Human Traits for the Joke

One fun, easy way to make a mundane noun (that’s person, place or thing) funny is to give that item a human trait. For example, this week I’m doing a show for a group in Austin, TX, and one of the unique things I was told was that Austin has millions of BATS. Yes, very unique – though I wish it were something a little less scary. But every night, apparently these bats fly out in formation from under a bridge to go scavenging for food. Now you could sit there and list out why bats would fly at night, but you could make it funnier but it’s easier to make it funner if you do a little research.

AND after watching a quick youtube video on them, I found out that most of these bats are FEMALE. So to come up with a funny joke about the bats, I could apply a human female trait to them, and then offer a few things that bats are doing when they fly out based on what a human female might do. . .hummm, what would make a woman leave the house at night. . . there’s a sale at Macy’s or their in-laws just moved in, or their husband’s college buddy is visiting or they found a great babysitter. . .. I can also turn it around and have some fun with why the guy bats are not flying out. . .it’s football season and they’d miss the game or just because THEY’RE GUYS.

So take the thing you’re trying to have fun with and make add in some human characteristics .. . then you’ll find the funny.

Jan

PS. . here’s the link to the video. . . wayyy cool.