“Little as I knew about movies, I knew that
nothing transcended personality.”
—CHARLIE CHAPLIN40Now that we know some basic joke telling formulas, and some easy-to-use activities, we should turn our attention to finding the comic within you. For the truth is that comedy doesn’t work unless it is genuine. And, it cannot seem genuine unless it naturally fits the person delivering it. As agent extraordinaire Bob Vincent explained in Show Business Is
Two Words: “There must be basic honesty in the delivery of humorous material. Comedy
is a very difficult, and a very delicate part of the entertaining arts, and there’s nothing worse than a forced comic or a forced performer.”41The key points are:
>Be Yourself. >Look Funny.
>Develop a Sense of Timing. >Find Funny.
Be Yourself
Look for the humor naturally present in your personality. For instance, when a person first meets me, my personality comes across as dry and self-controlled. I know this per- ception and use it to my advantage. When on a stage, I dress in conservative suits. I don’t try to smile. I portray myself as semistuffy. But then things start to go awry in my perfor- mance. Sometimes it’s a case of something unintended happening, where other times, it’s a simple case of presenting very funny material with the straight face of an academician. The jarring contrast between my persona and the wackiness of what occurs makes the situation funny.
Look Funny
Studies demonstrate that people who smile are more likely to be hired and trusted in the workplace.42Smiling is a good start. Because of my persona, as I indicated before, I rarely
smile. Pomposity looks funny without smiling. Whether you use a smile or not, you should strive to build a reputation as someone who is funny. Once you have that reputation, it is easier to make people laugh. They will expect funny out of you.
There are several ways to establish such a reputation. Eccentricity helps. So does looking funny. Outlandish ties, frizzy hair, and comedic items help. Hats, for instance, are great tools for tickling your funny bones. I have, readily available, a hard hat for taking flack, an Australian outback hat for walking about, a fisherman’s cap for talking to people over cubicle walls (like the character Wilson in Home Improvement), and a Mountie hat when I need to find someone. The truth is that I rarely wear these hats, but they establish an attitude of offbeat eccentricity.
Perhaps my favorite hat, in combination with a prop, has helped give me a reputation as both an intellectual and a comic. I have, always near at hand and always on display, a prince’s crown and a rubber skull. Invariably, when people first visit me, they will ask about the significance of the two items. I will reply, as dryly as possible, that the items are my emergency Hamlet kit. Often, the statement itself, an example of an Outrageous Retort, is odd enough to get a laugh of surprise. Other times, I must Twist the answer to get a re- action. In those cases, I put the crown on my head, and say, “To be or not to be.” I then explain that you never know when you will feel the need to rant about the madness that surrounds you. The items and the application I have assigned them are just eccentric enough that my reputation for an offbeat outlook is enhanced. It makes funny easier.
Develop a Sense of Timing
As we have seen, the greater the tension leading up to a joke’s surprise ending, the big- ger the potential laugh. One of the worst mistakes novice performers make is stepping on their own punchlines. It is critical to wait so that the audience can catch up with you. When you present a surprise ending, your audience must figure out the meaning of the joke, and that takes time. If you do not give them time to process the joke’s meaning, they won’t laugh.
Once your participants have figured out the meaning of the joke, they still need time for the laughter to take hold physically. If you give them enough time to process the mean- ing, but not enough time to laugh, you will stifle the laugh. Worse yet, you will discour- age future laughs. The audience will determine that the act of laughing prevents them from hearing what you are saying, and they will not laugh. In effect, you will have trained them not to laugh. The only solution is to stop and wait for the participants to catch up with you.
In music, the true art often comes not from the notes, but from the pauses between the notes. Just as you can’t appreciate beauty without ugly, you can’t appreciate the music without silence. The same dynamic holds true for comedy. Silence makes the joke funnier. Say what you want to say, and stop. Wait. After they have reacted, then continue.
Find Funny
Next, we want to turn our attention to ways of finding funny material, including the following:
>Look for Absurdity. >Watch Comedy.
>Read Comedy. >Collect Comedy. >Try It Out.
LOOK FOR ABSURDITY
Finding funny is not difficult. The world is full of absurdity. One needs only to look for it. After all, what great comedians do is comment on the situations we all share. The dif- ference between comedians and average people is that most people are too busy reacting to the info-fog to focus on the absurdities of life. Comedians instead focus on everyday details, and look for the absurdities inherent in those details. George Carlin, with his routines about carrying personal items on vacation, words you can’t say on television, and different meanings for the same words, made a career of such observations.
WATCH COMEDY
We all watch comedy. But to find funny, you should stop watching comedians as an au- dience member, and begin watching them clinically. Try to identify the joke telling for- mulas they use. Watch for timing. Look at the ways in which their personas enhance their comedic presence. Most of all dissect the mechanics. The closer you look, the more you will appreciate the craftsmanship these performers demonstrate. You will find that you appreciate their work on a much deeper level.
READ COMEDY
The daily newspaper features a ready source of comic strips. The closer you read them, the more you will notice that the same gags recur time after time. As you read, you will begin to get a feel for how comedy is created.
COLLECT COMEDY
Start a file. If you find a comic strip you think is funny, clip it out and save it. Seek out jokes on the Internet. Join a daily joke list. Get a subscription to Reader’s Digest or other magazines that feature comedy. Whatever source you use, the key is to have ready ex- amples available to look through for comedic inspiration. When you have a funny obser- vation, put it in the file too. Pay special attention to anything that makes you laugh. If you think it is funny, it probably is.
TRY IT OUT
When you come up with something you think is funny, try it out. Slip it into conversa- tion. Share it with your family. Test it out in a classroom. If it gets a laugh, keep it. But don’t stop there. Expand the joke. Try twisting it. See how much mileage you can get out of the basic insight behind the joke. As long as you still get a laugh, keep expanding it. When the laughs stop coming, you will know you have gone too far. Simply revert to the prior version. Then, look for another nugget of humor. Most of all keep working it. For although comedy looks natural when done correctly, it is hard work.
When Should I Use Comedy?
So, when should you use comedy? I don’t know. There is no formula that answers that question. The audience, the subject matter, the class length, the venue, and your person- ality are all variables that must be considered. Look for comedic placements that support and enhance the learning, and use it there. If you have seriously evaluated what you are saying, and why those words make your instruction more meaningful, then you will make the correct choices.
If on the other hand, you sense your classroom has turned into a comedy club, then you are overdoing it. A little earlier, we discussed the concept that silence is necessary for music to be appreciated. The same idea holds true for the placement of humor. Humor is not a substitute for good instruction. Imagine instruction as a cake. Comedy is not the “cake.” It is the “icing.” If you use too much of it, you lose the flavor of the cake.
Comedic Pratfalls
“Comedy is a serious business. A serious business
with only one purpose—to make people laugh.”
—W. C. FIELDS As we said, comedy is hard work. Avoiding comedic pratfalls is even harder. Comedy re- quires a level of trust between the audience and the performer. Especially in the class- room, the rapport that comedy can build is too valuable to be carelessly gambled away. Here is a general list of don’ts that should help you avoid comedic pratfalls:>Never announce in advance that you are going to tell a joke.
>Don’t explain a joke, either before or after the telling. >If the joke falls flat, move on. Don’t dwell on it.
>Humor is not a way of exerting power. Don’t flaunt yourself.
>Never make jokes at another person’s expense, especially if he or she is present. >Be sensitive to your audience’s sensitivities.
>Comedy should be good natured, not mean spirited.
>Don’t overdo the jokes. Comedy is not a substitute for solid content.
This list may seem like common sense, and it is. In fact comedy is, in its worldview, its delivery, its attitude, and its application, common sense. For that reason, its use should not be feared. It is a part of the natural rhythm of life, and a helpful learning tool. The trainer who uses humor as an instructional tool will soon discover that trainees respond. If you use comedy effectively, your learners will enjoy your classroom; they will admire you for your wit; and, most importantly, they will retain your message.
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6Webster’s Dictionary of Quotations (1992). New York: Smithmark.
7Ibid.
8Provine, Robert, Ph.D. Special Report to MSNBC. May 27, 1999. <www.msnbc.com.> 9Ayto, John (1990). Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Arcade.
10The Koran (500)
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14Provine, Robert, Ph.D. (1999).
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17Childre, Doc, and Martin, Howard, with Beech, Donna (1999). 18Allen, Steve, with Wollman, Jane (1998).
19Davidson, John and Casady, Cort (1979). The Singing Entertainer: A Contemporary Study of the Art and Business of Being a Professional. Los Angeles, CA: Alfred Publishing.
20Provine, Robert, Ph.D. (1999). 21Ibid.
22Regina, Barreca (1991). They Used to Call Me Snow White . . . But I Drifted: Women’s Strategic Use of Humor. New York: Viking.
23Loomans, Diane, and Kolberg, Karen (1993). The Laughing Classroom: Everyone’s Guide to Teaching with Humor and Play. Tiburon, CA: H. J. Kramer.
24Highet, Gilbert (1977) The Art of Teaching. New York: Random House. 25Morreall, John, Ph.D. (1997).
26Highet, Gilbert (1977).
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28Michalko, Michael (1998). Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed
Press.
29Ibid.
30Mezirow, Jack (1996). Contemporary paradigms of learning. Adult Education Quarterly, 46(3):158–172
quoted by Merriam, Sharan B., and Caffarella, Rosemary S. (1999). Learning in Adulthood: A Compre-
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31Gazzaniga, Michael (1992). Nature’s Mind: The Biological Roots of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality, Lan- guage, and Intelligence. New York: Basic Books.
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& Sons.
33Cleese, John quoted by Rose, Colin. and Nicholl, Michael L. (1997). 34Allen, Steve, with Wollman, Jane (1998).
35Ibid. 36Ibid. 37Ibid.
38Sullivan, Luke (1998).
39The 1995 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. (1995). vr. 7.0.2. Grolier Electronic Publishing.
40Johnson, Bruce “Charlie” (1988). Comedy Techniques for Entertainers: Charlie’s Comedy Creation Course.
La Crosse, WI: Visual Magic Publications.
41Vincent, Bob (1979). “Show-Business” Is Two Words. Studio City, CA: Main Track Publications. 42Morreall, John, Ph.D. (1997).
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