Handout Makeemlaugh

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4 Compact Discs & workbook Hosted byDarren LaCroixComedian Keynote Speaker Author

8 Interviews with Comedy & Humor ProsA u d i o L e a r n i n g P r o g r a m

Do you sell, train, & give presentations ?Learn how to:

Create your own humor Make your stories funnier

Gain confidence

Get more laughs!


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Kevin Knox-You have to believe its funny!Stand-up comedian- regular at the Tropicana in

Las Vegas & Atlantic City, seen on Comedy Central

2001 The Humor Institute, Inc. www.HUMOR411.com

Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 4

Disc 3

Bob Seibel-Get laughs from frustration!Stand-up comedy veteran of 20 years, Carnival

Cruise Lines & corporate events

Rosemary Verri-How to develop humor awarenessNationally known humorist, teaches people how to

practice Safe Stress &laugh for the health of it! NSA

Judy Buch-Enhance stories with characterization

International Ventriloquist of the Year, seen on GoodMorning America,NSA, past president of NESA

Dick Doherty-How to be intimate with an audienceComedy headliner at The Improv, Copa Cabana in

NY City & the Hong Kong Convention Center, NSA

Katie Grady-Learn the joke writing processOne of the best young comedians - Boston Globe

Stand-up comic and comedy writer

Don Gavin- Get laughs from observations!Boston comedy legend, Seen onShowtime, HBO,

Carolines Comedy Hour,Evening at the Improv

Izzy Gesell, MS Ed, CSP-The power of improvAmericas Humorologist, keynote speaker, trainer,

Author of the Improv activities book Playing Along

Make em LAUGH is invaluable. I am not a naturally funny person, but after listening to

the advice of the eight experts I find myself actually thinking in a more comedic way.- Celeste Longacre, Author & Syndicated Radio Personality


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Dear Student of Humor;

There is nothing quite like the feeling of making an audience laugh.It is a myth that you

either have it or you dont. Humor is a learnable skill.

If I can learn to be funnier, after being considered least likely to be funnyback in high school, so

can you. Now its my goal to help other people learn how to be funnier. I thought back to when

I first started stand-up comedy and what helped me the most. It came down to three things: ask-

ing mentors for advice, putting it to practice, and being willing to make mistakes onstage.

I went back and interviewed the people who influenced my performance and some true masters

I have worked with during my career. Each of these eight interviews was distilled down to a

half hour of their best advice and favorite exercises. You will get a humor education from the

wisdom of over 100 years of onstage experience making people laugh.

The workbook was designed to help you remember key points. Write the answers down along

with your own thoughts.

Heed the advice and have fun!

Humorously,

Darren LaCroix - President of The Humor Institute, Inc.

PS I still listen to these interviews before my presentations. They get me thinking funny.

Darren LaCroixThe Humor Institute, Inc.888-528-4451

Web site: www.HUMOR411.comHumor, Its not just for fun anymore !

GotHu

mor?

The HumorInstitute


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Learn How the Pros MAKE EM LAUGHDarrens


4

Interview 1 - Disc 1

Tracks:

1. Welcome - About this program

2. Bob Seibel live

3. Bobs credits

4. Where does your humor come from?

5. What are your guidelines for developing material?

6. What lessons have you learned during your 21 years of performing stand-up comedy?

7. How do you try out new material?

8. What separates a good comedian from a great comedian?

___________________________

9. How do you approach a corporate audience vs. a night club?

10. Do you try a new bit just once?

Bob Seibel-Get laughs from frustration!Stand-up comedy veteran of 20 years, Carnival

Cruise Lines & corporate events


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11. Is there a difference between a Friday night crowd and a Saturday night crowd?

12. Here is a scenario: Two brand new comedians perform on the same night in front of the sameaudience. One bombs, one does great. What was the difference?

Doing comedy from ___________________________

You need to be yourself up there

13. What subjects do you recommend writing about?

Is it easier for someone from the corporate world to write about it?

What bugs ya?

14. How do you find humor with a specific group?

There is nothing like comedy to ___________________________

Simple ideas to find it

15. Why do some comedians use the F word?

Did you ever use it?

16. How would you make a story you already tell... funnier?

What would you look for?

How Bob develops his material

17. What is the real reward of making people laugh?


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18. What are some classic mistakes you see new comedians make?

19. What advice would you give to deal with this?

The most frightening experience of his life

20. What is it that makes people laugh?

People laugh because of ___________________________

21. Any last bit of advice?

22. Which books do you recommend?

23. Bobs RECAP

1) ___________________________

2) ___________________________

3) ___________________________

Your list- Things YOUcan write about

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)


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Tracks:

24. Rosemary Verri live

25. Rosemarys credits

26. Things Rosemary taught me that I will never forget

1) _____________________________________________________________________

27. If you want to be funny, know what your body looks like

28. The problem is funny, the solution is serious

Rosemarys sister-in-law

Learn to tell your stories funny, nobody cares about your problems.- Rosemary Verri

Using humor to handle problems in the doctors office

29. People know there are ___________________________ all the time

Rosemary Verri-How to develop humor awarenessNationally known humorist, teaches people how to

practice Safe Stress &laugh for the health of it! NSA


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30. How do you refine your humor capabilities?

Remove extraneous words

Deliver it __________,_______ ,__________

A laugh is ___________________________ to the amount of words it takes to get there

31. Who influenced your humor?

32. What mistakes do you see speakers make when they are trying to be funny?

Material

Delivery

33. Videotape yourself!

It is painful to watch. Do it anyway! Those are growing pains

34. A mistake Rosemary made early in her sales career

35. A great observation - people dont enjoy funny material the same way

36. Where do you get your stories?


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37. How do you develop them?

Rosemarys garage

Another mistake she used to make

When practicing, pretend you are telling your story to ___________________________

Its a process

38. Funny material has to be practiced aloud

What to practice

39. Go back into your own life

40. How important do you feel setting is to getting laughs?

41. When making a point, it doesnt have to be funny

42. Rosemarys final advice


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43. Rosemarys RECAP

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ___________________________

3) ___________________________

4) ___________________________

Your own thoughts & Ideas:


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Tracks:

1. Judy Buch live

2. Judys credits

3. What Judy and Darren are like offstage

4. Tell us about your characters and why

Magda- ______________________________________________________

Daisy - ______________________________________________________

5. How do you start building your characters?

6. A favorite quote of Judys

7. Where do your characters come from?

8. What do people connect with in characters?

___________________________

Attitude

Judy Buch-Enhance stories with characterizationInternational Ventriloquist of the Year, seen on Good

Morning America,NSA, past president of NESA


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9. How do you jump start your creativity?

10. How can this insight help people with their stories?

11. What kind of details are important to telling stories?

12. How do you develop your stories to make a point?

13. How do you come up with a tension release for your story?

Ask the question: ___________________________

Distance helps audiences ___________________________

14. Realize it is work to be funny

15. Why is audience involvement so effective?

Its like the banana peel - better ___________________________

Mistakes made onstage with audience members

16. Who do you use from the audience?


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17. How can speakers/trainers grab the magic of audience involvement?

18. What exercise do you use to develop your script?

The left & right column exercise:

left: right:

Cleaning bathrooms Communication

using a disinfectant eye contact

stains getting attention

two lids learn something

the toilet bowl man body language

the throne hand gestures

reading be succinct

sani-flush listening

the tank the internet

lip or rim talk at you

scrubbing brain dump

mirror lip service

etc... etc....

connections:sani-flush : brain dump reading: learn something

Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which before their union were not perceived to have anyunion- Mark Twain


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Write one of your own:

(remember the deeper [longer] you make each list, the easier the story/analogy will flow)

left: right: (something that relates directlyto your topic, point or audience):

____________________________ __________________________________

What connections/similarities do you see in the lists?(the more the funnier)

What story/analogy could you write from this?


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19. What Judy gleaned from the exercise?

20. What is your best advice for people who want to learn to be funnier?

21. Judys RECAP

1) _____________________________________________________

2) _____________________________________________________

3) _____________________________________________________

Your own thoughts & Ideas:


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Tracks:

22. Dick Doherty live

23. Dicks credits

24. How long have you been performing stand-up comedy?

25. What is it that makes people laugh?

26. How do you write a joke or make an audience laugh?

27. Do you think people can learn to be funnier?

28. Who do you like as a comedian?

Can you say George Carlin is better than ___________________________

Its all ___________________________

Dick Doherty-How to be intimate with an audienceComedy headliner at The Improv, Copa Cabana in

NY City & the Hong Kong Convention Center, NSA


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29. What is persona onstage?

How do you identify who you are onstage?

Performers try to control other peoples ___________________________

You dont have to find out who you are, you just have to _______________________

30. What is intimacy onstage?

Intimacy is ______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Onstage, you put it out there and offer the opportunity to ________________________

You can enjoy a comedian without ___________________________

31. What are some of the classic mistakes comedians make?

They feel like its working for them

Dont use words in your introduction that try to control how the audience will perceive

you. Keep them ___________________________

Its a lonely feeling onstage

Dont connect at any level, other than how you want to connect at __________________

Trying to make people think you are funny is the wrong thing. Trying to be funny and

offering the audience the chance to ___________________________


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32. What mistakes do you see speakers make?

Real works in the real world and the platform is ___________________________

Its not an audience, its a ____________________ you are trying to communicate with

You need to get it, that it is not a group that has power over you

I have yet to meet an audience that didnt want ___________________________

Human beings inherently resist ___________________________

33. How do you approach something new?

Im not afraid of hearing somebody say I didnt care for that

The audience doesnt have any power ___________________________

The only thing the audience is capable of is ___________________________

They are certainly not capable of telling me what I am ___________________________

When you get that then you are not ___________________________

34. You own many clubs. How important do you think setting is to getting laughs?


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39. Do you ever vary your openings based on your audience?

You cant tell how a club audience is by looking at them

You cant tell how an audience is based on the people who go onstage before you

I believe you shouldnt try to read your audience

40. Talk about getting approval from an audience

I inherently do what gives me the ___________________________

When do I realize an audience likes me? At the same time they decide if they like me

I believe human beings communicate ___________________________

Audiences want to like you, but sometimes we go ___________________________

41. How do you think alcohol effects a corporate audience?

42. What advice do you have about writing humor?


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43. What final advice do you have for speakers who want to be funnier?

Do it- and do it - and do it!

44. Dicks RECAP

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

4) ______________________________________________________

Your thoughts and ideas:


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Tracks:

1. Katie Grady live

2. Katies credits


4. What is your writing style/technique?

Every time I come up with a great joke its like ___________________. - Katie Grady

For Katie, eight hours of writing may only equal a solid _________________of material

Every individual word is important to me

5. What are some of the exercises you use to write humor?

Dictionary of ___________________________

(Give a man a fish and hell eat for a year, teach a man to fish and hell eat for a lifetime)

Give a man a fish and ___________________________

You cant get blood from a stone ___________________________

Katie Grady-Learn the joke writing processOne of the best young comedians - Boston Globe

Stand-up comic and comedy writer


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Exercise: Name cliches some from your industry, or cliches you are sick of!

A)

B)

C)

D)

E)

Now try adding your own tag lines to them

6. What other tools do you use when writing?

Comparisons example: Your ___________________________

___________________________

Darrens live example

7. Explain more about the Rule of Three

I packed everything wool socks, scarfs, ______________________ - Darren LaCroix

Why three and not four?

8. Where do you start your stand-up comedy students?

Humor is intended to erase ___________________________


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The most common issues are:

1) ___________________________

2) ___________________________

3) ___________________________

4) ___________________________

5) ___________________________

9. What other exercises do you suggest?

Set up PUNCH

Step one - write down ___________________________ about your subject

Step two - _____________________________________________________

The punchline should be ___________________________

It can be _____________________________________________________

example a list of facts for customer service could start: 1) The customer is always right

2) Customers pay the bills

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

Try it! Remember: It takes ten to get ___________________________


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10. Lets talk more about using comparisons in the corporate world

11. What are some of your other tools to create humor?

Simile - comparing one object to another object

Creating a picture in the mind of listeners

Example: The customer was looking at me like ___________________________

when I tried to explain what was going on

12. What is next?

Observation - Trying to make sense out of ___________________________

13. Now that we have the basic ideas down, how do we polish the joke to give it that extra kick?

Funny ___________________________ - examples:

Funny ____________ - examples:___________________________________________

14. Darren puts Katie on the spot and they dissect one of Darrens jokes. Why is it funny?

15. Should everyone have a humor buddy or writing partner?

16. How do you try out new material?


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17. Lets go through the process from beginning to end

Step 1 - The first thing you want to do is brainstorm ___________________________

You need to think about _______________________ and __________________

Questions to ask yourself: What are your.....

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

Pick a topic, preferably one that you are emotional about!

18. Step 2 - Write down everythingyou can think of that relates to the subject

19. Step 3 - Go back to the original tools

What comparisons could you make?

What word pictures could you create?

Can other people relate?

20. Step 4 - Polish the lines you come up with by using funny words

Darren and Katie start on polishing then they back up in the process when they get some

fresh ideas. That is how it works.


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21. Any closing advice?

Write as often as you can

22. Katies RECAP

1) ___________________________

2) ___________________________

3) ___________________________



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Tracks:

23. Don Gavin live

24. Dons credits

25. What are some of the lessons you have learned in terms of making people laugh?

Poke fun at ___________________________

What you are actually saying is its not just me, ___________________________

This is the same principle as ___________________________

26. How do you handle the anxiety?

Do your homework! The more homework you do, ___________________________

27. How important is setting and the situation to making people laugh?

Type up ___________________________ and get it to the correct person way in

advance, and bring it along with you as well

28. What tips can you offer for developing material for a specific audience?

Don Gavin- Get laughs from observations!Boston comedy legend, Seen onShowtime, HBO,

Carolines Comedy Hour,Evening at the Improv


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29. What do you think makes people laugh?

The ___________________________

Observations

___________________________ : combining ideas

I think comedians are ___________________________ - Don Gavin

Its the ___________________________

30. How do you test new material?

Ive done things that just didnt go anywhere. Then examine I whyit didnt.

Sometimes you find out, ___________________________

Other times you realize the audience didnt know because something missing or the set up

wasnt clear

You can overcome that by _________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

31. What are some of the lessons you have learned about the professional speaking world?

Dont try to ___________________________

Dont tell ___________________________

Do your homework

Spend some time talking about _____________________________________________


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32. How important is stage time?

Your homework is that you have been in front of audiences

Talk about the physical surroundings - whether it be the town, the hotel, the stage

Address what is there

33. Example: A sports hero was thrown off by setting

Questions to ask yourself about the setting you are in

How would Don Gavin have handled the same situation?

You have to look at the ___________________________

Every time you speak it is not going to be the same as before

Be willing to be ___________________________ to the situation

34. Go with your strengths and go with your weaknesses

Often times your weaknesses ___________________________

Always identify with ___________________________

Key into their ___________________________ (at work and during the meeting)


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Yes, and they can learn to ___________________________

36. Were you a funny teacher?

The wrong audience for the wrong teacher

If they dont understand what you are talking ___________________________

You have to get to ___________________________ and then you can be funny

Try to identify with ___________________________

37. Scenario: Two or three new comedians go onstage and they bomb. Another new comedian goes on

and he/she lights up the crowd. What is the difference?

___________________________

___________________________

Even how you take ___________________________

Sometimes Ill do a bit just for the people ___________________________

He may have been more aware of ___________________________

The audience is judging you ___________________________

Its not ____________________, its not ___________________, there is a difference in

the way you present yourself to those people.


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38. What do you think is the difference between a good comedian and a great comedian?

A great comedian gets the audience ___________________________

39. Any final advice?

Find out your audiences _______________________, their ______________________

Find out what they are ____________________, really _______________________,

and what they are ___________________________

40. Dons RECAP

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ___________________________

3) ___________________________



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Tracks:

1. Izzy Gesell live

2. Izzys credits

3. What is a Humorologist?

4. What makes people laugh?

Generally what makes people laugh is a ___________________________

5. Can people learn how to be funnier?

6. Who are some of the people that influenced you?

Improv is really about ___________________________

7. What are some of the classic mistakes you see speakers make when trying to get an audience to

laugh?

Its only a myththat you have to ___________________________

The reason jokes are valuable is because they ___________________________

Another common mistake is that people think if something is funny in one situation it will

neccessarily be funny somewhere else

Stepping on your own laugh comes from ___________________________

The hardest part of performing stand-up comedy is _____________________________

Izzy Gesell, MS Ed, CSP-The power of improvAmericas Humorologist, keynote speaker, trainer,

Author of the Improv activities book Playing Along


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8. What was your book Playing Alongdesigned to do?

With improv the audience is ___________________________

9. Most of the greatest improv lines ARENT!

Tape (audio or video) as many presentations as possible to capture yours

10. Examples of stock improv lines

Prepare lines for what will inevitably happen to you

Quick confident responses to unexpected happenings win the audience over

People want to see you ___________________________

By admiting a problem with an improv line you are saying:

_________________________,___________________________,_________________

11. How do you teach your students to practice spontaneity?

We all walk spontaneously

It is the same as learning to play tennis

12. An exercise that could help people work on their improv

Radio Announcer - Try it, have fun with it, make it a habit!


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13. What other activities would you recommend?

Watch yourself when ___________________________

The basic rule of improv is ___________________________

Exercise your ability to ______________________ (when people suggest things to you)

The key to spontaneity is ___________________________

14. Darren and Izzy play the game of acceptance: YES, AND...

Practice- Its simple, but its not easy!

The game is about accepting and building

In your life you will begin to hear these offers

Youll feel yourself ___________________________ because there are no boundaries

15. Where do you start looking for a new bit?

Humor is always about ___________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

It is about the: Hmmmm...., Did you ever notice that...., How about those....


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16. You have to trust yourself that what you are looking for is an understanding of how your own senseof humor works

The best humorists and comedians are the ones who are in line with their personality

The work is in ___________________________

Ask what if

How could the scalding coffee issue relate to your subjects?

What stories are in the news now that you could relate to your own talks? Play what ifwith them!

17. Another simple bit you can do

What can you do with acronyms in your industry?

It doesnt even have to be that funny because it is personalized

You dont need a great joke to start, just something that relaxes the audience

18. How could you look at a story that you already tell and make it funnier?

Izzys Check list:

Tape it

Listen to your delivery


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Listen to the timing

The construction of it

The examples you use

Can you exaggerate more?

Can you act it out by becoming the characters?

Can you take an alternate view? If so, whose point of view could you take?

Is there too much detail in the beginning? Could the audience get confused?

If you see people start to smile or chuckle before you deliver the punchline, this means you are

doing a good job with your set up

19. Any final advice to people who want to learn to be funnier?

Everyone is funny - Know that!

Everyone can improve their use and understanding of humor - Know that!

It takes work, but the more you can understand your own sense of humor and learn

techniques and skills, the more fun you will have

Izzys book recommendations


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20. Izzys RECAP

1) ___________________________

2) ___________________________

3) ___________________________

4) ___________________________

5) ___________________________



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Tracks:

21. Kevin Knox live

22. Kevins credits

23. Why do you think people laugh?

___________________________

Their reality ___________________________

24. How do you develop your humor?

It has to come from ___________________________

Im the guy that wants to tell you ___________________________

25. What are some of the mistakes you see new comedians make?

___________________too hard

Comedy should be _________________

You have to _________________________ first

26. Can you spot somebody that really has talent?

You can see right away a reaction ___________________________

Kevin Knox-You have to believe its funny!Stand-up comedian- regular at the Tropicana in

Las Vegas & Atlantic City, seen on Comedy Central


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27. Who influenced you?

28. Where do your ideas come from?

From myself, it comes from ___________________________

We are all characters onstage.Can you define yours?

I go up onstage with _________________________ inside of me

29. Do you jot your ideas down?

I read ___________________________

I go to a quiet place to write, like the library

___________________________

Then I go onstage and ___________________________ them

That works for me

30. Where in your set do you try new material?

The crowd can actually help me ___________________________


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31. How do you keep a story fresh?

Every time is the first time

They dont know this ___________________________

It is paramount to make the crowd think ___________________________

32. How do you look at a story to make it better or funnier?

From my ___________________________

33. What goes through your mind just before you go onstage?

34. If the club was only half full, what would you do to make it a better setting for laughter?

I think you actually have to ___________________________

I want the people ___________________________

35. How much do you think time of day affects a crowd?

As a performer do you have different expectations based on the time of day?

36. Do you ever have bad shows?

If the boss laughs ___________________________

37. What do you think separates a good comedian from a great comedian?


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38. Scenario: Two new comedians go onstage and get nothing from the crowd. A third new comedian

comes on and brings them to life. What do you think happened?

You have to seize ___________________________

39. How can a corporate speaker develop confidence?

40. How many times would you recommend people try a new bit before they give up on it?

___________________________ times

______________ everything!

Listen to it ___________________________

41. How do you handle a heckler?

The most important thing you can do is ___________________________

42. How do you think someone could work on their timing?

43. How do you handle improvisation when you are onstage?

You dont have to be funny about it, ___________________________

44. Can you ever blame an audience?

If they didnt laugh, ___________________________

The first thing you should look at is ___________________________


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Want to learn more about presentations & humor?

Sign up now for Darrens free e-mail newletter:

Darrens Stage time(e-mail addresses will NOT be shared or sold!)

Just go to www.Presentation411.com

Find out when Darrens next:

Humor & Speaking Boot Camp will be held!

The Humor Institute, Inc. call:888-820-2737 www.DarrenLaCroix.com

Darren LaCroix is a rare combinationhes an author, keynotespeaker, and a corporate comedian. Darrens unique talents alsoflow into films, commercials, and corporate training videos. Heis the co-author of a bookLaugh & Get Richthat teaches peoplehow to find more joy in each day. He enthusiastically inspires andentertains audiences through a variety of keynote speeches.


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focus on my assets and realize that I am sitting on a gold mine! -Andy Dooley, Orlando, FL

I DARRENTEE IT!If, after 77 days, you havent been blown away by the easy to learn info I will person-ally write you a check, return the product for a full refund! Thats it. No small print. I believe in the product.Most importantly, I believe in you.

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