many similarities
between the techniques of
humor and the ways in which
our waking thoughts are
distorted in dreams. This
enables him to link his theory
of humor with his theory of
dream interpretation:
dreams are also a means of
eluding the censor.

Relief Theories
• The intellectual pleasure of
playing with words and ideas,
and of finding unexpected
connections, regarded by the
incongruity theories as the
essential element in humor,
thus finds a place in Freud's
theory as a means of tricking
the censor.

Relief Theories
• Freud explains this by adopting
Spencer's physiological
explanation of laughter. The
pleasure results, he thinks,
from the economizing of
nervous energy. Nevertheless,
he does not regard the intrinsic
appeal of these comic devices
as sufficient to explain humor. :
they would be pointless if we
were not able, under their
cover, to give vent to repressed
desires.

Conclusion
• Each of these theories of
humor is able to explain
some types of humor, but it
may be doubted if any of
them can satisfactorily
explain every type of humor.

Conclusion
• Superiority theories account
very well for our laughter at
small misfortunes and for the
appeal of satire, but are less
happy in dealing with word
play, incongruity, nonsense,
and indecency. Incongruity
theories, on the other hand,
are strong where superiority
theories are weakest, and
weak where they are
strongest.

Conclusion
• Relief theories account
admirably for laughter at
indecency, malice, and
nonsense (regarded as relief
from "the governess, reason" [a
reference back to
Schopenhauer]) but are forced
to concede that there is an
intrinsic appeal in incongruity
and word play that is quite
independent of relief from
restraint. Each type of theory
does, however, illuminate some
aspect of humor.

Laws of humor
• Max Eastman wrote a book titled
“The Enjoyment of Laughter”, which
goes into detail analyzing the
psychology behind humor. He
presents four laws of humor, all
related to the concept of being "in
fun".

Laws of humor
• The first law is that things
can be funny only when
we are "in fun".
• Ask yourself, "Is this
audience "in fun"; do I
dare use humor; can they
be moved into "in fun""?

Laws of humor
• The second law is that when we
are "in fun", a peculiar shift of
values takes place.
• Pleasant things are still pleasant,
but disagreeable things, so long
as they are not disagreeable
enough to "spoil the fun", tend to
acquire a pleasant emotional
flavor and provoke a laugh.

Laws of humor
• Someone who can
think funny has the
natural ability to see
the humor in the
painful lessons of life.

Laws of humor
• The third law is that being "in
fun" is a condition most
natural to childhood, and that
children at play reveal the
humorous laugh in its simplest
and most omnivorous form.
• A speaker must be aware of
the mood of the audience at all
times.

Laws of humor
• The fourth law is that grown-up
people retain in varying degrees this
aptitude for being in fun and thus
enjoying unpleasant things as funny.
• But those not richly endowed with
humor manage to feel a very comic
feeling only when within, or behind or
beyond, or suggested by, the playfully
unpleasant thing, there is a pleasant
one.

Laws of humor
• Audiences made up of individuals
who have retained in varying
degrees the aptitude for being "in
fun" provide the humorous
speaker with a great challenge;
that of reaching all present. Like
Charlie says, some members of the
audience are thinking, "OK Buster,
lets see if you can make me
laugh....... "

Types of humor
1. Self – effacing humor
2. Personal anecdotes
3. Similes / metaphors
4. Quotations
5. Lists
6. Predictions
7. One liners

Types of Humor
• What do you think of
when you think of humor?
I’m guessing that you think
of jokes. Most of us do and
when speakers start using
humor in their speeches,
they add jokes.

Types of Humor
• They give a bit of their
speech, then tell a joke,
then another bit of their
speech, then another
joke… and that’s what the
result sounds like…
speech. joke, speech,
joke….

Types of Humor
• Forget jokes, look for
humor that adds to
your speech, makes a
point or illustrates
something you’re
saying.

Types of Humor
Self – effacing humor
• if you want to have a little
fun at someone’s
expense, make sure it’s at
yours. As the speaker you
should be big enough to
take a little ribbing and
the audience will admire
you for it.

Types of Humor
Personal anecdotes
• we’ve all had
humorous experiences
or heard people say
funny things, so weave
them into your
speeches.

Types of Humor
Personal anecdotes
• Audiences are more likely to
warm to amusing anecdotes
and observations that draw
on your own experiences.
These stories tend to feel
more real, less forced and
give your audience
opportunities to connect
with you as a speaker.

Types of Humor
Similes / metaphors
• Similies and
metaphors are a great
source of humour on
any subject you can
think of.

Types of Humor
Similes / metaphors
• “Life is rather like a
tin of sardines – we’re
all of us looking for
the key.”
Alan Bennett

Types of Humor
Quotations
• Funny quotes are the No. 1
best way to use humor in a
presentation because funny
quotes are brief, and you can
easily memorize several
quotes that you can toss out
when you think it's time for
some humor.

Types of Humor
Quotations
• Plus, when you quote
someone else, you're
somewhat in safe territory
because if it bombs, it was
that other person that
actually said it, not you, so
you gain some distance
there. But if the quote gets a
great reaction, then you get
the credit for making them
laugh.

Types of Humor
Quotations
• There are huge
volumes of quotations
out there just waiting
to be used to illustrate
your points and add
humour to your
speeches.

Types of Humor
Quotations
• I’m a kind of
paranoiac in reverse –
I suspect people are
plotting to make me
happy.”
J.D. Salinger

Types of Humor
Lists
• Whenever you use a list
of at least three items you
can inject a little humor.
The first few items follow
a pattern and the final
item catches the audience
by surprise.

Types of Humor
Lists
• It is by the goodness of God
that in our country we have
those three unspeakably
precious things: freedom of
speech, freedom of
conscience and the
prudence never to practice
either of them.”
Mark Twain

Types of Humor
Predictions
• The pronouncements
of experts have left us
with a wealth of
funny material.

Types of Humor
Predictions
• “Computers in the
future will weigh no
more than 1.5 tons.”
Popular Mechanics,
forecasting advance
of science, 1949

Types of Humor
One liners
• I know I’ve told you
not to tell jokes, but
one liners are short
enough not to
interupt the flow of
your speech.

Types of Humor
One liners
• “Start every day with
a smile… and get it
over with.”
W.C. Fields

Types of Humor
Props
• Think about your topic
and if there are any
props you could use to
lighten things up and
inject some humor in
your speech.

Types of Humor
Props
• I once saw a presenter give
a talk about how to deal
with problems, and he had a
couple of stuffed animals
on stage with him - one was
a guppy to represent small
problems and the other was
a whale to represent big
problems. Whenever he
talked about a big problem
and held up the whale, the
group would laugh.

Types of Humor
Cartoons
• If you're using an
overhead projector or a
PowerPoint presentation,
it's very easy to insert a
funny one-panel cartoon
into your presentation.
The funniest cartoons will
be ones that have
something to do with the
topic of your presentation.

Types of Humor
Pun
Puns are words with different meaning.

Types of Humor
Stereotypes
Stereotype is a widely held and oversimplified
belief.

Types of Humor
Changing context
• Change the setting, or
meaning with surrounding
words.

Using of verbal humor
• Anecdote
– Interesting stories
told to help the
speaker make a
point.

• Aside
– A statement added as
an after-thought,
appearing as though
the speaker said
something that
reminded him or her
of the aside

• Banter
– Good-natured teasing
done back-and-forth
with another person,
sometimes with an
audience member

• Blend word
– The combination of
two words to make a
new word; e.g.,
“murse” for “man”
and “purse”

• Blunder
– Witty way of making
a mistake or verbal
faux pas.

• Conundrum
– A word puzzle that
has a pun for an
answer; e.g., cows
wearing bells because
their horns do not
work

• Freudian slip
– A humorous statement
that appears to come
spontaneously, but
really reflects the
speaker’s subconscious

• Hyperbole
– Excessive exaggeration

• Irony Words
– Statements used to
reflect the complete
opposite of their
original meaning

• Joke
– A short anecdote that
has a funny twist at
the end

• Parody
– A humorous version
of another writing or
speech

• Recovery
– The appearance of a
blunder that the
speaker quickly
corrects, in an
attempt to save
himself or herself

• Repartee
– Clever or witty
retorts, often in the
form of insults

• Satire
– Humor that is critical,
or makes fun of
something

• Situational Humor
– Humor that comes
from the speaker’s
own personal
experiences

• Understatement
– Intentionally down-
sizing something to
make it appear
smaller or less severe

The MAP to being a successful
humorist

The MAP to being a successful humorist
• MAP stands for material,
audience and performer.
MAP is a triangular
comedic constellation.
Each star in the
constellation must relate
to both the other stars.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

Successful humor requires all the three MAP elements.

• Material – The material
must be appropriate to the
interests of the audience,
and it must relate well to
the persona of the
performer.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• Audience – The audience
must complement both
the material and the
presentation style of the
performer.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• The reason the MAP
theory is illustrated by a
triangle is that – of the
three points – the
audience is the most
important.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• You and audience have the
same goal lines. You score
when you reach it together.
Other can keep score, but ten
laughs a minute can be a
failed effort if the audience
doesn’t participate.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• Unless you are prepared
with material that
obviously and vocally
works for a specific
audience, you are facing
impossible odds of
success.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• There is a distinct audience
for every specialized
group. The same material
that works for college
students will not work for
a group of lawyers or
doctors.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• Most audience are more
interested in subjects that
involve their activities than
they are in humor that is
all about you, your friends,
your pets and your bar
buddies.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• Performer – The
performer must present
the right material to the
right audience in the
right way,.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• The audience need to know
who you are in the first thirty
seconds. It is in this short
window of time that they are
going to decide how
comfortable they feel with
your comedic persona.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• Certain characteristics are
mandated by your physical
appearances : size, color,
accent, sex and beauty. It is
best to take advantage of
these physical confinements
rather than fight with them.
M – Material.
A – Audience.
P – Performer.

• There are six essential
ingredients in any recipe for
humor. With few exceptions,
the absence of any one
ingredient so disturbs the
formula that the humor might
not taste just off, but might
deflate like a ruined souffle.

• Target.
• Hostility.
• Realism.
• Exaggeration.
• Emotion.
• Surprise.

• The first letter of each
element forms a
memorable acronym ;
THREES. The THREES
formula focuses on the
what and why of humor.
• Target.
• Hostility.
• Realism.
• Exaggeration.
• Emotion.
• Surprise.

• The what is the target,
and the why is the
hostility, realism,
exaggeration, emotion
and surprise contained in
the humor.
• Target.
• Hostility.
• Realism.
• Exaggeration.
• Emotion.
• Surprise.

TARGET
Aiming your humor
• Our instinctive perception
is that humor is fun. It
isn't! Humor is criticism
cloaked as entertainment
and directed at a specific
target.

TARGET
Aiming your humor
If there's no corpse, there's usually no joke.
—Mike Sankey

TARGET
Aiming your humor
• The proper selection of
humor targets is not just
important—it's arguably
the most critical factor in
writing commercially
successful humor. A humor
target can be almost
anything or anybody, but
you need to be sure you've
focused on the right target
for your particular
audience.

TARGET
Aiming your humor
• Picking a good target
isn't a crapshoot. It takes
thought, skill, and
precision to MAP your
way to the right target.
Strong targets, as noted
above, can range from
people to personal
beliefs.

TARGET
Aiming your humor
• Let's take a closer look at
some of the most
common targets:
– Yourself.
– Sex
– Celebrities.
– Places
– Products and
– Ideas.

Self: Pick on Somebody Your Own Size
• By far the least offensive
(but most effective) target
is yourself. As writer and
director Carl Reiner
observed, "Inviting people
to laugh with you while
you are laughing at
yourself is a good thing to
do. You may be the fool,
but you're the fool in
charge."

Self: Pick on Somebody Your Own Size
• Many comics open by
ridiculing their
shortcomings: their physical
characteristics, finances,
intelligence, and even their
success. People are always
willing to laugh at someone
else, so it's a safe way to
warm up an audience. Once
the audience is laughing,
it's time to move on to
hotter issues.

Sex: Talk Dirty to Me
• Sex is the topic of close to
25 percent of all humor,
making it one of the most
popular targets. All of us—
male or female, young or
old—are more ambivalent
about sexual activity than
about any other single
subject. It isn't that we're
fascinated by exaggerated
acts of sex; it's that we're
frustrated by exaggerated
reports of adequacy.

Sex: Talk Dirty to Me
• Studies have shown that
men's greatest sexual
concerns generally
center around size, the
ability to get an erection,
performance, the
amount of sex they're
having, premature
ejaculation, and
impotency—pronounced
in West Virginia as im-
PO-tan-cy, because it's
real impotent to me!

Celebrities: Humor Fodder and
Mudder
• Celebrities are also
popular targets.
Celebrity service is a
cheap shot, but our
appetite for a dash of
vinegary gossip about
our heroes, icons, and
villains is insatiable.

Places: Living in a Crass House
• Our need for superiority is
the motivating factor
whenever we ridicule
places: We ridicule
countries (France, North
Korea); states (West
Virginia, New Jersey); cities
(New York City,
Washington, D.C.); and local
spots in the news (a
neighborhood, a street, a
bar, lover's lane). Every
humorist has a favorite
dumping ground.

Products: Malice in Wonderland
• There's a veritable eBay
full of products that are
favorite humor targets.
They run from buildings
and automobiles to
sports equipment,
jewelry, and junk food.
The basic rule, again, is
that your target be an
object of annoyance
shared by the entire
audience.

Products: Malice in Wonderland
• It's easier to start
backwards. Begin with
the punch line, but don't
finalize your position
until you've decided it's
their position as well. If
the audience includes a
large contingent of
hunters, forget about
quoting either of these
Ellen DeGeneres bits.

Ideas: Fools of the Game
• The list of controversial
ideas that can be humor
targets is lengthy.
Audacious ideas can
include subjects such as
religion, the meaning of life
and death, and politics.
Idea topics are the most
likely to backfire, because a
person's politics and
ideologies aren't visible on
the outside, like clothes.

Activity
• As you've just seen, the
list of potential humor
targets is nearly
endless. Take a
moment and list seven
to ten possible
subjects, topics, or
targets of humor. That
is, identify things that
you want to make fun
of.

HOSTILITY: RIDICRUEL
• The second ingredient
in the THREES recipe
for humor is hostility.
Humor is a powerful
antidote to many of
the hostile feelings in
our daily lives. All of us
have hostility toward
some target

• That is why, in humor,
ridicule is spelled
ridicruel. Comedy is
cruel. The words cruel
and ridicule appear
together frequently—
where there is one,
there is also the other

• All of us have hostility
toward some person, thing,
or idea—unless we are
saints. Did you ever hear a
joke about two perfect,
happy people? But when a
beer-bellied, blue-collar
worker walks in the front
door and says to his battle-
ax of a wife, "Can you spare
a few minutes? I need to be
taken down a peg"—now,
that works as great humor.

• Let's discuss some
common sources of
hostility (and therefore
humor):
– Authority
– Sex
– Money
– Family
– Angst
– Technology, and
– Group differences.

Authority: Sock It to Me
• Humor is a great
catharsis because it
gives the public an
opportunity to blow
off indignant steam at
authority figures both
major and minor.
While hostility against
authority is
international, in
America, it is a
national heritage.

• Hostile humor is usually
directed upward.
Freshmen ridicule
upperclassmen but have
little interest in writing
humor about their
younger brothers or
sisters. Faculty spend
very little effort on
humor directed at
students and much more
on material satirizing the
administration.

• This necessity for
hostility bred what is
called nihilistic
humor— humor
based on the theory
that there is no
person or thing so
sacred as to be
beyond ridicule.

• Humorists, protected
by the First
Amendment, enjoy
the admiration of
audiences that laugh
and applaud their
unbridled criticism of
gods, political
leaders, and
celebrities.

Money and Business: The Loot of All Evil
• Men admit they think
more about sex than
about any other subject,
but studies throughout
the years have indicated
that women worry more
about finances than sex.
There's little doubt,
however, that money is a
constant source of
irritation and hostility
among both sexes.

Money and Business: The Loot of All Evil
• Business practices
are more frequently
becoming targets of
financial hostility. But
jokes about business
practices actually
direct hostility
against two subjects
at the same time:
economics and
authority

Family Affairs: Coming Home Soon
• Hostility against family
responsibilities,
restrictions, and
competing interests
needs little
explanation as a target
of humor. Family
members and
household affairs like
cleaning, paying bills,
and cooking have all
become popular
targets.

Family Affairs: Coming Home Soon
• Children, especially
teenagers and
preteens, are common
family targets. Even
toddlers are targets
(they're not just cute
but, according to Bill
Cosby, exhibit signs of
brain damage). Parents
are unburdening
themselves wittily,
even if they can't do it
in reality.

Angst: The Ecstasy and the Agony
• Angst is the
intellectual
observation that fairy
tales aren't true—that
there is an unhappy
end to every happy
beginning. Angst has
pointed a devil's finger
at anxieties so
personal that, in the
past, we carefully
avoided discussing
them even in private

Angst: The Ecstasy and the Agony
• A long list of such
topics includes fear
of death; coping with
deformity;
deprivations; and
neurotic symptoms
such as paranoia,
insecurity, narcissism,
and kinky sexual
urges.

Technology: Now Fear This
• Charlie Chaplin exploited
frustrations and fears
about rapidly growing
automation to make
people laugh. It's ironic
that IBM once used his
tramp character as an
implied advertising
testimonial for
computers, because
Chaplin's character didn't
promote machines—he
ridiculed them.

Technology: Now Fear This
• Humor may be our
only rational way of
coping with the fear
of terrorism, an
invasion of spooks
from outer space, or
the chemical
mutation of our
planet.

Group Differences: Us vs. Them
• Mocking the beliefs
or characteristics of
social groups is one
of humor‘s most
controversial subjects
because it caters to
our most primitive
instincts—prejudice
and insecurity

• We hope to maintain
some sense of
superiority by
ridiculing abnormal
characteristics of
others. We're
responding to a
primitive form of
group therapy.

• We fear control and
intimidation by people
of different colors or
religions; and so, by
derision, we attempt
to stereotype their
physical appearances,
ethnic mannerisms,
colloquial speech—any
unique characteristic
we find odd.

• We feel the same way
about people with
different social
attitudes about drugs,
sex, education,
professions—even
music, literature, and
humor. As long as
we're in the majority,
humor can criticize.

• Each writer has his own
definition of humor.
Shakespeare said,
"Brevity is the soul of
wit." Somerset
Maugham wrote,
"Impropriety is the soul
of wit." But the soul of
wit may just be hostility.
When we all think alike,
there will be a lot less
humor.

• Sigmund Freud
described depression as
anger turned inward.
Humor might be viewed
as anger turned into
profit. Hostility underlies
humor, so tapping into
your anger is an
excellent tool for
generating ideas for
jokes (and it's less
expensive than therapy).

Activity
• Make a list of people,
things, and topics that
you feel hostile about.
Freely associate, don't
censure yourself, and
write down why each
target is frustrating.

Activity
• Exaggerate your
emotional state to the
point of being explode
and fully vent your
anger about the target.
This exercise can
narrow the focus of
each target to a
specific premise that
will be a springboard
for writing humor

REALISM: Raise your sites
• The third component in
the THREES formula for
humor is realism.
"Most good jokes state
a bitter truth," said
scriptwriter Larry
Gelbart.

• Without some
fundamental basis of
truth, there's little with
which the audience
can associate. But jokes
also bend the truth,
and the challenge is to
learn how to tell the
truth (be realistic)
while lying
(exaggerating).

• Since it appears that
exaggeration is the logical
antithesis of realism, it may
seem ludicrous to have
both within the framework
of one piece of humor. But
good humor is a paradox—
the unexpected
juxtaposition of the
reasonable next to the
unreasonable—and that
creates surprise

• Think of the combination of
realism and exaggeration as
an exercise in lateral
thinking, a technique
commonly used by business
gurus to solve problems
and generate new ideas. It's
defined as an interruption
in the habitual thought
process, a leap sideways
out of ingrained patterns.
Comedy has been doing
this for thousands of years.

• The basic two-step in
humor is to (a) state some
common problem,
frequently with a cliché,
and (b) create an
unexpected ending or
surprise. Humorist Stephen
Leacock wrote, "Humor
results from the contrast
between a thing as it is and
ought to be, and a thing
smashed out of shape, as it
ought not to be."

• Dorothy Parker once
wrote, "The difference
between wit and
wisecracking is that wit
has truth to it, while
wisecracking is simply
calisthenics with words."

• The value of realism
becomes even more
evident when you consider
the humor of children.
Their combination of truth
and simplistic naïveté
delights grown-ups because
it gives us a feeling of
benevolent superiority— if,
as is said about benevolent
dictatorship, there is such a
thing.

• To be most effective, the
"facts" of humor should
be logical—the
relationship between
people should be clear
and predictable, the
time and the locale of
the story should be
familiar, the hostility
should be common to all
the audience members
and commensurate to
the irritation.

• Major deviations from
reality don't prevent
humor, but they may
reduce the payoff of
uninhibited laughter. In
essence, then, humor
should be as realistic as
possible.

EXAGGERATION: Talking up a storm
• How does realism
relate to exaggeration?
As we accept poetic
license, let's accept a
humor license that
grants permission to
expand on realistic
themes with soaring
imagination and
unabashed metaphors.

• Audiences rarely
counter a joke that the
performer has made
personal with an
admonition "You don't
expect me to believe
that?"

• Only for humor is the
public willing to
suspend disbelief and
skepticism. We permit
humorists to utilize
hyperbole, blatant
distortion, and
overstated figures that
signal: Hey, it's only a
joke.

• Therefore, the
audience laughs at
exaggerated banana-
peel acrobatics
because the clown will
certainly get up. That's
comedy! If he doesn't
get up, that's tragedy!

• An example of the likely
next to the unlikely is the
classic story about the
newspaper that ran two
photos: one of a gray-
haired matron who'd just
been elected president of
the local Women's
Republican Club and the
other of a gorilla who was a
new addition to the local
zoo—but the captions got
switched. That's likely.

• The second stage of
the humor comes from
the unlikely: The
newspaper got sued for
defamation—by the
gorilla!

EMOTION: Burst the bubble
• The fifth element in
the THREES formula is
emotion. Hostility,
over- or understated, is
not enough. There
must be a buildup of
anticipation in the
audience

• Think of hostility as an
inflated balloon. When
you create tension in
your audience, you are
effectively adding more
and more air to that
balloon, building the
audience's anticipation
over when the balloon
will burst. They can
hardly keep their eyes
off the stunt.

• Each performer has a
stage personality, called
a persona or shtick.
While others can steal
material, they can't steal
the nuances that make
one individual funny.
(And an ineffective
persona can make a
performer unable to tell
even a well-written
joke).

• A great comedic performer
must be an actor with
boundless energy. The
qualities that make a good
comedian are over and
above those that make a
good actor. Many
comedians have become
good actors in films and
sitcoms, but you rarely hear
of a good actor becoming a
great comedian.

• The ability to generate
emotion is the ability of
the speaker to translate
the writer's material into
entertainment through
voice, enthusiasm, and
action.

• The ability to create
emotion is also
experience: knowing
when to pause and for
how long, creating a
rhythm with inflection,
and sometimes nothing
more grandiose than
making a gesture—called
a take, because it takes
the right gesture.

• Woody Allen
discovered that "stand-
up is a funny man
doing material, not a
man doing funny
material. The
personality, the
character—not the
joke—is primary."

HOW DO YOU BUILD EMOTION?
• The first and most
common technique for
building emotion is
also the simplest—
pausing just before the
payoff word. This
pause is called a
pregnant pause
because it promises to
deliver.

• The second technique
for generating emotion
is asking the audience
members a question,
thereby encouraging
them to become
involved. This was one
of Johnny Carson's
favorite devices.

• The third technique is
called a build, which is
a joke that leads to a
joke that leads to
another joke.
Ultimately, the jokes
work together to
prepare the audience
for one big blast.

• The fourth way to build
emotional tension is by
working the audience—a
favorite device of today's
stand-up comedians. The
performer walks out into
the audience and throws
questions at (what
appear to be) randomly
selected members.

• Tension builds in each
audience member not
from amazement that
the comic is able to
come up with toppers
to every answer, but
from the fear that he
or she may be the next
victim of the
performer's ridicule.

SURPRISE: NOBODY KNOWS THE
STUMBLES I'VE SEEN
• The final element in
the THREES formula is
surprise. It's no
wonder then that it's
also one of the primary
building blocks for a
successful joke.

STUMBLES I'VE SEEN
• Charlie Chaplin defined
surprise in terms of a film
scene in which the villain is
chasing the heroine down the
street. On the sidewalk is a
banana peel. The camera cuts
swiftly back and forth from
the banana peel to the
approaching villain. At the last
second, the heavy sees the
banana peel and jumps over
it—and then falls into an
open manhole.

STUMBLES I'VE SEEN
• It's easy to tell if your
surprise works, because a
live audience's instant
laughter is the most
honest of emotions. You
can give a bad speech, a
poor theatrical or musical
performance, and the
audience will still politely
applaud. If you perform
bad humor, you'll get
nothing but icy silence

STUMBLES I'VE SEEN
• No matter how well
written, jokes don't
come off in performance
if the comedian
telegraphs the surprise.
Many performers tip off
the audience to the
funny line with a lick of
their lips or a gleam in
their eyes.

STUMBLES I'VE SEEN
• They hold up their hands
and stop the audience
from laughing all out
("Hey, listen to this!"),
and they prime the
audience for a big
topper. But then there's
no surprise, and no
laughter.

STUMBLES I'VE SEEN
• This can have a domino
effect: The performer
loses confidence in the
material, then starts to
press, then loses other
laughs because the
audience has a sixth
sense about flop sweat—
when a performer is
trying too hard.

STUMBLES I'VE SEEN
• "Comedy is mentally
pulling the rug out from
under each person in
your audience," wrote
Gene Perret. "But first,
you have to get them to
stand on it. You have to
fool them, because if
they see you preparing
to tug on the rug, they'll
move."

POW : Play of Words
• More than 50 percent of
all humor is based on
plays on words (POWs).
The POW acronym is
reminiscent of a sound
effect in superhero
comics, and a POW does
pack a punch—and a
punch line.

POW : Play of Words
• POW is a twist on a
familiar cliché; aphorism;
book, movie, or song title;
famous quote; national ad
slogan—in fact, any
expression widely known
by the public.

POW : Play of Words
• It can make use of
double entendres,
homonyms, or puns. A
humorist twist to the
aphorism The way to a
man's heart is through
his stomach is: The
quickest way to a man's
heart is through his
chest.

POW Techniques
• Double entendre.
• Malaprop.
• Oxymoron.
• Pun.
• Reforming.
• Simple truth.
• Take-off.

Double entendre
• A double entendre is the
use of an ambiguous
word or phrase that
allows for a second—
usually racy—
interpretation.

Double entendre
• Double entendre is the
French term for an
ambiguous word or
phrase that allows for a
second—usually spicy—
interpretation. Double
entendres are 40 percent
of all cliché humor
because they're so easy
to construct.

Double entendre
• The logic behind double
entendre humor is as basic
as its English translation:
two meanings. The
audience assumes one
meaning; the comic sneaks
in another.

Double entendre
• As new expressions
come into the
vernacular, the
professional humor
writer looks for every
opportunity to play
around with words—the
most socially acceptable
form of playing around

Double entendre
• Be forewarned! Amateurs
make the mistake of
thinking that, since double
entendres are so plentiful,
they are easy to cultivate.
But you must evaluate
them as you would plants
at a nursery—if you don't
choose carefully, you may
wind up with a garden of
crabgrass.

Double entendre
• And there is a second
danger to the use of
double entendres: They
are so often used in humor
that even unsophisticated
audiences can predict a
punch line if it has been
telegraphed by the
comedian. If the double
entendre isn't well hidden,
there's no surprise.

Double entendre
• The most popular double
entendre is the word it,
which can be used to
mean a hundred different
things, but is used most
often in humor as a
synonym for intercourse.
• MC, after bombing with a
sexist joke: Boy, am I going
to get it when I get home.
Or maybe I'm not going to
get it when I get home.

Double entendre
• The second most
common double
entendre is the word in,
which also has an
obvious sexual
connotation.
• "Isn't it great to be in
June?“ "Yes, but her
sister, Barbara, was even
better."

Double entendre
• More sophisticated forms
of double entendre make
use of irony and sarcasm.
Irony can be expressed in
many ways, but it's often
the result of evoking an
absurd meaning from a
standard phrase.
• Hillary Clinton said she
once got a dog for Bill. She
said it was the best deal
she ever made.

Malaprop
• A malaprop is the
unintentional misstatement
or misuse of a word or
phrase, or the accidental
substitution of an incorrect
word for the correct one,
with humorous results.
Malaprops are effective in
part because they allow
the audience to feel
superior. Malaprops can
incorporate clichés and
double entendres.

Malaprop
• Humorists bless
politicians who make
their jobs easy by
fracturing the English
language, as did former
Vice President Dan
Quayle. His malaprops
include:
• If we do not succeed,
then we run the risk of
failure.

Malaprop
• President George W. Bush's
habit of misspeaking
spawned several books‘
worth of malaprops known
as Bushisms. They include:
• They misunderestimated
me.
• I promise you I will listen to
what has been said here,
even though I wasn't here

Malaprop
• Note that malaprops give
the audience a chance to
mock the speaker's
confusion with English,
and thereby feel superior.
As you remember, the
feeling of superiority is a
prime motivator for
laughter.

Oxymoron
• An oxymoron is a joining
of two incompatible
ideas in one phrase. It
can also be called a
contradiction in terms.

Oxymoron
• found missing
• living dead
• good grief
• working vacation
• larger half
• soft rock
• Exact estimate
• taped live
• small crowd
• Extinct life

Pun
• A pun is a word used in
such a way that two or
more of the word's
possible meanings are
active simultaneously. A
pun may also be a
reformation of a word to
a like-sounding word that
is not an exact homonym.

Pun
• here is one of the most
popular words to use,
because it can sound like
hear, hair, and hare: An
adolescent rabbit is a
pubic hare. Hair today,
gone tomorrow.

Pun
• Puns are very versatile
and can be used in a
number of formats. They
can take the form of
riddles.

Pun
• What do you call a smelly
chicken?
• A foul fowl.
• What does a grape say
when you step on it?
• Nothing. It just gives a
little whine.

Pun
• They can be simple quips.
• Asphalt, another word for
rectal problems.
• With friends like you,
who needs enemas?

Pun
• Puns can also be used to
create "daffy definitions.“
• What's a Fahrenheit? A
moderately tall person.
• Detail: The act of removing a
tail.
• Content: Where prisoners
sleep while on a camping trip.

Reforming
• Reforming is a process that
adds a twist or a surprise
ending to a cliché (a
predictable, hackneyed
phrase) or a common
word, phrase, or
expression. Other POW
techniques, such as double
entendres and puns, rely
heavily on reforming. There
are several ways to reform
a cliché or expression.

Reforming
• TRANSPOSE WORDS. The
first way to reform a phrase
or cliché is to transpose the
words to create a new,
related thought. Drama
critic Walter Winchell did
this in a review of a season
opener: "Who am I to
stone the first cast?" Then
there's the classic drug
joke: "I'm not as think as
you stoned I am."

Reforming
• REPLACE A PEW LETTERS
IN A KEY WORD. The
second and most frequent
type of reforming is
replacing one or two letters
in a key word of an
expression in order to
achieve a surprise turn of
phrase.
• I will not cut off my nose to
spite my race

Reforming
• USE A HOMONYM. The
third way to reform a cliché
is to use a homonym, a
similar-sounding word with
a second possible
interpretation. Reforming
with homonyms often
creates double entendres
or puns, as in restaurant
names like Wok 'n Roll,
Mustard's Last Stand,
Blazing Salads, and Aesop's
Tables.

Simple truth
• The simple truth is the
opposite of a double
entendre. It plays on the
literal meaning of a key
word in an idiomatic
phrase.

Simple truth
• The simple truth makes
logic illogical. It's
commonly referred to as
the "Call me a taxi" or
"Call me a doctor"
formula. ("Call me a taxi."
"Okay, you're a taxi"; or,
"Call me a doctor." "Why?
Are you sick?" "No, I just
graduated from med
school.")

Simple truth
• Another way to craft a
simple truth is through a
childish riddle.
• "I bet you I can say the
capitals of all fifty states in
less than thirty seconds.“
"Impossible. It's a bet.
Ready, set, go!“ "Okay. The
capitals of all fifty states in
less than thirty seconds. I
said it. You lose!"

Simple truth
• As we mature
comedically, simple truth
techniques permit a
whole series of formula
jokes.
• I went to a bookstore and
asked the saleswoman
where the self-help
section was. She said if
she told me it would
defeat the purpose.

Take-off
• The take-off is a statement
of the standard version of a
cliché or expression,
followed by a realistic but
highly exaggerated
commentary, frequently a
double entendre.

Take-off
• I say live and let live.
Anyone who can't accept
that should be executed.
• If truth is beauty, how
come no one has her hair
done in a library?
• My mind wanders a lot,
but fortunately it's too
weak to go very far.

The Harmony of Paired Elements:
Phrases, Words, Statistics,
and Aphorisms

• Humor is a feat of verbal
gymnastics, and paired
elements are examples of the
type of clever writing that is
commonly used in political
addresses, sermons, academic
oratory, and toasts. A paired
element consists of two
grammatical structures
(words, phrases, clauses, or
sentences) that are similar in
construction and that play off
each other in meaning.

• There are three varieties
of paired elements.
– Paired phrases or
sentences
– Paired words
– Paired numbers

Paired phrases or sentences
• To be most effective,
paired phrases or
sentences must be
parallel—equal in
grammatical purpose,
structure, and rhythm.
Some need an
introductory setup line;
most do not.

• In most cases, the first
unit in the pair is a simple
declarative statement.
The carefully crafted
second unit of the pair
echoes the first, but a key
word may be altered, or
the order of the words
may be reversed to
change the meaning.

• As a humor technique,
paired phrases with word
reverses are facile but
not necessarily simple.
The basic rule, common
in most humor writing, is
that the last line is
written first—the last line
is the one that makes the
point and is most easily
remembered

• Paired phrases are popular
with clichés, which afford
many opportunities for
take-off humor—the line
after the paired phrase.
• Boss to new employee:
"Relax, Bitler. You have
nothing to fear except fear
itself. And me, of course!"
– Robert Mankoff

• Paired elements are
frequent applause-getters,
and writers know that the
audience is more
stimulated by the turn of
phrase than by its logic.
Homonyms get laughs even
when they don't make
much sense.
• It is better to have loved a
small man than never to
have loved a tall.
– Mary Jo Crowley

• Most paired words fall
into one of four
classifications: synonyms,
homonyms, antonyms,
or groupings. No
professional humor
writer is without a
dictionary of synonyms,
antonyms, and
homonyms.

Synonyms
• Synonyms are different
words that share a
meaning. Synonyms are
popular word pairings.
There are so many words
in the language that have
a similar meaning that
there are countless
double entendre
opportunities.

Synonyms
• One simple technique for pairing
synonyms is to express an idea in
one line or phrase, then include
in the second line or phrase a
synonym for a key word in the
first. But the synonym should
evoke a different and
unexpected meaning of the key
word in the first phrase.
• SHOE SALESMAN: Don't worry
about the shoes.
• They'll stretch.
• WOMAN: Then don't worry
about the check. It'll bounce.
• —Rita Rudner

Synonyms
• In the example above,
the paired words are
stretch and bounce.
Although stretch and
bounce aren't strict
synonyms, their close
relationship (something
that can stretch may be
likely to bounce) allows
them to work together in
a play on words.

Synonyms
• He only acts mean. But
down deep in his heart,
he's thoroughly rotten.
• I love mankind. It's
people I can't stand.
• She wasn't just throwing
herself at him. It was
more like taking careful
aim.

Homonyms
• Homonyms are words that
sound the same but are
spelled differently or have
a different meaning. Our
language is rich with words
that are pronounced alike.
Take gene, for instance.
Gene can be a scientific
term or a man's name, but
when spoken, it can sound
like pants made of denim
(jeans) or a woman's name
(Jean).

Homonyms
• One DNA molecule to
another: Those genes
make me look fat.
• License plate of sheep
rancher: EWEHAUL.
• She was a girl who
preferred men to liquor.
• Ad for telephone system:
From high tech to hi,
Mom.

Antonyms
• While synonyms are
words or phrases that
share the same meaning,
antonyms are words or
expressions that mean
the opposite of each
other: hot vs. cold, tall vs.
short. Paired antonyms
generate humor because
they are the simplest
form of a reverse.

Antonyms
• Young boy to friend: If I'm
too noisy they give me a
spanking. If I'm too quiet,
they take my temperature.
• Let's get out of these wet
clothes and into a dry
martini.
• It's no wonder foreigners
are confused by our
language. Here a slim
chance and a fat chance
mean the same thing

Groupings
• Another type of word play
relies on the grouping of
two or more words loosely
associated with the same
topic. These words don't
have to be synonyms,
antonyms, or homonyms.

Groupings
• A political candidate must
learn not only to stand on
a platform, but also to sit
on the fence and lie on
the spot.
• I come from out west,
where men are men and
women are women, and
you can't ask for a better
setup than that.

Paired Number
• Numbers and figures can
also be paired to humorous
effect. As with any joke,
save the surprise number
or figure for the very end
of the joke, just as if it were
a word.

Paired Number
• MC AT OLD-AGE HOME:
"We're going to give a
prize to the oldest
person here."
• FIRST VOICE: I'm 63.
• SECOND VOICE: I'm 73.
• THIRD VOICE: I'm 83.
• FOURTH VOICE: I'm
dead!

Paired Number
• Professor to class: Don't
be afraid of rewrites. Just
remember the first draft
of Dickens' book was
called A Tale of Ten Cities.
The second draft was
called A Tale of Nine
Cities, then it was Eight,
then it was Seven. ...

Numbers Repeated
• To have twenty lovers in
one year is easy. To have
one lover for twenty years
is difficult.
• The kind of humor I like
makes me laugh hard for
five seconds and think hard
for five minutes.

Aphorism AND Pairings
• Aphorisms are concise
expressions of a bit of
truth or wisdom.
Following a misfortune,
we have certain options.
We can turn pessimistic
and curse bad luck, or we
can be optimistic and
consider that fate has
provided a valuable
learning experience.

• These two options form
the basis for one type of
aphorism—a humorous
contrast between the
point of view of a
pessimist and that of an
optimist. This type of
aphorism makes good
use of paired elements

• An optimist sees benefit in
every disaster; a pessimist
sees recurrence in every
disaster.
• The word disaster is repeated,
and benefit has been
contrasted with recurrence.
Still nowhere, but certain
possibilities are starting to
appear. The contrast of benefit
and disaster is stronger than
the contrast of benefit and
recurrence.

Bewitched, Bothered,
and Bewildered: Triples

Triples
• Triples are one of the
most common humor
formulas. They have been
used for so many years in
the "There was a priest, a
minister, and a rabbi..."
format that, when three
such clergymen actually
did walk into a bar, the
bartender asked, "Is this
some kind of a joke?"

Triples
• The triple formula uses
hostility, exaggeration, a
buildup of tension, and a
surprise ending that
inflates the payoff. Most
triples are short—two or
three sentences—but
longer triples can work if
done correctly. The
opening lines are logical
setups and the final line is
the most audacious.

Triples
• At eighty-eight, the king of
popcorn, Orville Redenbacher,
passed away. His family is
mired in an ugly dispute over
whether to cremate,
microwave, or air-pop him.
• If peanut oil comes from
peanuts, and olive oil comes
from olives, where does baby
oil come from?
• Neurotics build castles in the
air, psychotics live in them. My
mother cleans them.

Triples
• According to a comedic
theory developed by
author William Lang,
there are only three parts
to most comedic bits. We
call these three elements
humor's SAP test.
– S = Setup (preparation)
– A = Anticipation (triple)
– P = Punchline (story
payoff)

Triples
• S = My wife and I don't
get along.
• A = I take my meals
separately, I take a
separate vacation, and I
sleep in a separate
bedroom.
• P = I'm doing everything I
can to keep this marriage
together.

Triples
• Notice how the triple
sequence in the next
example sets up the
value of the last line.
– If you want to be seen—
stand up!
– If you want to be heard—
speak up!
– If you want to be
appreciated—shut up!

Triples Variations
• A common variation on the
SAP formula is to set up a joke
with a triple—in other words,
to include the triple not in the
A (anticipation) part of the
formula, but in the first P
(preparation). The second
element of the joke then
refers to something unrelated
to the triple. Finally, in the
punchline, the answer to the
question references the triple
in the setup. Once you learn
this formula, the variations
multiply.

Triples Variations
• WAITRESS, IN HOARSE
VOICE: For dessert, we
got ice creamvanilla,
chocolate, and
strawberry.
• CUSTOMER: You got
laryngitis?
• WAITRESS: No, just
vanilla, chocolate, and
strawberry.

Triples Variations
• Another very popular
combination of techniques is
to start with a triple, then
switch to a reverse. The
reverse can supplement or
replace the third element in
the triple.
• More than any time in history,
mankind faces a crossroads.
One path leads to despair and
utter helplessness, the other
to total extinction. Let us pray
that we have the wisdom to
choose correctly.

Where to use humor in your speech?

Where to use humor?
• You can use humor
anywhere in your speech.
You can use it at the
beginning, you can use it
at the end or you can
sprinkle it throughout.

Where to use humor?
• You can play with the
audience’s emotions by
grabbing their attention
with humor and then
hitting them with a heavy
message – make them
laugh, then make them
cry.

Where to use humor?
Beginning of your speech
• Use humor at the
beginning of your
speech to let the
audience know that
they are going to have a
good time.
It will also help you
relax by giving you what
Peggy Noonan
describes as “the quick
victory of laughter“.

Where to use humor?
• For an impromptu
speech….
“ At the very start, let me
say that we both have
something in common.
You don’t know what I’m
going to say… and neither
do I.”
Robert Orben – Speaker’s
Handbook of Humour

Where to use humor?
• A speaker gave a speech
to 2,000 prison inmates.
He began……..
“ Now, gentlemen, there’s
one big difference
between all of you and
me…..you got caught.”

Where to use humor?
• At the beginning of an
acceptance speech….
“ I’m not one of those
people who say I don’t
really deserve this
honour… because that
would be duplication of
effort. I have a wife for
that.”
Robert Orben – Speaker’s
Handbook of Humour

Where to use humor?
Middle of your speech
• The middle of your
speech is where you
present your main points
and material to back up
those points.
Use humor to make those
points expressive, graphic
and unforgettable.

Where to use humor?
• A speaker talking about
eliminating those people
who won’t subscribe to the
team spirit said…
“ We used to say on the
farm that you can’t teach a
pig to sing.
It wastes your time – and it
irritates the hell out of the
pig.”
Gene Perret – How to Hold
your Audience with Humour

Where to use humor?
• For a talk about the
supernatural…
“ Would all of you who
believe in telekinesis…
please raise my hand.”
Rosemarie Jarski – The
Funniest Thing You Never
Said

Where to use humor?
• In a speech about regulatory
reform the speaker used an
analogy…
“ Being a regulator these days is
a lot like being the nearest fire
hydrant to the dog pound. You
know they’ll have to turn to you
in an emergency, but it’s sure
tough dealing with those daily
indignities.”
Malcolm Kushner – Public
Speaking for Dummies

Where to use humor?
End of your speech
• The end of your speech
is what the audience
remember most. It’s the
bit they take home with
them, so why not leave
them laughing?

Where to use humor?
End of your speech
• “Ladies and gentlemen I
leave you with a
thought.
As you slide down the
banister of life… may all
the splinters be facing
the right way.”

Where to use humor?
End of your speech
• “Ladies and gentlemen
there are two types of
speaker I can do
without: those who
never stop to think and
those who never think
to stop. I sincerely hope
I haven’t been either.
Thank you and good
night!”

Tips to tap into your inherent humor

Tip 1
Identify Things That Make You Laugh
• Chances are there are some
things in the world that
make you laugh like TV
shows, movies, books,
certain blogs, etc. Pay
attention to the stuff that
you find really funny, and
then ask yourself, "What is it
about these things that
makes me laugh?"

Tip 1
• Do you like puns, rants,
observational humor,
slapstick, double entendres,
etc.? Whatever it is, make a
note of it. The style of humor
that makes you laugh is a
good style for you start
weaving into your speaking.

Tip 1
• Also, add more of those
things that make you laugh
into your life. This will help
you in two ways:
• It's easier to write funny
presentations when you feel
funny. Consistently
watching, reading, and
listening to things that make
you laugh will help you feel
funny.

Tip 1
• You can learn from the things
you laugh at. Structure, style,
construction, and pacing - all can
be learned from observation. I
usually listen to stand up
comedians because they make
me laugh, but sometimes I will
pay careful attention not to what
the comedian is saying, but
rather to all the nuances of how
he (or she) is saying it.
• This helps my understanding of
some tools I can use to make my
presentations funnier

Tip 2
Identify the Things You Already Do That Make Others Laugh
• I firmly believe that
everyone has some area in
their life where they make
others laugh. It may happen
rarely, but I bet there is
some environment or
certain people that bring
out your "inner comedian."
Think back to what you do
in those situations and ask
yourself, "How can I weave
that into my speaking?"

Tip 2
• This technique led to an
evolution in my own
speaking business. I realized
that the times I made my
friends laugh the most were
when I would go on
extended rants making fun
of things that annoyed me.
However, at the time, I
wasn't doing any of that in
my writing or speaking!

Tip 2
• Start paying attention to
what you are already doing
to make others laugh and
then weave that into your
own speaking and you
should see your audience
response and referral rates
go up too.

Tip 3
Learn the Basics Of Humor
• Some people are fortunate
enough to be able to
automatically "be funny." If
you are not one of these
lucky people, then you
should learn some of the
fundamentals of humor and
joke construction.

Tip 3
• There are many ways to weave
words into humor. Once you
understand some of the
techniques comedians and
funny speakers use to create
humor, you can easily edit
your material to add in humor
of your own

Tip 3
• Exaggeration
– "Then I talked to a
woman who's voice
was so high only the
dog could hear it."

Tip 3
• Puns
– "Did you hear about
the guy whose whole
left side was cut off?
He's all right now."

Tip 3
• Self-Deprecation
– "And then, even though
I knew it was too hot to
eat, I bit into the pizza
anyway. Because, clearly,
I am an idiot."

Tip 3
• Wordplay
– "She brought me a plate of
French Fries instead. At least
I thought they were French
because they had an
attitude and wore berets."

Tip 4
Understand That Humor Comes In the Rewrite
• Sometimes you get
lucky and your first
draft is very funny.
Usually, however, the
first draft is "content"
focused; it may have
some funny ideas that
need to be heavily
developed, but it’s not
going to be funny as is.

Tip 4
• The blank page can be
daunting, and adding in the
pressure of having to "write
funny" in a first draft can make
it doubly so. The best way to
write a first draft is to write
quickly without editing or
worrying about the quality. As
you practice writing funny,
your first drafts will get funnier,
but at first, they may not be so
guffaw inducing.

Tip 4
• Once your first draft is done you
can review it and find places to
add lines, reword things in funny
ways, figure out where to use
humorous delivery, apply many of
the humor techniques from the
previous point, and even remove
things that you thought were
funny at first but now realize
aren't. For most people it is much
easier to "punch up" a written
piece using the humor tools
above than to think of something
funny to write.

Tip 4
• Here's a simple humor draft
writing plan you can use:
– Draft 1: Get it written, funny or
not
– Draft 2: Go back and add as much
humor as you can
– Draft 3: Remove anything that is
not funny, doesn't support your
point, or breaks the flow of the
piece

Tip 5
Keep Working at It
• Like anything else, humor takes
time to develop. If you expect
to come out of the gate and
immediately start creating
hilarious material quickly and
effortlessly, you will be
disappointed. If you are
committed to gradual and
steady improvement, then you
will find over time that your
presentations get funnier and
the work gets easier.

Tip 5
Keep Working at It
• When I started speaking, I put very
little straight humor in my
presentations. I performed improve
comedy from the stage, but other
than that I delivered “straight”
content. The first time I decided to
add in funny stories and jokes, it took
me weeks and weeks to get it done!
There was a lot of uncertainty, fear,
procrastination, and writer's block.
Over time it has gotten much easier
(and I'd like to think the quality has
gotten better too) and I can add in
new humorous bits to my speeches
relatively quickly.

7 Simple Techniques to Put
Humor Into Your Speech

Develop a stockpile of stories
• Develop a stockpile of stories – be
on the lookout for good brief
stories in newspapers, magazines
and the internet. Be a careful
observer of life. Also be a
“watchful “listener of stories on
TV or other speakers. Note the
stories down. Do not rely on your
memory.

Observe other speakers
• Observe other speakers.
Note how they tell the
story, the tone of their
voice, their gestures, face
expressions, the timing
and pauses.

Memorize the stories
• Memorize the stories. You
cannot read humor – you
need to be looking at you
audience to sell it. Also you
do not want to lose your
opportunity by stumbling
over the punch line.

Be prepared to deliver “impromptu” stories
• Be prepared to deliver
“impromptu” stories. Carry
an index card in your pocket
with the first line or a
suggestive line of several
stories. By quickly glancing at
the card you will be able to
quickly recall the story.

Practice
• Practice. A story gets better
the more times it is told.
Practice in front of the mirror
or your family. Try different
things – your voice tone,
pauses, gestures, facial
expressions etc.

Move On
• If the audience does not
laugh at your story or joke…
move on. Don’t let it throw
you off course. There will be
time to assess after the
speech.

Plan the “spice” in your speech
• Plan the “spice” in your
speech. Most TV and radio
performers follow their
scripts so closely there is not
even room for an “ad lib”
sneeze.

Developing Original Humor for
Your Talk

Talk
• Most humor in the business
setting is unplanned. It just
happens. Spontaneous events
with clients and co-workers
create the surprises and
uncomfortable situations
which call for humor as a
coping tool.

Talk
• We all have differing
abilities to recognize,
appreciate and create
humor. How’s your HQ
(humor quotient)? Do
you work with people
who are full of wit?

Talk
• Regardless of where you
are now, you can
increase your humor
skills. When you study
humor, it’s obvious
there’s more to it than
just spontaneous laughs.
There are times when
you may want to
deliberately use humor,
maybe even plan it in
advance.

Talk
• Perhaps you want to
spice up a training
session or a planning
meeting. Maybe you
want to lighten up a
sales presentation. You
can learn ways to
administer a dose of
laughter to help you
connect and
communicate.

Talk
• There are three elements
which can help you
understand and
structure your humor:
– Surprise
– Tension and
– Relationships.

Surprise
• First, humor is based on
the element of surprise.
Humor often comes from
something as simple as
someone saying the
unexpected. The surprise
twist creates the humor.

Surprise
• Because of the element
of surprise, when we are
deliberately structuring a
piece of humor (perhaps
for a speech) we don’t
want to telegraph the
joke. A line like, “a funny
thing happened to me on
the way over here,”
signals your listeners
that a joke is coming.
This will lessen the
element of surprise.

Surprise
• To enhance the surprise,
it’s best to place the
punch line at the end of
the joke. And within the
punch line, the punch
word is usually given last.
The punch word is the
word that makes the
humor work. It’s the
trigger that releases the
surprise.

Surprise
• If your humor falls flat, do
what professional
humorists do. Pretend you
are serious. Since the
listeners didn’t realize you
were making a joke, you
never need to apologize or
explain it. Turn your
surprise into a secret.

Tension
• It’s no surprise to people
who work in pressure-
packed work
environments that
humor is also based on
this second principle:
release of tension.

Tension
• Laughter is a pressure
valve which releases
muscle tension.
Uncomfortable
situations, fear and pain
are all tension builders
that cry out for humor.

Tension
• We find ourselves
laughing at risqué humor
and embarrassing
situations because they
make us uncomfortable.
We release the tension
they create with humor.

Tension
• People who intentionally
and frequently use
humor know tension can
be used deliberately to
heighten the impact of
the humor. A pause
placed just before the
punch line or the punch
word builds a sense of
anticipation, a form of
tension, which makes
the joke stronger.

Tension
• In most jobs, daily
challenges give you the
opportunity to purposely
use tension in setting up
your humor. Simply by
sharing a real life
humorous situation, you
can recreate the
spontaneous
circumstances which
generated the laughter in
the first place.

Tension
• Although there’s nothing
like “being there,” you
can improve on the
actual event by
embellishing to create a
little more tension in the
set up. You can structure
the punch line for
maximum effect by
putting the punch word
last. And you can pause
to add impact.

Relationships
• As we plan our humor, we
also notice that the third
principle of humor is
relationships. Most humor
is based on how things are
related and not related.
We can create humorous
twists when we play with
relationships.

Relationships
• Gary Larson’s Far Side
cartoons are well
known for twisting
relationships. One of
his frequent tools is
giving animals human
characteristics.

Relationships
• For example, the cartoon
shows a car driving down the
road. Driving the car is a bull.
Sitting next to the bull is a
cow. And in the back seat is a
calf. They’re driving past a
field with humans standing in
the pasture. The picture, by
itself, creates a funny picture
by twisting the normally
expected relationships. The
calf sticks his head out of the
car window and says “Yakity,
Yakity, Yak!”

Relationships
• Understanding the
principle of relationships,
you are able to create
your own, original
humor. You can create
“shopping lists” from
which you search for
humorous connections.

Relationships
• Let’s say you had an idea
for building some humor.
We’ll call this idea a seed
from which the humor
can grow. Perhaps, on a
difficult shift at a
hospital, someone made
a comment that working
in a hospital was like
working in a war zone.
This is the starting point
for developing some
humor.

Relationships
• You’ll begin by creating
two “shopping lists.” On
one list you’ll put
“hospital things.” And on
the other, you’ll list
“military things.” It will
work better if you
choose “military” rather
than “war zone” because
it’s a broader category
which will give you more
options when looking for
relationships.

Relationships
• Your first step is to
brainstorm by making
the lists as long a
possible. The more items
you have on each list,
the more likely you’ll be
able to make some
humorous connections.

Relationships
• As you make your lists,
you’ll look for
opportunities to branch
out and create sublists to
multiply your chances of
finding humor. For
example, if the idea “basic
training” comes to mind,
your sublist should contain
everything you can think of
relating to basic training:
drill sergeants, marching,
inspections.

Relationships
• The next step is to search
for connections between
your two lists which
might lead you to humor.
Play with it. Then set it
aside and come back to
it later. Once you find
something with
humorous possibilities,
you’ll massage it to
maximize the humor
impact.

Developing Original Humor for Your Talk
• These three principles of humor
are illustrated by the classic slip
on the banana peel. The slapstick
spill illustrates surprise because
we weren’t expecting someone
to fall. We also experience
tension. When we see someone
get hurt we get startled, and
react with tension. It also twists
relationships. Seeing a
distinguished person sitting on
the sidewalk is something our of
the ordinary. Surprise, tension,
relationships… we laugh!

Developing Original Humor for Your Talk
• Natural, spontaneous
humor is one of your
greatest tools for coping
with stress as you work.
By understanding what
makes the humor tick,
you can become better at
planning and deliberately
using this powerful
adjunct to your success
arsenal.

Delivery
• A look at the definition of a
joke will have direct bearing
on your ability to "deliver"
humor. Consider the
definition: A joke is a brief
oral narrative with a
climactic humorous twist.

Delivery
• Within that simple definition
lies two critical points you
must know to use humor
successfully.
– First of all, it is BRIEF.
– Second, it has a climactic twist.

Delivery
• For humor to work, it must
spring upon the mind in an
unexpected way, without a
long drawn out set-up. When
you incorporate humor into
your talk, it should slide in
naturally. The setup must be
direct and to the point,
without too much
embellishment.

Delivery
• As for the climactic twist,
make every effort to put it
at the very end of the
story. The closer the twist
is to the very end, the
more effective the
surprise.

Rule 1 : Use humor in the beginning
• A humorous story or a
good joke right at the
beginning puts the
audience at ease and gets
their attention. If your
topic is dry or serious --
but not too serious so that
humor would be
inappropriate -- a dose of
humor will be even more
appreciated, especially
because the audience
doesn't expect it.

• If someone will be
introducing you by reading
your bio, add a funny line
to it.

• If you have traveled from
another city for the
speaking engagement, find
something funny to say
about your travel
experiences, the hotel
where you're staying, or
something similar that
most of the audience
might relate to.

Rule 2 : Use humorous anecdotes
rather than jokes
• Told ineptly, you can kill a
joke fast. Humorous
anecdotes are much
heartier, and offer more
leeway in the telling. This
makes them a better bet
for the non-professional
humorist.

Rule 2 : Use humorous anecdotes
rather than jokes
• You may be a great joke
teller, and if so, go right
ahead. But try your jokes
out on folks beforehand to
make sure you won't be
the only one laughing
when you tell them.

Rule 3 : Don't try to make jokes about
areas outside your expertise
• If you are an insurance
salesperson speaking to a
group of nurses or
architects, it can be tricky
to try to inject humor
about the nursing or
architecture fields. Many
professional speakers have
flopped when they've
tried to talk "inside
baseball" to professional
groups.

Rule 3 : Don't try to make jokes about
areas outside your expertise
• This can also apply if you
are a man speaking to an
all-female audience, or
vice versa. Tread gingerly
on jokes about the
opposite sex. They are
probably not worth the
risk. Remember, bring the
relatable aspects of your
world to your audience.
Don't try to pretend that
you are "one of them."

Rule 4 : Use self-deprecating humor
• Self-deprecating humor is
a mainstay of humorists
because it makes you
relatable to your audience.

• When you share a funny
story about the time you
locked your keys in the car
twenty minutes before
you were expected to
meet your wife at a
restaurant to celebrate her
birthday, you'll have the
attention and the empathy
of your audience.

• Make sure the story has a
universal quality to it.
• Remember that self-
deprecating humor is not
loser humor. Sharing
stories about the kind of
life frustrations that are
common to most people is
reassuring.

Rule 5 : Keep it clean
• Vulgar humor in public
speaking, especially to a
professional audience, is
usually a disaster because
it is inappropriate and
offensive in those
environments.

Rule 5 : Keep it clean
• Save the R-rated riffs for
open mike night at your
local comedy club. Keep a
lid on it when speaking to
civic or business groups.
Besides, no one will ever
complain that a
presentation wasn't vulgar
enough. But they could
well walk away saying that
the material was too
vulgar.

Rule 6 : Keep it relevant
• Don't try to inject humor
where it doesn't belong.
Obviously, some topics are
so serious that attempts at
humor would be
extremely distasteful.

Rule 6 : Keep it relevant
• Stay on track and only insert
jokes or funny asides if they
have a point that is relevant
to your topic. Remember
that less is more, and a little
humor can go a long way in
an otherwise serious
presentation.

Rule 7 : If You Use Borrowed Material,
Give the Source
• You heard a great joke that
would work perfectly for
your topic. But make sure
to give credit for the joke.
Not only is it the ethical
thing to do, but if you
don't give the credit and
someone else also heard
the material elsewhere,
you'll be considered a
plagiarist.

Rule 8 : Practice, Practice, Practice
• Read your remarks aloud
several times before giving
your presentation. There's
little that will bore an
audience faster than a
speaker who is reading
from notes and failing to
make eye contact.

Rule 8 : Practice, Practice, Practice
• The better you know your
material, the less you'll be
looking down at the
podium and the better
you'll connect with your
audience by looking at
them and moving a little
during your talk.

Rule 9 : Keep Emergency Back-Up
Material Handy
• If your presentation relies
heavily on humor, be
prepared to switch gears if
your jokes and stories
aren't working.
Sometimes, the
presentation that worked
beautifully for one group
won't work as well with
another group. Have some
alternate material ready if
you see you are losing
your audience.

Rule 10 : Engage Your Audience
• Tips to engage audience are
– Ask them questions and use
their answers as part of your
talk
– Ask questions just to get a
show of hands
– Get out from behind the
podium and move around as
you speak
– Invite someone from the
audience up to the stage for
either a demonstration or a
Q&A

Rule 11 : Keep Your Presentation a
Work in Progress
• Funny situations are always
happening all around you, so
keep your eyes and ears
open when you hear of
them and see if you can
work in any aspect of it into
your presentation. Updating
your presentation, even in
small ways, will give you
renewed energy each time
you speak to the public.

Rule 12 : Use Exaggeration to Be
Funny
• Obvious exaggeration is
something that people
laughed at. The idea is to
overstate a defect or a
strangeness of someone or
something.
• Another easy way to
incorporate exaggeration is
to exaggerate facial
expressions.

Rule 12 : Use Exaggeration to Be
Funny
• Try exaggeration, especially
when telling a story. Don't
just say something is "big".
Say it is "as big as an
overweight elephant"! If
exaggeration seems to silly
or foolish to you, try to say
"my friend said..." or "it
seemed like..." to introduce
the crazy statement.

Rule 13 : Gestures, Vocal Variety and
Pauses Are Important
• The use of slightly
exaggerated gestures,
vocal variety, and pauses
are critical to funny
stories. In fact, a
misplaced pause can ruin
a story.

Rule 14 : Know your audience
• If you are going to use
humor in your speaking, it
is critical to know your
audience. Find out all you
can about their
demographics, their
interests, their political
leanings, their favorite
sports teams, everything.

• As a humorous speaker,
you must be acutely aware
of subject matter and the
psychology of the
audience. If you inject a
bit of humor that the
audience definitely does
not receive "in fun", you
are asking for trouble.

• Another consideration is
topical humor related to
the group that you are
speaking to. Find out all
you can about the group.
Investigate well known
individuals, customs,
history and special
observances of the group.

Rule 15 : Use the rule of three
• Use the "rule of three"
when giving examples. The
first two can be ordinary
examples but the third
one is a "switch" - it is odd
in some way.

Rule 15 : Use the rule of three
• For example, I often tell
my students that they can
ask me any question in
class except "how old are
you, how much do you
weigh, and how many
wives do you have". The
first two are topics that
someone may not want to
talk about but the third
one is just nonsensical.

Rule 16 : Use understatement after
making a strong point
• For contrast, use
understatement after
making a strong
statement. For example,
"We had just survived the
biggest earthquake in
history! So we had lunch".
The second sentence
seems funny because it
seems too calm compared
to the exciting first
sentence.

Rule 17 : Set and Break Expectations
• A comment is humorous
when it sets up an
expectation, and then
breaks it. If you want to
make people laugh …
create an expectation and
then break it.

Rule 17 : Set and Break Expectations
• For example, when Craig says
to his audience, “These are
all great answers,” he sets up
an expectation that he is
going to say to them, “Your
answers are correct.”
• Instead, Craig breaks the
expectation by saying, “ …
and they’re all wrong.” This
causes people to laugh.

Rule 18 : Uncover Humor from Dialogue
• Look for humor
opportunities within
dialogue. Uncover humor
in a speech by looking at
places where the audience
has certain expectations of
something profound being
said, and then breaking
those expectations.

Rule 19 : Humor Doesn’t Mean Stealing Jokes
from the Internet
• Don’t use jokes from the
Internet. Most of the funny
jokes are quite popular on
the Internet, so you can
bet that some of your
audience members have
heard the joke before. As a
result, your audience
members may not laugh
because they already know
the twist/punch line.

Rule 19 : Humor Doesn’t Mean Stealing Jokes
from the Internet
• Even worse, these jokes
may detract from your
story because they may be
completely unrelated to
your message and your
speech.
• Instead, look for organic
humor by uncovering
humor from dialogue.

How to use humor when things
go wrong?

wrong?
• No matter how much you
practice and prepare,
check the visual aids, talk
to the event organizers,
something will go wrong.
The microphone won’t
work, one of the waiters
will drop a tray during
your talk or your magic
marker will lose its magic.

wrong?
• When something like that
happens you can ignore it
and the audience will
wonder why you’ve
ignored it, or you can use
one of your prepared
adlibs.

wrong?
• Don’t worry, you don’t
even have to prepare your
own adlibs. In her book
“What to Say When You’re
Dying on the Platform”
Lilly Walters gives you a
humorous line to use in
just about any situation.

wrong?
• You are given a terrible
introduction –
“Sometimes I wish I was
one of those men (women)
who need no
introduction.” Roger
Langley

How to use humour when things go
wrong?
• You trip on the way to the
lectern – “Like our LSD
guru used to say: That was
some trip.” Roger Langley

wrong?
• Your funny line or story
bombs – (Pull out a pen
and pretend to jot down a
note) “I like to keep track
of the jokes that go over
really big.” John Nisbet

wrong?
• An audience member
walks out during your
speech – “Honest to God
sir, I get better.” Gene
Perret

wrong?
• There’s a sudden crash
from outside the room –
“You can’t scare me… I
have children”

wrong?
• Be Honest - Honesty is the
best policy when it comes
to bombing. Admit that
the joke didn’t work. Make
fun of yourself for thinking
it was funny at all. Then
move on.

Source of material
• You may be wondering
where you can find good,
clean humor that you can
use in your talks. The
answer is everywhere. To
start, listen in on
conversations when you
are in public. Sitting in a
restaurant, a bar, going to
a store, wherever you are,
listen to people around
you.

Source of material
• Listen for comments that
make people laugh.
Again, ask yourself why.
Take the germ of what
was said, study the
meaning and the punch
line, look for applications
in your own field of
interest.

Source of material
• The humor that is the
most effective is humor
that you have experienced
yourself. Personal
situations that no one else
knows about or can copy.
Look for personal stories
that have an element of
self-effacing humor.
Remember the definition
of humor? A painful thing
told playfully.

Source of material
• If you draw your materials
from current sources, you
may end up presenting
jokes that are known and
consequently, not funny
for those who have heard
them already.

Source of material
• There are two things you
can do to alleviate this
problem. First, look for
material in places that are
dated several years prior.
You may well find an
appropriate gem that can
be polished and presented
that is likely "new" to your
audience. Second, you can
use situational humor.

Source of material
• Printed sources. One of the
best is the Readers Digest.
Not the new issues, but old
issues that have had time to
be forgotten. The material is
excellent, clean and likely
can be adapted to your
needs.

Source of material
• Joke books. You have to
skim the cream. You may
read 100 jokes and only
find one that really fits
your style or subject.
Write that one down.

Source of material
• Internet. Today, perhaps
the best source of
material, organized by
subject matter is the world
wide web. Search for
humor and you will find
thousands of possible sites
and sources.

• I know I’ve waxed lyrical
about using humor in your
speeches and
presentations but don’t
overdo it. Here are a few
tips to help you use humor
to its best advantage.

• One of the worst nightmares of
every public speaker — especially
for comedians — is telling a joke
and getting no laughs from the
audience, or what we call
bombing. The bad news is,
everybody bombs. It’s just part of
the job, but it’s how you recover
from bombing that is more
important. The good news is, as
you become more experienced
and confident, it happens less and
less. And even when it does
happen, it won’t be as bad
anymore.

You are not a stand up comedian
• Although I’m advocating
the use of humor, I’m not
trying to turn you into a
stand up comedian. A
stand up comedian is
there to make the
audience laugh.

• Your job as a Public
Speaker is to get your
message across and make
sure that people
remember that message.
For you as a speaker,
humor is a tool, a means
to an end.

• When the mouth is open
for laughter, you may be
able to shove in a little
food for thought.”
Dr Virginia Trooper

• Humour is the salt on the
salad, the icing on the
cake, the black velvet cloth
that shows off the
diamonds the…. sorry I got
carried away.

All speeches should contain at least one serious point
• You may be thinking …. the
purpose of my speech is to
entertain, so why do I need a
serious point?
Even if your primary purpose
is to entertain, you still need
a serious idea to hang the
humor on.

• “Speeches that entertain, do
more than entertain: They also
create social cohesion by
generating good feelings…….
Even when your main purpose
is to be entertaining, you
should still include at least one
serious idea in your speech.
Why? A speech that is all fluff
can sometimes become
tiresome and vacuous.”
Laurie Rozakis Ph.D.

• Your serious message
provides a contrast to your
humor and both humor and
message are more powerful
because of that contrast.

Never use offensive humor
• The pendulum of
acceptability is forever
swinging and whilst stand up
comedians are there to
challenge and push the
boundaries, you aren’t.

• Don’t be tempted to use the
verbal exhibitionism
demonstrated by modern
comedians – never use
offensive humor.

• “I’m beyond being shocked –
but I’m not beyond being
offended.”
Robert Orben

• If you are in two minds
about including a piece of
humor remember… “if in
doubt, leave it out.”

Don’t stop the audience laughing
• When you say something
funny the audience will
laugh, hopefully. Don’t say
another word until the
laughter has died down.

• If you interrupt the laughter
the audience won’t be able
to hear you, but more
importantly, you will be
training the audience not to
laugh!

• During the laughter just
look round the audience,
shake your head or you can
even laugh yourself.

Use bombproof humor
• One of the reasons speakers
don’t use humor is that they
are afraid of not getting a
laugh.
This is Malcolm Kushner’s
advice…

Use bombproof humor
• If you use humor to make a
point, then you won’t bomb.
When you tell a joke that
makes a point, people
recognize that fact. So even
if they don’t find the joke
funny, they still realize that
you’re making a point.”
Malcolm Kushner – Public
Speaking for Dummies

Honest
• If you think that the topic of
your speech is so serious
that you couldn’t possibly
use humor, this is what
William Zinsser has to say
about humor….

Honest
• “One Catch-22 or Dr
Strangelove is more
powerful than all the books
and movies that try to show
war as it is. Joseph Heller
and Stanley Kubrick
heightened the truth about
war just enough to catch its
lunacy.
The joke is no joke.”
William Zinsser – On Writing
Well

Making the “Funny Story” Announcement
• One big mistake I see over and
over is when an individual
announces when they are
getting ready to tell a joke or a
funny story. They start a
joke by saying “Here is a funny
story.” or “A funny thing
happened when I …” The
challenge is when someone
announces it is going to be
funny; they have set
themselves up for potential
failure.

• Unless the joke or the funny
story is absolutely hysterical
and leaves everyone rolling on
the floor, it will make you look
bad. When you tell them it is
going to be “funny,” you have
to deliver something that is
exceptionally funny. Their
expectations of your joke or
story will be set really high
and you are almost doomed
to failure.

• So what do you do instead?
Surprise them by just telling
the story. If they find it funny,
it will be an unexpected
sensational experience and
they will love you. If they
don’t, you saved yourself from
a huge disaster. If they
weren’t expecting your story
to be funny, they would barely
notice if it turned out to be a
Funny Bomb.

Put a Ban on Sarcasm
• Sarcasm unintentionally
hurts the receiver.
When you pay attention
to this you will clearly
see how profound that
statement is.

Put a Ban on Sarcasm
• The next time you or
another person makes a
sarcastic remark, watch the
body language of the
receiver. They quickly can
appear to become
uncomfortable, angry, upset
or distant. The recipient of
the sarcasm rarely finds this
type of humor amusing.

Avoid, Avoid and Really Avoid
• When it comes to humor,
remember to always
avoid anything that relates
to sex, politics,
race, nationalities, gender,
communities and
sports. Those are off limits
unless you are looking
to alienate members in your
audience.

Mel Helitzer

Malcolm Kushner
Public Speaking for Dummies

Lilly Walters
What to Say when You’re Dying on the Platform

Gene Perret
How to Hold your Audience with Humour

Robert Orben
Speaker’s Handbook of Humour

Melvin Helitzer

Tom Antion
Wake Em Up Business Presentations

Rosemarie Jarski
The Funniest Thing You Never Said

The Art of Using Humor in Public Speaking

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