Some may remember months ago when I started writing in the blog regularly and made clear that I am really too opinionated to write a blog. Here's some more proof fer ya.
I don't have a lot on this topic, but I do have a few tips to offer about how you can be more funny and also some things to tell you about how you've been getting it wrong up until now.
STUFF YOU'RE GETTING WRONG:
These are some common mistakes that you can easily avoid and thereby be funnier.
1. Don't overlead your joke.
Give me just enough that I'm able to do the math in my head. You don't have to SPELL OUT for me that it's funny because the guy actually didn't say "ten inch pianist." I get it.
2. Don't explain your jokes.
This goes along with rule number 1. If I didn't get your joke, too bad for me. Don't explain your jokes. Explained jokes aren't funny. Really, they aren't. There are a few people who can master explaining the joke in such a way that it adds a new joke and salvages the laugh. You shouldn't try that yet. If someone says to you, "I don't get it. I don't know what that means," you say, "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't explain my jokes. You can catch the next one!"
[There is an exception to this rule. When you're in the company of new people who's company you will share frequently in the future (in laws, new classmates, new neighbors, etc), explain your jokes. New people won't know you're funny and telling them you don't explain jokes makes you seem odd or snooty. Explain a few, you'll lose the laugh, but, over time people will realize, "oooOOOOOOooooo, I bet he's being funny. That's what he does. He's funny."]
Also.....
3. Don't use your most outre jokes on new people.
If you have one of those really remote senses of humor that uses obscure, little known allusions or facts, save those for the crowds who know you if you want people to think you're funny instead of homeless. Yes, yes, yes, we ALL get that it's probably HILARIOUS that you just made a total word play pun that pokes fun at Episode 249 of Star Trek AND manages to insult the recently appointed Tzarina of CHDKSFSDRSSVarnia, but we're still not gonna laugh. And, now we're gonna move further away from you. Slowly and with no sudden movements.
4. Coincidences aren't jokes.
There are funny stories. You should sprinkle jokes into them if they are lengthy and you want them to still be perceived as funny stories by the end. But, coincidences are not among them. A coincidence is surprising. It might receive a smile. But, if you haven't told some OTHER joke along with your anecdote, then you haven't said something funny. Don't guffaw about it and say, "I never heard anything so hysterical." Really? We have.
5. Don't insult people who aren't you.
This seems straightforward. You don't get to poke fun at any group that you are not a part of. I don't care if you have LOTS AND LOTS of friends who are Vikings. Don't make snide jokes about the Vikings if YOU, YOURSELF are not a Viking. [or, probably, even if you are. Vikings are big. They'll take you out.]
SOME people can do this VERY delicately by using ridiculously exaggerated comments about groups that no one ever makes fun of or oppresses. This is tricky and should be left to the experts. If you try it, you'll probably get punched in the nose.
6. Trim up your jokes.
Get to the point as quickly as you can while leaving in all the essential elements to keep it funny. You need something humorous about every 3-5 sentences in a long story if you want it to be classified as a "funny story". Otherwise, be clear that what you are actually telling is an interesting story that does also contain a little something funny at the end. Unless your story isn't even intereresting and, in that case, you should have stayed home instead and watched The Closer. [you should do that anyway. it's a good show.]
7. If you're going to laugh at your own jokes, keep it reasonable.
I'm not totally against laughing at your own jokes. In a new crowd, sometimes that's the only way people know you've just told a subtle joke. If your audience is laughing, then a little laugh along with them lets them know you appreciate their response. But, absolutely do not laugh longer or louder than the people you just told the joke to. I know that sometimes you try to relay a silly story and it gets the best of you and you can't stop the giggles all through telling it. I'm okay with that (I think it's charming) provided you explain, "I'm sorry, I know I'm ruining this story, it just tickles me to think about it...." You will be less funny but at least you won't be rude.
8. If you're gonna steal someone else's joke, you'd better make sure no one has heard it before.
Whenever someone around here says, "That runs in our family...." MY response is, "oh, honey, NOBODY runs in our family." I didn't make this one up. ReRun said it on an episode of What's Happening. I think it's safe to assume that you didn't know that. Therefore, in just about any crowd, this joke will get a laugh.
Please, please, please do not take the best known line from a very popular tv show or movie and try to act like you just came up with it. You will look like a weirdy. People might laugh uncomfortably but they will not think you are funny. They'll think you were homeschooled. [then they'll be confused because they always believed that homeschooled people weren't allowed to socialize.]
9. Don't act like you're the only person in the room who's funny.
What you want to create is a laugh friendly atmosphere. If you walk into a gathering with the mindset that no one is gonna be funnier than you, no one but you gets to make people laugh, or, ruder still, that no one is gonna make you laugh, you will lose that atmosphere. You want to exist in a place where you delight in everyone's attempts at levity. You are appreciative of the shared laughter of your fellow conversants. Now that laughing and laughing and being easy going and fun is what we're all doing, you are ready to try out your new bit. Consider their jokes (however lame and paltry they may be) the warm up for your own.
That's all the criticism I have for you at this time. Future Denise plans to create a list of what you SHOULD do to be funny, but she has lots and lots of crazy plans (Future Denise is also in charge of all laundry, yardwork, errands and the filing of income taxes) and may never have time to compile it.
My family (the one I grew up in) is all about the one-liner. They think it's funny, but usually it's not. Then if you don't laugh they think you didn't get it. It's almost funny how unfunny it all is.
ReplyDeletehahahahaha! My father-in-law loves a subtle pun. And he'll just sit still with it until you catch on. He does it to waiters even -- people who can't dimiss what you've said because maybe it's a vital instruction. These puns are a big part of my father in law's personality. Some of them are funny. Some of them are lame. He knows. He's okay with it. :)
ReplyDeleteMy parents have about 12 jokes they say and they aren't auditioning any new ones. I tell people, "To my dad, there's no such thing as a stranger, just someone who hasn't heard all his jokes yet."