Joke writing and joke-telling for the average joe-k
By Admin User on November 7, 2021
Coming up with good jokes isn’t easy, even if you do it professionally. It takes plenty of time to craft a joke, from the structure itself to its performance.
But learning how to utilize your funny side can help you in any presentation. So these are a few tips to not only help you tell jokes but to be an overall better performer.
If you’re afraid of the audience, act like you’re not.
Acting like you aren’t afraid is easier said than done. Regardless if you’re telling jokes or not, it’s a big hurdle to jump. You could try to work with the science of public speaking, or you could do what I do and fake it.
This involves being confident in everything you say, whether it’s right or wrong, and who cares if it’s wrong unless you’re in a situation where you need facts; think, your goal is to make people laugh, not be correct. Especially for joke-telling, where you could say something that goes against what could be common knowledge. The contrast between you saying something completely incorrect with the confidence of it being completely factual can add an extra spice to your humor.
Hyperbole is your friend.
Working off a point in my previous tip, your goal is is to make people laugh, not be correct. So don’t be afraid to exaggerate specific things in your jokes or stories for laughs. Besides, it’s sometimes the lack of realism that makes certain things funny. Even more so, it may be because your point is too realistic that something may not be funny and may hit too close to home for someone.
Pay attention to your facial expressions.
Humans are social creatures, meaning that we often read faces to get a sense of what we should be feeling at a given moment. If you’re telling jokes with stone-cold expressions on your face, your audience may not even recognize that you’re joking about something.
If you struggle with this, the simple fix is to pay attention to the facial muscles you’re using when speaking. It seems like a weird concept at first, but eventually, it will become second nature.