Here is a fairly simple method that can help you learn to be funny; or more specifically perfecting the grace you already have.
Legend has it that American comedian Steve Allen learned to write jokes by copying them from joke books. Now, while he’s not advocating learning to write jokes as a basis for using humor in speeches or presentations, it’s certainly something we can learn a lot from.
The point of the technique I am about to outline for you is not to steal someone else’s material. That is completely deplorable. The idea is to learn about quality.
Here is an easy method to improve your humor writing skills:
1. Select a favorite comedian. Take a DVD or use YouTube and select about 5 minutes of your act.
2. Then what you do is transcribe your material word for word.
3. Rewatch the clip and make a note in your transcript of where they laugh. You can do this using an asterisk
or whatever notation works for you.
4. Count the number of words used in the moment before the laugh (the preparatory line).
5. Then count the number of words used in the sentence that elicits laughter (the punch line).
It would also be worth noting the laughs generated by things other than words. For example, a gesture, a sound or a look, etc.
Remember, you are not looking for the funny reading material on the page. In fact, it probably isn’t to be honest with you. Your humor doesn’t need to look funny on the page, leave that to the writers of humorous prose. We are dealing with the humor of the spoken word.
What this exercise allows you to do is get an idea of the quality of the material as it appears on the page. You will gain an understanding of the brevity and conciseness of what is said. If you’re doing this with a couple of different comedians, you should count the number of words each comedian uses in their setup line and punch line and average it out.
It’s all about the number of words you need to use to convey your humor in the most compact way.
I’m not sure if Steve Allen wrote the same jokes over and over to learn how to be funny, or if he wrote new jokes each time. But what he would do is go back to the comedian that he first used and write that material multiple times. Don’t shorten this step by using cut and paste, write the material by hand so you learn by osmosis.
By regularly working through this exercise, you will begin to get a sense of how you can edit your own speeches once you have written them.