Weekend is coming - in a couple more hours - so I figure I should write something light. Humor immediately comes to mind. In my opinion, adults are wayyyyyyyyyyyyy TOO serious and they should really start to lighten up and laugh a bit more.

As a speaker, being funny is a highly coveted asset that makes you stand out from the rest of the oh-so-typical speakers. In fact, being humorous has been voted as one of the top three attributes that people look out for in a speaker. The other two atrributes include sincerity and content. (Full Article Here)

So how do we create funny? It starts by having the ability to SEE and APPRECIATE funny. I will like to share with you an important lesson I learnt from the great comic Jim Mendrinos. It’s really simple yet it makes so much sense. In fact after understanding the lesson, I began to have greater ease in greating funny materials, sometimes off the cuff. Giving speeches become so much more fun for me now since comedy is just around the corner. So what exactly did Jim says?

In order to be funny, you got to first know what makes you laugh as this will give you obvious clues to what makes other people laugh.

I shall give you a couple of examples of what makes me laugh and hopefully, this will offer you some hints to how you can consciously create funny materials for your oh-so-deprived listeners.

I am sure you sniggered at least when you see this cartoon right? What makes this funny is the spoof element. Turning something we are all familiar with to something ridiculous. Think Scary Movie. The funniest character in that cartoon has to be “Miss Highly Visble Woman” since this is a 180% twist of her super-powers. This is yet another tool you can use to make something familiar funny.

Take this cartoon for example. Again there is a twist of role that Cupid plays. He is no longer the cutesy bubbly and adorable baby angel which we are all familiar with. I thought this cartoon has a hidden meaning as well. Don’t some of you think that sometimes Cupid is way too busybody?! What makes him so sure that these two people want to be together? Won’t that be bringing people together against their will? So much for a cover up by making Cupid cute! So in situations like this, a terrorist-like Cupid makes us laugh as it affirms the evil conspiracy that could exist.

I don’t know about you but it got me laughing like crazy. Maybe because I am jaded about love at first sight which was what the movie Titantic protrayed. Here’s the truth whether you like it or not. PEOPLE LOVE TRAGEDY… especially if it is OTHER PEOPLE’s tragedy. It offers them a platform to relieve theirs and to take comfort that they are ok. To read more about how to leverage on other people’s tragedies to create laughs, click here

This is just downright evil! And plain silly too.. As a lesson, silly sells. That’s why we love to watch slapsticks. Think Mr Bean. Think American Funniest Home Videos. Don’t we love it when we see people slip on the banana skin, even after 46 times??!! Now that’s plain funny!

An understatement is a restraint or a lack of emphasis in expression which very often elicits humor. You see that a lot in british comedy. For example Monty Python. In the above cartoon, the police officer is adamant about catching Jesus for walking on grass so much so that is oblivious to the fact that the son of God is now standing on water!!?? HALLELUJAH!

For the last example, I want to relate to you a story that offers a HUGE clue to being funny effortlessly. Last evening, I was invited to a Toastmasters meeting @ The Serangoon. Coincidentally, the new Exco was installed and the incoming President had to give a speech. He spoke fervently about how he was going to do everything he could to ensure that the club achieve all their goals. Even if it means pushing and kicking the members to do their speech projects or getting his committee members to “supervise”…

This of course created some tension which was obvious in the faces of the members. I would be if I was one of them! And then shortly after the mandate.. I mean speech… one of the members came up to talk about “THREE WAYS TO RELIEF STRESS”, which rang the gigantic humor bell in my head! This was excellent humor material. And it helped that the emcee reminded the audience how “great” I was with my win at the recent Evaluation Contest.

When I came up on stage, I had this as my introduction:

“Talk about a no-stress evening… you know Madeline, your speech came in timely not only for me but to all your club members!”

Not surprisingly, it scored a huge laugh.

So why did that line work you may ask. Coz’ it relieves the tension that has been built up by the President’s speech. It was obvious that everyone was stressed. Even I am, with the tall hat put on me by the emcee. And we all know it but no one dared voice it out. So when I mentioned that line, it was obvious that I was hinting about the future stress that they will experience. This in turn gave them an opportunity to laugh, which in some way is a covert opposition to the impending stress.

Some comedians call such humor “observational humor” since it will only generate laughs in that situation. John Kinde, a motivational humor convention keynote speaker (Gosh, that’s one really long title!) wrote an elaborate entry explaining how to create observational humor. Check it out here.

So as you see, being funny isn’t really rocket science. All it takes is your open attitude to spot and appreciate one. As you spend your weekend alone (poor soul!) or with your loved ones, keep a look out for the funny and be sure to share them with me under the comment section.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

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