Easy and Obvious Jokes
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8X5SX-KzDE
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It’s in front of your face!
So I just did a great program for a really fun group yesterday . .see the 32 second video above from the client! I gave my Finding the Funny in Communications humor keynote in which I do a lot of humor but I also give some quick tips on how they can put humor into their communications. I don’t just tell them all the good reasons you should use humor, but I tell them HOW to find the funny. . .because one thing I hate is going to a seminar, on, say, “how to be a millionaire” and they spend the whole time telling me why it’s good to be a millionaire. . I already know that – I want to know HOW. One point I stress in this Finding the Funny keynote is that some of my tips are easy and obvious. . .well, yeah, but the thing is many times we miss the easy and obvious humor and thus we miss great opportunities to make our communications a little more interesting.
Don’t complicate it!
When you’re trying to find the funny, many times we make it too complicated when all you really have to do is look around. . ..I mean really, really look around at your environment, and then say your first impression. I once did a show at a restaurant in which the place was packed with millions of gaudy, fake roman antiques. So I opened with. . .”this is the first time I’ve ever performed at a yard sale.” Sure it was an easy joke, but I could have missed it if I was more intent on making sure I said my standard opening joke correctly instead of looking around. So pay attention. .. what is your 1st impression of the hotel lobby, the meeting room, the street outside the hotel, the exhibit hall, your hotel room décor?
What are THEY seeing?
I have to say, I missed a good opportunity yesterday because I went in thru the back of the hotel, and I should have gone in thru the lobby . . .where there was a big statue of Goofy (this was a Disney hotel). I might have had some fun with that because most everyone else had seen it since they were staying at the hotel! Don’t miss the joke that’s right in front of your face! Pay attention to obvious and easy humor.
- I should have walked thru the lobby BEFORE the show
Jan
Writing Super-Funny Jokes
I think one thing that hangs many of us up in joke writing for a group that we are speaking to is that we think the jokes have to be SUPER FUNNY. Yes, you want ‘em to get a laugh, but remember that sometimes just mentioning the things that the group is going through, is enough to make people crack up. I’m not saying that you should just go on stage and say, “hey, what about that banquet,” but sometimes we miss things that are funny to the group, because they aren’t funny outside the group.
I'm off the road this week so no pics of travels.. here's one of my cat begging
I recently did a show for a hospital group that was opening up an urgent care center in a town with about 15 letters in their name! By just pointing that out, “hey, by the time the person types that into Mapquest, they’ve had the heart attack” I got a laugh. It’s not that funny TO ME. . .but it’s something they’re dealing with all the time. Find some of the hot buttons, mention them with a soft humor line or maybe even a look that says “I can’t believe you’re doing THIS?” You’ll not only get a laugh, but you’ll CONNECT with the group – which is really what you’re trying to do anyway.
Jan
Joking With Names
Sometimes the humor is not in researching the subject thoroughly, but rather in stepping back and looking at the big picture – their name. Companies name themselves and their products all sorts of whacky things, for all sorts of whacky reasons. Watch any commercial, and you’ll see nonsensical names that were either derived from a really bad committee OR they put a bunch of variables into a computer and the computer spit out a name. . . Dulcolax, Aciphex, Triaminic, anyone? So you can have fun with their name in a lot of different ways, here’s a few . . .
Sounds like. . .
–what does it sound like? I recently did a show for a group that makes security software, and their name had Z, X and Y in it. . the name absolutely didn’t tell what they did. And so I was able to point out. . .”does anyone see the irony in a company that makes security software having a name that sounds like a computer virus?” I was also able to make the joke that they couldn’t do email marketing because it looked like an ad for a “male enhancement” drug. So sound the name out and see if you can make any connections between what people might think about the name – what is someone’s first impression?
did a little grape stomping @ a winery this weekend – yum
Rhymes with . . .
–What does it rhyme with? If you can rhyme it with something, you can come up with funny slogans that the committee might have used. . .Ducolax rhymes with Relax, Slacks, Backs, Sacks. . .and if you know anything about the product, well, you know what kind of slogans you can come up with.
Spells. . .
–Do the letters spell anything else? I did a show for SBC Global at a conference for their sales reps, and in order to go to the conference, they had to jump thru all sorts of hoops – the rules and regulations were totally confusing. So I had some fun by pointing out that the rules and regs for the conference “put the BS in SBC.” Move the letters around, add a few, subtract a few, and see what you get.
Behind the scenes
–Get a little history behind the name. At the software company above, I found out the company was actually named by mathematicians, so I had a little fun by talking about mathematicians and their knowledge of marketing. Get the back story and you might be able to make some fun connections.
So don’t overlook the most obvious humor by passing up the first thing you learn about the company – the name! Make a connection between the company and the product or the product and what it does by goofing around with the name.
Jan
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