Let’s get funny – develop your humor

With Debbie Iancu-Haddad

READY TO START?

Good news. You can improve your humor and learn to be

funnier All it takes is practice

ARE YOU TOO SERIOUS?

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

Having a sense of humor means possessing the

capacity to see something as funny

Amusement Passive use of humor

Enjoyment

Positive emotional change Laughter

Performance

Active use of humor

Using humor in communication with

others

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

The problem with jokes

Most people experience one of two problems:

Memory Performance

You get lost in the details. You cant remember the important parts of the joke or forget the punchline

You don’t know how to tell the joke. You start laughing during the telling, reveal crucial information too soon and spoil the surprise

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

Solving the problem with jokes

The solution to both problems starts with practice

Memory Performance

1. You more often you repeat a joke the less likely you are to forget it. Tell the joke several times to memorize it. 2. We are going to learn how to simplify the joke so there are less details to remember

Once you practice what works best and have the joke memorized you stop laughing during the telling, build suspense correctly, and learn what details to include for your audience

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

How to make things funnier

When you start speaking, people start to anticipate what comes next. They base their anticipation on common patterns, social norms and past experience. To make them laugh you need to surprise them, but there are lots of ways to do that.

The secret to humor is surprise but how can you make your surprise funnier?

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

What ending does your audience expect?

Try to find the opposite of what they would expect.

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

Anatomy of a joke

The joke skeleton is the inherent structure that leads up to the punch-line and cannot be changed – or the joke won’t work.

To find the skeleton break the joke down to its essential components.

The punch-line is the surprise – the skeleton leads up to the punch line

For a joke to work:

Most jokes are based on incongruity = surprise. In the first half of the joke we create misdirection. The punchline reveals the misdirection.

Don’t rush it – take 2 breaths before and after the punch-line

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

The punchline = misdirection revealed

• Assumptions are based on the socially acceptable course of action.

• If there is a common way of doing something (or a "right" way to do something) my audience will immediately assume that is what is going to happen.

The punchline is based on revealing that what we expected to happen – did not. In fact something completely different happened. The less we expect what actually happened – the funnier it becomes (of course that should be within certain boundaries that my audience will find funny rather than shocking or offensive).

The misdirection is based on my audience's assumptions.

What my audience though would happen

What actually happens

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

Example joke

A man was walking down the street with a penguin when a policeman came up to him. • "That is an endangered animal you can't just walk

around with it. Take it to the zoo". The next day the same policeman sees the man with the penguin again. • "I thought I told you to take that penguin to the

zoo" • "I did", said the man, "we had a great time. Today

we're going to the movies".

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

So let's break it down:

• My essential components are

– Two people – one can be an authority figure – and

– An exotic animal you would not have as a pet.

• Misdirection: Take him to the zoo – my audience will assume

– A. "take the animal to live at the zoo"

• Rather than option

– B. Take him out to have fun

• Punchline – misdirection revealed – "We went to the zoo and had fun, today we are going to have fun somewhere else".

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

Base situation

•Essential components

Creating misdirection

•Make audience expect one thing

Use alternate meaning

•Punchline goes in

another direction

Creating humor – understanding joke structure

Expected

Unexpected

+ Flexible Decorations

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

Place exotic animals live

Fun place to visit

Documenting the joke: I have a visual memory so I like to create a picture in my mind, or draw on a piece of paper. You can also make a very short list. I often find this is enough to remind me of a joke after I have told it a few times.

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

Improving your joke skills

• In order to remember jokes follow these simple

rules:

1. Write down the joke the first time you hear it 2. Break it down into elements: the punch-line

and the joke skeleton 3. All the rest is just decoration you can change 4. Tell it several times to different people soon

after learning it (start with safe audiences) 5. Customize it to your audience

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

Exercise • Practice breaking down the joke to its

components. • It was New Year's Eve and I was out at the local

pub, drinking and having a great time with my mates. When it got late I decided to do the responsible thing. I left my car in the pub's parking lot and took the bus home. I was really proud of my responsible decision; the only problem was that I had a lot of trouble backing the bus into my driveway…

•

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

How to use humor in a conversation

3

Try to work the joke into the context of the conversation

Don’t ask if they want to hear a joke, let it be a surprise

Have a strategy to fall back on if they don’t get the joke, for example: “I guess you had to be there..”

Practice on someone friendly

Have the joke elements clearly mapped out into your mind before starting

Breathe – take a breath and pause before and after the punch line

Smile and wait for the joke to sink in

Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

Let’s get funny – develop your humor

Debbie Iancu-Haddad

Join my online course in English for improving your humor and learning to laugh more. Join me to see how you can have more fun in everyday communication, at work and with your friends and family

Want to learn more and develop your humor?

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