Recovering with Comedy
Ok, this lesson is on recovering. What do I mean by that? Well today I had a great group of pharmaceutical people, and we had a lot of fun. But it could have turned out differently. . .Part way through my show, I did a joke about WalMart. Guess what? There was a WalMart executive in the crowd. I addressed the situation and it ended up being one of the highlights of the show. How did I create quick humor that saved me?
First, I tuned in. I realized after the joke (which got a great laugh) that one table was really laughing and looking at one guy. So I asked the question – “don’t tell me he works for WalMart”. . . of course the answer was yes. I got a huge laugh. . .at my expense, as I looked like the person out of the loop. Had I not paid attention to the extra laughs and looks at that table, I would have missed a chance to have some fun AND address a possible upset attendee (he wasn’t as my joke wasn’t that bad, but who knows how sensitive people are).
Second. I focused. I saw he had a bunch of different ribbons on his badge and I immediately thought that must mean something. . . So I asked the question. . . “you’re not on the board of directors for the organization are you?” He held up his badge to show me he was and that got another huge laugh. . . also at my expense. Which is great!
Third. I had a pat answer. You should have a line or two of self-deprecating humor that you can twist into any situation. I have a line about stopping payment on a check, so I tweaked it and blurted out. . . “great, the one guy I’m goofing with knows how to stop payment on a check.” This worked like a charm and got another big laugh at my expense.
Fourth. I pretended I was in trouble. From that point on, I went into exaggerated “suck up” mode. I called him my favorite audience member, and gave him a book. Also, after my show, when they were doing the prize drawings, I held on to my mic, and from off-stage, I made comments such as “that prize is available at Wal-Mart.” “You should buy that at Wal-Mart.” More laughs and giving his company some recognition.
Now granted, the guy was nice and really good about playing along, but hopefully I made it a win-win for both me and him. After the show, many people (including him) said that that exchange was one of the best parts!
Comedy is about superiority . . .and I used several opportunities to let that audience member be superior, thus saving me from having someone potentially upset. So pay attention to the reaction your joke gets, to know if you should address something, and then look for ways to give the other person the upper hand. It’ll work out great for everyone!
Jan
Making a relatable joke in the moment
One of the best ways to connect with an audience is to make a relatable joke right in the moment. But how? Well, the problem most people have is that they don’t pay attention to what’s going on around them right before they speak – they’re too busy going over their own lines or focusing on not tripping on the steps. But what you should be doing is focusing on the present and being in the moment (hey, if you don’t know your stuff before you go on, it’s a little late anyway!). At a recent fundraiser in Wisconsin, the woman introducing me was having a lot of fun with my intro, which was great. At one point she said that we should get ready to laugh by pursing our lips as if we’re kissing the person next to us. . .and in fact we can do that if we wish. Had I not been listening and looking around, I would’ve missed a great opportunity. INSTEAD, I looked around me and realized that I was sitting next to HER HUSBAND! Great opening line. . .”thanks for that introduction and encouragement to kiss the person next to us. It was a little awkward for me as I was sitting next to Susan’s husband.” It got a great laugh and I was off to the races with a fun show. I’ve taken advantage of many great, last minute opportunities for humor by simply being present. . .from the group who gave their boss an award by saying “she’s the most honest person in our company” (my response: “hey lady, did you realize your employees just admitted they’re not that trustworthy??”), to the comedian in the comedy club who ended his incredibly dirty act by doing some obscene things to the bar stool (my response: I got on stage, looked at the stool. Looked at the audience and said “and I was gonna sit on that!”)
Humor is all around you, but it’s easy to miss if you’re not focusing!
Jan
Using Ignorance To Make The Joke
savannah GA
Here I am yesterday! On the Riverfront of Savannah, GA – 10 second video is above!
Here I am in Savannah. . see the 10 second video!
Ok, so I was just performing my comedy at a conference last night in Savannah, Georgia to a group who is BIG on networking. And while they had several keynote and breakout sessions throughout the day, they really emphasized that people need to stay in the meeting and network which means “networking” is a great place to hone in on some humor for this group. And as luck would have it, one networking event they had was something called “Speed Networking.” So to do some quick humor, I used a trick that many comics from other countries do when they perform here in the U.S.. . I pretended that I didn’t understand. Yacov Smirnoff, a popular Russian comic in the 80’s pretty much made this tactic famous by pretending he didn’t know the American Way – even though he had lived here for a while. So I pretended not to understand Speed Networking and I confused it with more popular activity of Speed Dating. This gave me a great opening joke:
”Did you all enjoy the Speed Networking? I was confused, I thought it was Speed Dating. Now I have to apologize to some of you because I think I asked some very inappropriate questions!”
This got a good laugh, but then, since I had sat in on the morning session and listened to their terminology, I was able to tag it with a term their CEO used, by saying “hey, your ceo told us this morning that she wanted everyone to “get engaged” today, so I was just trying my best.”
That got a good laugh too, and then I tagged it again by making an analogy with some of the things we find out in Speed Dating, and I came up with “By the way, I found out that 2 guys here are in their 40’s and still living at home.”
Again, it got a nice laugh and I ended up with three funny lines altogether. So next time you’re struggling to come up with a line, use your advantage of NOT knowing a person, place, thing, event or activity to make the joke. Sometimes ignorance can be bliss!
Jan
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.