Comedians, don’t fall in love
Comedians don’t fall in love
with your jokes that is! We get the wording of a joke down, and it makes US laugh. . . but sometimes, okay many times, the audiences think differently! Maybe the way we said it in our head was funny, or maybe we are off by a word or two, or maybe you’re the only one on the planet who thinks it’s funny. Sometimes we’ll never know.
comedians can fall in love with a cute dog
But what I do know
Is that you need to be open to the fact that it isn’t working. . . try a different angle, run it past comedian friends, let it sit for a while before doing it again, try it several times in a row in front of different types of audiences. But after you’ve tried it a bunch of times on stage, without the result you want, maybe, just maybe you need to let the joke or the funny premise go.
There are so many things
that go into making something funny. You may never know why something works or doesn’t work, but don’t fall in love with the joke or the wording of the joke, or you’ll miss other funny opportunities AND weaken your humor overall.
This is your quick reminder blog. . . not to fall in love with your jokes. Thank you.
Enjoy your weekend!
Jan
need an emcee – check out Jan’s emcee website here
Comedy and the Olympics. . . the humor I see.
Laughing at the Olympics?
You bet. . .there’s some funny things about the winter Olympic games, and you can practice your comedy muscle by looking for these comedy gems. I LOVE the Olympics, so I’ve been glued to the set. . . which means I get to look for raw comedy material. Here are my first impression of things you can work into jokes about the Winter Olympics.
First off, your body parts are
worth gold. I’m not talking about “ladies of the evening” body parts (you know who you are!), but check out some of the wins. It’s not always the fastest person, but rather the one with the longest toes! Speed skaters and biathlon people win by a toe or sometimes foot (literally). Bummer for the second place person with the size 4 shoe!
And we are treated to some funny (i.e. weird)
sports like the biathelon. This is where you ski and shoot. Where else would you ever use this skill? Hunting in Alaska? And how did it start you ask? Well according to Wikipedia, it was a military thing.
winter olympics are over. Now looking forward to summer olypics
Not into skiing with a rifle? Then check out
curling, which needs no introduction IF YOU LIVE IN THE UPPER MIDWEST! The rest of us need an introduction – please. It’s called Curling but they push the puck in a straight line. Go figure. And Curling may be obscure, but they actually had some scandal – the Russian guy lost his medal for failing a drug test! Really? Have you seen this Olympic sport? What kind of drugs do you have to take to curl? Maybe caffeine to stay awake during the game, and maybe even to play it. Shocking scandal!
Just as shocking though was the
Czech Republic’s Ester Ledecka winning the women’s Super G. Everyone was shocked. . .including Ester! She was a snowboarder who just tried this little ole Super G thing about a month earlier. When asked how she did it, she responded “in both sports, you go down the hill, right?” The camera man had to tell her she won. She actually broke up the celebration of the Australian skier who figured she’d already won the gold. Ester won by 1/100th of a second. . . once again the toes come in! And she borrowed her skis from Mikaela Shiffrin. Then beat her with them.
Borrowing is something I never
thought of for the games. The first Olympic games many moons ago should have done some borrowing. . . namely they should have borrowed clothes! They did those games naked. Oh to be a comedian back then. . . a lot of things to have fun with. I’m betting no one wanted to ice skate on the “short” program!
And of course ice skating terms
lend themselves to humor. Check out “Hydrant Lift,” “Twizzle” and “SalChow.” I thought they kept saying “SalCow” which makes about as make sense as SalChow. And Hydrant lift sounds like something your dog does on his walk.
Even if you hate winter sports, the Olympics are worth watching. Perhaps the real gold is in the jokes!
Have a great weekend!
Jan
Comedy Writing Resources
Comedy writing isn’t just about writing, you have to also have people READ it. Okay, maybe not but it’s a lot more fun anyway. I’ve come across a couple of web sites that seem to be good sources for posting your writing, exchanging writing ideas with others, selling books, etc . . I’m in the process of checking them out, so feel free to do the same.
If you try them, let me know what you think. Or if you know of others that you really like, send those over as well.
Thanks,
www.nonfictionwritersassociation.com – if you’re writing about true stuff, check this site out!
https://www.amarketingexpert.com/ – if you want to market your book, this group is great. I heard about some of these sites from them.
https://www.shewrites.com/ – for women writers
http://www.ibpa-online.org/ – independent book publishers association ..for those of us who did it our way.
Linkedin . . .you can write and post articles on here! Pretty cool . . check it out
Ezinearticles.com . . this has been around for a while. . it’s still viable. They have to review all submissions, so it takes longer, but what the heck do you care?
Bookbub.com – if you like to read, you MUST sign up here! They send out a daily email with books reduced down to everything from $2.99 to free . . .and you can pick the genre you like. You can also get your books listed. I’ve been buying books from here for a while . . .but may put mine on one of the promotions
Smashwords.com – they’ll put your book up on many of the book selling sites – like barnes and noble – that would take you a long time to figure out. I’m working on getting my books on here as well
I hope this helps. There are dozens of other places I’m sure . . but these are what I’ve been focusing on for the moment.
Enjoy the weekend!
Jan
https://www.TheWorkLady.com – Jan’s main website
https://www.HealthComedian.com – Jan’s site for health care keynotes
5 Funny Things in Vegas
So I’m in Las Vegas for a gig today and I thought I’d look for 5 funny things that I can joke with. If you get into a habit of looking for the funny, then it becomes easier and easier until you’re doing it automatically. So here’s 5 funny things in Vegas....
Finding the Funny in a Script
So far with this blog I’ve focused mostly on writing jokesfor comedy routines or perhaps to put into a speech. Today’s post is a little different however, as I’m interviewing my good friend Nancy Beverly who is a playwright. Nancy and I have been hiking...
An Interview with a Late Night TV Writer
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Using What Works Against You
I just read an article about a guy who controls his tourettes syndrome by doing stand up comedy – I always thought stand-up comedy ENCOURAGED people to cuss. But the article mentioned that this guy has gained self-confidence and educated people on the...
Using What Works Against You
I just read an article about a guy who controls his tourettes syndrome by doing stand up comedy – I always thought stand-up comedy ENCOURAGED people to cuss. But the article mentioned that this guy has gained self-confidence and educated people on the...
Comedy Writing and Location
Looking at WHERE people are sitting Can give you great comedy material to kick off your speech. I'm doing a comedy show for a group and they told me that the top sales guys and gals are sitting at the front tables. That got me to thinking. . .where are the...
Making the Familiar UnFamiliar
One very quick way to come up with some humor on the spot is to use adages and/or familiar wording and then twist it. There are tons of adages – you know, sage advice like “when it rains it pours” or “if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then...
10 ways to get started with a joke – part 2
Okay, now part two of kicking off with a joke. As I mentioned, getting into the joke is sometimes the hardest part, so use one of these tactics to set yourself up right. 1. Address what they see. If you’ve got some outstanding feature/hairdo/etc. ....
10 ways to get your speech started with a joke – part 1
When people hear that I’m on stage for like 60 minutes telling jokes, they’re always amazed at me being up there THAT LONG. Actually the hardest part isn’t being there for 60 minutes (ok, a few shows have been rough!), the hardest part is GETTING STARTED....
Speaking in tongues
I’ve never done comedy in another country (ok, Canada, but they’re so close it doesn’t count), yet I’ve been in front of audiences sprinkled with international people because they come to us. And while of course you can’t appeal to EVERYONE in the group,...
4 Ways to Use Self-Deprecating Humor
Self-deprecating humor is one of the quickest ways to get the audience on your side. As I’ve said, a lot of comedy is about people feeling superior to the comic, so if people think you have a flaw then they’ll either feel superior OR be able to relate to...
Joke Writing for One Demographic
All Women All Day! This week I got a chance to present my “Finding the Funny in Communications” program to a group consisting of all women! They were great! I do a lot of programs in which there are just women, or even just men, in the audience, and I...
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...
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...
Joke Writing For Extreme Solutions
Jokes and joke writing are about taking things to the extreme. As I’ve said before, when you want to imply that someone is old, you don’t say 110 – because it’s plausible, you say 310 because it’s outrageous. So make sure in your joke writing that you’re...
On Being Counter-Intuitive
Okay, I just talked about proving a premise, but another technique for fast humor is DISPROVING a premise. The easiest way to do that is to find a principal that we all typically agree on. This can be a phrase or a statement or whatever, and make it...
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...
Joke Writing For Extreme Solutions
Jokes and joke writing are about taking things to the extreme. As I’ve said before, when you want to imply that someone is old, you don’t say 110 – because it’s plausible, you say 310 because it’s outrageous. So make sure in your joke writing that you’re...
On Being Counter-Intuitive
Okay, I just talked about proving a premise, but another technique for fast humor is DISPROVING a premise. The easiest way to do that is to find a principal that we all typically agree on. This can be a phrase or a statement or whatever, and make it...
PROVING A PREMISE
When you’re coming up with jokes, one quick way is to come up with a premise, and then prove it. For example, I have a joke about cats being better than kids, because. . . “. .cats clean themselves, they don’t talk back, and they will survive a drop from...
Timing Your Jokes
Sure there’s timing of your jokes when you say ‘em, but the time I’m talking about is a little different. Yesterday I was at the new Aria hotel in Las Vegas. . .very cool, very high tech! When I walked into the room, music from the TV kicked on, the room...
Speaking in tongues
I’ve never done comedy in another country (ok, Canada, but they’re so close it doesn’t count), yet I’ve been in front of audiences sprinkled with international people because they come to us. And while of course you can’t appeal to EVERYONE in the group,...
Fun WITH The City
What happens when you’ve got a completely dry subject and you just can’t figure out a way to have fun with it? You have to think bigger. To find the funny when I’m speaking, I start with the group; if there’s not much there, I look at the room, then move...
4 Ways to Use Self-Deprecating Humor
Self-deprecating humor is one of the quickest ways to get the audience on your side. As I’ve said, a lot of comedy is about people feeling superior to the comic, so if people think you have a flaw then they’ll either feel superior OR be able to relate to...
FUN WITH FOOD
Fun with Food So a lot of speeches take place at banquets, luncheons, and breakfasts. . .which means you have tons of opportunity to do some quick humor by having fun with the food. Now this doesn’t mean you should be super mean about it – you don’t want...