Telling jokes is the best way to make other people laugh, light up a room, and make a friend. However, not all jokes are equally entertaining. Yes, knowing your audience and choosing the right material is important, but so is the presentation. In the following text, we are going to give you some tips on how to improve your joke-telling skill.
The very first thing that you have to understand is that there are no strict rules when it comes to choosing the material. Not all jokes are suited for everyone, which means that you have to thoroughly think about your audience. If you personally know each individual, that is great! You are probably aware of their sense of humor, and know what they will find funny. On the other hand, if you don’t know members of the audience, then you have to choose the material very carefully e.g. elder people don’t like inappropriate jokes, women don’t like sexist ones, and clearly, people of a certain racial or ethnic group will not find one-liners about their community funny.
Source: The Guardian
This brings us to our next point – the right material. You can find millions of jokes online, on websites like www.witze-paradies.de. Also, why not make your own, original jokes? You can draw inspiration from your everyday life, funny events, and relationships with other people, etc. Determine the story’s “target” (what it is about). When creating one, this is the place to start e.g. women usually love jokes about men, and vice versa, students will probably laugh at stories about school and teachers, and so on.
Furthermore, it is important to make the beginning of a joke realistic, so the audience can relate to it, but at the same time, it has to be a bit exaggerated since that is what gives it the humorous edge. You have to consider the setup very carefully since it is the foundation of the entire story. Likewise, the end is equally if not more important. The punchline has to be unexpected in order to make everyone laugh. If you opt for using someone else’s story, our advice is to change it slightly so as to appear to be your own. You can do this by changing some small aspects – erase some and add details from your life or experience.
Source: Business Insider
Lastly, we have to give you some tips on the actual performance. When presenting your brilliant, ridiculously funny story you have to present it in the right way. This includes – the length of the joke, the rhythm of your voice, and your attitude. The story has to be just the right length, it cannot be too short, nor can it be too long because people will probably get bored and stop listening to you. Moreover, the number of words and timing are also an important part of the presentation. Make sure to make pauses at the exact time and also change the tone of your voice frequently, because there is nothing worse than a monotonous joke. Also, you should make a pause before the punchline in order to build the suspense.
To conclude, don’t forget to be relaxed and confident, and also to smile to the audience. Some comedians can get away with laughing at their own jokes, but you should try to avoid that because it can seem that you are over-compensating for a story that is not that funny.
