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What’s Our Comedy Weapon?
We’ve been fans of all forms of comedy since birth but always a fan, never a fan maker.
We think funny therefor we are. Comedy is always in mind and comes out inappropriately at times, but so far we’ve survived. The dream is to be a humorist of some sort or other. Leave it to fate to succeed in the ‘other.’ Once we decided to give it a go we checked through The Encyclopedia of Humor,” a Joey Adams 1968 reference book. we had been toting it around for several decades as a good source for humor but didn’t take the time to appreciate the lesson it contains, until recently.
We caught the stand-up comedy bug after our Dad introduced Shelley Berman on vinyl record-yes, we are aged.
Where to Begin
So here we are, where to begin? According to Joey Adams the comedy choices lay somewhere between:
- Wit
- Humorist
- Storyteller
- Satirist
- Clown
Advice from the old comics is;
- there’s no such thing as an original joke
- all new jokes are versions of old jokes
- be constantly ready to adlib a joke
Did You Know?
The first written joke from 1900 B.C.
Advice to Humor Seeking Shadows
Jokes and humorous tall tales put audiences in jovial moods.
You never know when or where the funny bone will strike, so keep your notebook close to record those thoughts.
Start out with a question to your audience to give the subject legitimacy.
Ask a question – show of hands: Anyone familiar with (the subject of your joke)?
Yes or no, you’ve got their interest.
Others are jokes and funny stories I have written. More jokes to come…
And speaking of jokes for meetings…
Make it personal. Don’t limit yourself to pre-written jokes from the internet, books or old magazines. Think of humorous incidents that you’ve seen, heard or happened to you in various settings. Can you condense funny happenings in 1 to 3 minutes?
Things to Think Humorously About
- Your last family gathering
- Stories from the office
- Antics of children
- Fun pet stories
- Vacation incidents
- Family stories of yore…
- The time auntie stripped down to her underwear to retrieve a big fish she had hooked during a vacation at the lake.
- The practical joke that backfired on your mischievous uncle.
- A pet’s first reaction to snow or ice.
- Family mis connections or misunderstandings
- The time you got one over on the boss
- You think you have it tough?When I was your age I had to walk across 10 feet of shag carpet to change the channel on the TV
- When I was your age I had to use a dial phone
- When I was your age we only had 3 TV stations
- When I was your age all the popular music was on AM radio
- When I was your age gasoline was 10 cents per gallon and you could jump on a car hood without scratching the paint
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Rise of the Robots on Netflix game us the idea of a good robot joke and 3-part-speech or Aristotle triangle which applies to all types of story, speech, story, tale any topic – especially a good joke.
