“Comedy is in the eye of
the beholder.” What people think is funny really does vary from person to person. For example, a friend of mine carries around a doll. . . like almost everywhere he goes. . .. He’s not as crazy as he sounds, it’s just a funny thing he does to be funny (at least we hope it’s a joke!). The doll whom we’ll call “Chester” . . . because, well that’s the doll’s name. . . makes for a lot of comedy and funny antics as Chester gets himself into all sorts of trouble! Everything that goes wrong is blamed on Chester, and people are encouraged to give input on decisions Chester has or will make.
Comedy Fall-Guy Chester
Why do I bring up Chester?
Because the doll is a ventriloquist doll, and my friend, who is not a ventriloquist, is doing something that ventriloquists have been doing forever. . .making their doll (puppet) their fall guy. Yes, the doll can say and do things that are funny, but that the ventriloquist can’t because he/she will get in trouble or anger the audience. The doll can say dirty jokes that the ventriloquist can’t, the doll can make fun of a person that the ventriloquist can’t. Dolls are good for being the bad guy or gal.
Now you might not want to bring
a doll or puppet up with you on stage if you’re doing a presentation at your company, but you can still use the tactic of blame. Comedians do it all the time without a doll. If we want to say something, but don’t want the audience to get mad at us, then we say our girlfriend/boyfriend or our mom or our grandmom said it. . .. my wife, my kids, my dog. . .you get the picture. Then who is the audience gonna get mad at? No one! If your joke talks about someone being an idiot, have your mom call ‘em an idiot. . . you’ll get the joke out and you’ll take yourself out of the mix.
So go through your funny lines and
find a way to blame someone else for saying it. It’ll still get a laugh AND no one can get mad at you!
Jan
My cat just gave me look that says “A blog about ‘puppets’ in this political climate? Really, Jan?” Hey, the dog made me write it.
www.TheWorkLady.com – my main comedy website