The world’s funniest joke is about a hunter who shoots his friend. It is not even dark humour. It is the kind of joke you share at a dining table… and that’s the problem.
Almost all humour is based on tragedy. As a speaker, can we afford to allude to tragedy while we impact the thoughts and mind of our audiences?I believe this is a risk worth taking, provided it is based on 3 foundations of delightful humour; Ridiculousness, Timing, and Context.
1. Your funny pieces must be based on real-life observations, exaggerated to a point where they stand stark naked, and appeal to the audience because of their ridiculousness. The world’s funniest joke qualifies under this category.
2. Your delivery must be on a very precise, preplanned timing, which requires a tremendous amount of practice… to appear absolutely impromptu and spontaneous! The novelty of any joke lies in surprise and, like Charlie Chaplin, you can invoke laughter even without saying a word!
3. The funniest pieces are the ones that relate to something current in the lives of the audience. The trick is to make a joke of something that just happened (or was said) on the stage or in the room – ideally to do with you and not at another’s expense. By doing this you bring in the second wave of interest around the happening. With the right planning, you will have such trigger points repeatedly and your talk will leave the audience refreshed.
To illustrate these foundations, I was once delivering a talk in which my wife was to add a piece. It was important to time her entry when I had warmed the audience enough. Then, when I called her up, predictably there was applause… and thankfully a whistle. I seized that moment and said (with a pre-rehearsed tone and
words),
“Hey you realize I’m the helpless husband whose wife you’re catcalling, right?”
Can you imagine how the audience related to my tragedy and the peals of laughter that followed?
