Introduction to Humor 101: How to Tell Jokes for Power, Prestige, Profit, and Personal Fulfillment

Humor101 is available on Kindle from Amazon.

Do you want to become more attractive to members of the opposite sex? A look at the personal ads shows that a good sense of humor is the attribute people desire most in significant others. Well, next to money, anyways. Do you want mental, physical, and spiritual health? Science is proving that laughter truly is the best medicine. (Which prompts me to ask, If laughter is the best medicine, why isn’t comedy part of anyone’s health care plan?) Do you want raw unadulterated power? Humor is power. A great joke can help persuade people to support your cause or to withdraw support from your opponent’s cause.

“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”
Mark Twain

Humor 101 is a self-study course for people who want to tell jokes effectively. You may be a public speaker seeking to improve your Likeability Quotient (LQ) during your opening. You may be a manager or business owner who occasionally has to make a presentation. You may have dreamed of being a standup comedian, like most people, but never found a way to work it out. Or you may just want to get better at telling jokes because you know there’s something very funny deep inside you that’s going to die a tragic death if you don’t figure out how to set it free.  

“I got started in show business very young. My mother swears I performed prenatally. She says I got a few laughs on the way to the hospital. It was the best womb I ever played.”
Billy Crystal from Absolutely Mahvelous

Many people have mistakenly believed the myth that a sense of humor is inborn – that it cannot be learned or taught. It’s true that few people are born with as good a sense of humor as Billy Crystal was blessed with. Even with diligent practice, few people stand much of a chance of becoming as funny as him. However, while it is true that some people are born with more natural comedic abilities than others, even people who have been clinically diagnosed as laugh-impaired can learn how to tell jokes by applying the simple techniques of Humor 101. And anyone who can tell a dozen jokes well will become the life of many parties, dazzling friends and colleagues.  

“In business, ideas presented with humor gain more support, and after five, the person who gets more laughs gets more dates.”
Judy Carter from Standup Comedy

Al Gore was a fine example. When he took office as Vice President, he was horribly, tragically unfunny. It’s amazing that he got as far as he did in politics without having a clue about how to tell a joke. By the 1996 campaign, he and his handlers realized it was a big problem, and they worked on his sense of humor. It worked! Al Gore mastered the art of self-deprecation and he learned how to tell jokes. His stiffness had been a liability. When he learned how to tell jokes, his stiffness became the setup for most of them. He’s an inspiration to all who have the hope of becoming funny.

“They laugh that win.”
Othello

Laughing and winning frequently go together. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way for Al Gore. However, after he lost the election of 2000, he went on to host Saturday Night Live and he did a decent job, probably a better job than he would have done as President. The point is,if Al Gore can learn to tell jokes, anyone can. As you do, you will reap the benefits that joke-tellers all over the world have been reaping since the dawn of creation. Power, prestige and personal fulfillment – not to mention truckloads of money – can all be yours when you master a few simple techniques.

But this course will not only teach you how to tell jokes. Humor 101 will also show you where to find jokes and how to pick appropriate jokes. I tip my hat to you as you strive to improve yourself. By studying this material, you’re already showing that you have the desire to tell jokes, and that’s the first key. When you learn how to tell jokes, you will not merely be improving yourself. You’ll be improving the world we all live in. I commend you for that!

“Without laughter life on our planet would be intolerable.”
Steve Allen from Funny People

Learn how to tell jokes from the masters

None of the people who have done well in comedy have gotten there on natural ability alone. The people at the top are talented but they have also worked hard and learned a lot along the way.

Brian Regan is one of my favorites to watch and I got to see him twice when he was working comedy clubs. I laughed so hard that my ribs were actually sore by the end of his sets. (Those were the only two times in my life for that to happen.)

If you want to tell jokes like the masters, don’t just sit back and watch. Analyze what they do. Go to live comedy shows if you can and watch how the pros use the various devices of comedy. Here are three of the obvious things to watch for: 

• Energy level. Some comedians are very energetic and others not so much. Be mindful of what might work for you in your public speaking situations.
• Gestures and movement around the stage.Most comedians are very aware of the space available and how to use it. Some move around a lot and some stay right by the mic stand. Some mix it up.
• Comedic timing. Comedians have a sense for how much of a pause to leave between the setup and the punchline. They also have a sense for when to move into the next joke. I’ve seen public speakers who didn’t give the audience time to digest the setup or the punchline and how moved forward a bit too quickly. It’s a serious mistake but it’s one of those things that gets better with practice. 

I used to go to a comedy club nearly every week on a night that was sponsored by a country radio station. It was particularly interesting and educational when there was a black performer for the predominantly redneck audience.

One of the best opening jokes I’ve ever seen was by a very good comedian named Special K. He came to the microphone, took a good look around at the nearly all white audience, and said “Rooster Country. Not a very popular station with the brothers, is it?” 

Just like that, he addressed the fact that he was a black performer for a mostly white audience. It was a very funny joke and it got a good laugh. Special K had a very good set. What did I learn? If there's some potential issue at a speaking engagement, deal with it up front with some humor.

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If you liked this tip about telling jokes, you can find many more in Humor 101: How to Tell Jokes for Power, Prestige, Profit, and Personal Fulfillment. Check it out.

3 Keys for Using Sight Gags

A good sight gag can really help a public speaker to get the attention of an audience. What is a sight gag? It’s just a joke where some object is the punchline. Carrot Top has made an excellent career out of sight gags. People look at what he does and think it’s easy. Carrot Top may make it look easy, but it’s not. Here are 3 tips to using sight gags effectively.

• The sight gag is the punchline. Timing is just as important with a sight gag as it is with any other joke. Remember that the punchline follows the setup, and don’t get ahead of yourself.
• Sight gags have to be big enough for everybody in the audience to see. It’s not very good if the people in front get the joke but the people in back are clueless. Test the sight gag. Get somebody to hold it up where you’re going to be standing and then move around the room where audience members will be to make sure everyone will be able to see it.
• Keep it simple. Sight gags have to be visually funny and self-explanatory. People aren’t going to laugh just because you pulled something out of a box. If you can’t count on most of the people in your audience getting the joke without having to explain it to them, you’re probably better off not using it.

If you can use yourself as a sight-gag, that can work very well. One of my comedy friends was a fat black guy named Ace. “Now, I’d like to do my impression of the number 10,” he would say. Then he would stand next to the mic stand. “And now, for any dyslexics in the audience…” Then he turned around and stood on the other side of the mic stand. It was hilarious.

When I started out in comedy, I used lots of sight gags because they set me apart from the other comedians in the circles where I was performing. Very few used props. One of the best sight gags I came up with was also one of the dumbest. Whenever there was a Star Wars movie in the theatres, I would ask “Do we have any Star Wars fans in the house?” Then I would hold up 2 posters with the number 4 on them. “May the 4s be with you.” Simple, stupid, and it worked every time.

If you found this post useful, share it with your friends and colleagues. The sharing buttons are below.

If you liked this tip about telling jokes, you can find many more in Humor 101: How to Tell Jokes for Power, Prestige, Profit, and Personal Fulfillment. Check it out.