To tell a joke, truly tell a joke, is very difficult. Writing a joke is even more difficult. Telling a joke involves humor, dedication, timing, and, last but certainly not least, a punchline. This article will discuss each of these steps and factors. For this article I'd like to issue a disclaimer: I'm no expert, far from it, experts are people like George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce, Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld. There are many others, that is just a brief list. That being said, let's try to tackle this joke-telling business!
Instructions
1. Have a joke to tell. Think about the topic of the joke and the circumstance. What is humorous about the group of words being put together? Is there a punchline? While jokes can come in many different forms, some are one-liners, some are rants, some are stories. The one thing that all jokes have in common, or should have in common, is a punchline. A punchline is what separates a joke from a statement.
2. Determine that your joke is humorous and that other people would find it humorous as well. If your joke is about your imaginary friend, there's a good chance the audience won't find that funny because they don't know your imaginary friend. However, they may find it funny if you poke fun at yourself for having an imaginary friend...maybe.
3. Write your joke out or record it onto a tape recorder or digital recorder. Study the timing and the dedication to the joke. Are you sure of what you're saying? Are you communicating to your listeners? Do you have a rhythm? Remember, going too fast can lose your audience and would not allow them enough time to absorb your punchlines. Going too slowly may make the audience simply lose interest and not pay attention.
4. Stick to the joke. Is this universally funny? Your answer should be yes. If you do not have confidence in your joke, people are not going to laugh at it. You need to be confident in your material and aware that you do have humor to convey to others.
5. Begin telling your joke in front of people. Do they laugh? If so, what did they find funny? If not, where did you go wrong? Record this event and review it. If it worked, hooray! Continue telling the joke, try to expand it and make it even funnier. If it failed, try to find out what went wrong and try again. If a joke completely bombs 3 times, cut it.
