How to tell a joke
How to tell a joke
How to tell a joke
Tell a Knock Knock Joke
Write a Good Joke
Develop Dry Humor
Avoid Laughing at Your Own Jokes
Create One Liners
Not Make Jokes That Are Highly Offensive to Others
How to Tell a Funny Joke
Hulbert writes about motivation, doing whatever he can to help put people in a position to create a better life for themselves. Read full profile
If you want to impress somebody, make them laugh. If you want to connect with someone new, make them laugh. If you want to get a raise from your boss, make him laugh. If you want to take yourself out of a completely miserable situation, make yourself laugh. And if you want to change the world, make the world laugh. What’s the easiest way to make someone laugh? Tell a joke.
Some people are good at telling jokes, but have no idea how the jokes come out of their mouths. These people are naturally funny. But if you are not one of these people or have always had a problem with being funny, don’t sweat. Understand that all jokes have a formula behind them that makes them funny; otherwise, it’s not funny and that’s not a joke. Here are the ingredients to tell a joke. I’ll walk you through it step-by-step.
The Anatomy of a Joke and Its Formula
1. Target. Every joke begins with a target, and it can be targeting anything – people, places, ideas, etc. The most important thing to remember here is to relate the target to the person or people you’re telling the joke to, so they won’t be offended. For example, if you were telling a joke to your friends about your wife, you’re friends are going to laugh with you because they can relate. But if you were to tell that same joke to your wife, she’s not going to crack a smile. She’ll just slowly stare you down while you slowly tiptoe out of the room.
2. Hostility. I know some people are going to cringe at this, but the truth is jokes aren’t always “nice”. The essence of a joke is usually going against an idea or a type of person, but because the joke is funny (if you can pull it off the right way), it usually loosens the tension and eradicates all hostile feelings at the end. If you don’t get this, ask yourself if you have ever heard of a joke that was between two perfectly happy people? Take a look at these examples and see if you can pinpoint the target and who the joke is making fun of.
3. Realism. Jokes aren’t funny unless there is some truth in them. You can’t just go in and start telling something ridiculous because first of all, the audience won’t be able to relate to it and secondly, you won’t get a chance to surprise them. Humor is a paradox. It’s funny because you’re juxtaposing the reasonable next to the unreasonable. If you don’t understand this, just remember that the more you can start a joke in a serious, casual way, the higher the payoff will be towards the end. For example, imagine if somebody with a straight face walked up to you and said:
4. Exaggeration. If you have a realistic setup from the previous step, then the next step is to exaggerate the second part of the joke. You want to make it “just a little bit more” out there than what human beings expect. The more you can exaggerate it but not completely ruin it by not saying something that’s completely unrelated or random at the end, the funnier it will be. In essence, could you exaggerate the joke as far as you can and yet make it still believable at the same time?
5. Emotion. Why do human beings laugh? Biologically speaking, it is because there is a release in our emotions. That’s why this step is so crucial. For any joke to be hilarious –
I mean out-of-this-room hilarious – you to learn how build up anticipation. You want to person or group of people you’re telling the joke to feel like what’s coming next? You want to keep them guessing, on their toes, biting their nails, and leaning over their seat waiting for an answer that they will expect to hear. Here are some ways to create anticipation.
“Okay class. Calm down. Who wants to hear the latest dope?”
“Well, well, well… Here I am.”
6. Surprise. Alright so we’ve come to the last step of the joke and perhaps the most vital one and that is the surprise. No surprise, no joke. When you go through steps 1 through 5, your audience or whoever you’re telling the joke to is going to expect something. So what do you do? Give them the unexpected. Imagine if a pitcher threw a ball and right before the batter hits it, it curves, and then flies out of the ball park. It’s sort of like that. The more anticipation and the greater the surprise, the funnier the joke, and the greater the laugh.
“He may not be able to sing, but he can act pretty well.”
“He may not be able to sing, and he sure can’t dance either.”
So let’s review again.
Every joke begins with a target. The target can be anything from dogs and cats to lawyers or bosses. Just remember to cater the joke to the right audience. The joke is usually going to be hostile in some way, shape, or form. It’s going to make fun or someone or something, but usually the end result will not even make the joke seem hostile at all. And if you happen to find yourself to be in the position of where you are one of the nicest or kindest people on earth, like me, then you can always slim down the hostility. It’s okay.
After this, the joke needs to start off real – something that people can relate to and tell themselves that what you’re telling them about is real and there’s nothing to worry about. From there you can build up a story through anticipation or tension, and then give them an exaggerated response that has a surprise ending the blows them away. You choose how you want to go about doing this.
“A man and a woman who have never met before find themselves in the same sleeping carriage of a train. After the initial embarrassment, they both manage to get to sleep; the woman on the top bunk, the man on the lower.
In the middle of the night the woman leans over and says, “I’m sorry to bother you but I’m awfully cold and I was wondering if you could possibly pass me another blanket.”
The man leans out, with a glint in his eye, says, “I’ve got a better idea… let’s pretend we’re married.”
“Why not?” giggles the woman.
“Good,” he replies, “Get your own blanket.”
Final Thoughts
I’m not even going to begin listing the positive traits that humor gives us which include relieving stress, living longer, feeling healthier, and feeling better about your day. If you can master telling a joke, people will like you and you’ll be able to make connections easily. If anything, life will be a lot less seriously and a lot more fun. Opportunities will come to you if you can be funny and people will be attracted to you as well. So now that I have given you the magical formula for being a jokester, do you have any jokes up your sleeve? Why not share one in the comment section below?
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How to Tell a Joke
Professional Keynote Speaker, Author, Innovation Expert Read full profile
Many people shy away from telling jokes because they once told one that fell flat or they are afraid of appearing silly or of offending someone. Jokes are canned humorous stories which are subtly different from personal anecdotes. With personal anecdotes you have the authority to tell them because they happened to you. Jokes are independent and in a sense artificial so you take a little risk when you launch into one. However, when told well, a joke can cause great amusement and lift the mood of the gathering. A speaker who puts some relevant and well-told jokes into his or her speech will be appreciated by the audience who are often bored with bland presentations and are crying out for a little entertainment.
Here are some tips on how to tell a good joke:
1. Select. Choose three or four jokes that really tickled you from the internet or a joke book. If you are giving a talk or presentation look for ones that have some relevance (however slight) so that you can work them into the pitch. Have one or two generic or topical ones that you can use on any occasion.
2. Practise. Practise them aloud – in front of a mirror if possible. Deliver them with style, confidence and panache. Focus on the punch line and ensure that you can deliver it word perfect.
3. Choose your moment. If there is a convenient hook in the conversation for one of your jokes you can introduce it then. Otherwise wait for a pause. Sometimes the most amusing jokes occur when people least expect the teller to tell a joke. So, if appropriate, be serious as you introduce the story and then catch your audience out with the punch line.
4. Deliver slowly and with confidence. Many people ruin jokes by rushing them, mumbling incoherently or just getting the words wrong. Your practice should have overcome this but there is still a temptation to hurry. Slow down a little. Try to pause for effect before you deliver the punch line. That can add enormously to the impact.
5. Match the joke to the audience. A joke which is hilarious with the guys on the 7th tee might well be a disaster at the Church Bazaar. Jokes often challenge taboos so it is OK to risk a tiny amount of offence to one or two people. But if your joke seriously offends people then you were guilty of misjudgment. In mixed company during the day you should stay with safe material. In the evening you can be a little more risqué and with the men in the bar you can be outrageous. Choose wisely.
6. Reciprocate. Never finish anyone else’s joke. Always laugh or smile even if you have heard it before. Be a good joke teller and receiver.
7. Develop. As you build experience and confidence try more and different jokes. But don’t overdo it. Don’t hog the conversation with one joke after another. A few really good jokes that you can tell with perfect confidence is the aim.
Finally have some one-liners to throw in from time to time. Here are a couple to get you going:
Funny jokes make the world a more interesting place. Enjoy your joke telling!
How To Write A Joke & Tell A Joke
W riting a joke is different than telling a joke. The key to writing a joke is in writing something that is funny to the group of people you are going to tell the joke to. And the key in telling that joke to those people so that they think it’s funny is all in the delivery.
Delivery is about expressing the emotion and the mood of the joke with the right timing. Your timing is crucial to create surprise and when you create surprise you invite laughter. The longer you wait to get to the punchline the more you’ve given away and the less of a surprise it is.
To get to the punchline quicker and create more of a surprise you need to remove any unnecessary words from your joke. Any word that doesn’t need to be there to convey the idea to your audience is an unnecessary word.
For example I could say “Someone with a Coexist bumper sticker wouldn’t let me merge” which is a short joke with a quick surprise that usually get a good laugh.
Or I could say “I was driving the other day when this guy in a green car with a broken taillight had this bumper sticker on his bumper that said Coexist on it. But he totally didn’t want to Coexist with me because I tried for like forever and ever and ever to get over and he wouldn’t let me merge. He was a real jerk.”
Note the difference? A good joke isn’t a long winded story. A good joke has a setup and a punchline with a surprise. How you set it up and how you get to the surprise is your art which makes you unique or a hack. Your choice of how many words you remove determines if the joke you write is more conversational or more of a one-liner.
Jokes are also relative to the audience you tell them to. So you can write good jokes that reference something your audience doesn’t know or never heard of and they won’t get it. If they really like you though they might pretend to get it. Often friends & family are much easier audiences than strangers as there’s a better chance they know what you’re talking about and that they like you.
For an audience to get my Coexist joke for example they’ll need to know about Coexist bumper stickers and merging. If they don’t know about those things I won’t get any laughs. So it’s always very important to know your audience if you want to tell them a joke that makes them laugh and it never hurts if they also like you.
Peter Prins is a funny American Stand-up Comedian from Los Angeles living in Hollywood born in the USA to Swedish & Dutch immigrant parents. He loves comedy, telling jokes and getting laughs. Peter is a Swedutch anchor baby who wants you to believe in yourself. Don’t give up on your dreams. You can watch his Stand-up Comedy in Amazon Prime Video.
Have them ‘rolling in the aisles’ not ‘rolling their eyes’; how to tell jokes in a business presentation
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Well those of you who understand Whole-Brain Presenting know that one of the best ways to get something to stick in an audience’s mind is to engage their emotions. And one of the most effective ways to do this is to use humor. Here are 10 tips to ensure you have then ‘rolling in the aisles’ as opposed to ‘rolling their eyes’.
1. Make sure the joke is relevant
If the joke is being used to illustrate a serious point, make the point first, then tell the joke, then repeat the serious point in a different way. For example, let’s say you wanted to make the serious point that you have to be careful not to misinterpret what is being said when listening to a customer. You might say:
Let’s say you wanted to make the point that people shouldn’t rest on their laurels because no matter how much you think you’ve achieved, there is always room for more. You could make that point stick by saying:
“An Australian University Professor was once trying to make this point to his class. So he takes a large glass container and fills it with rocks, before asking his students if it’s full. When they reply that it is, he takes a bowl of pebbles and empties it over the rocks. Of course, every single pebble finds a small gap to settle in. He asks them if it was full now, and when they say it is, he does exactly the same thing with a bowl of gravel. Every piece finds somewhere to go. Then he takes a bowl of sand and pours it in, filling up every last tiny gap. Once again, he asks if it’s full, and when the students (again) say it finally is, he takes a glass of beer and pours it in; every drop soaks into the sand. He asks the students what lesson they’ve learned from his demonstration, and a voice at the back says, “No matter how full you think you are, there’s always room for beer!” (Pause for laughter) Now in that particular case the lesson was wasted, but it’s a very important point!»
2. Never tell your audience how funny the joke is.
3. Understand the structure of the joke
There are three parts to most jokes: the set-up, the plot and the punch line. The set-up (surprisingly enough) ‘sets up’ the joke by explaining the setting and the protagonists.
The plot tells the audience everything they need to know in order for the punch line to be funny. No more no less.
The punch line is self-explanatory. The reason it’s called a punch line is that it should be unexpected and come out of nowhere, like a punch. If the audience sees it coming, it won’t be funny. Most humor is based on surprise and the unexpected.
4. Tell the joke in the present tense
Doing this gives the joke an immediacy and makes the audience feel like they are there. Note I said, «. the girl notices that 6 condoms are missing,» not «... the girl noticed. «
5. KISS the joke
6. Pause for effect
The American comedian Jack Benny once said, «It’s not so much knowing when to speak as knowing when to pause.» Watch any great comedian and you’ll notice how good they are at doing this. They will especially pause just before the punch line In the above joke I would say, «And he says, «Oh (slight pause) sorry (longer pause). I thought you meant have I ever lied to my girlfriend.» I’d also show the physical reaction of the friend by accompanying it with a slightly embarrassed look and hand gestures.
7. Pace the joke
8. Turn the joke into a story
If you can do this, use all the tips in my article 8 tips for adding ‘oomph!’ to your stories.
9. Commit yourself to the joke.
Only include a joke if you genuinely think it’s funny and that you can tell it in a funny way. If you only think it’s quite amusing, you won’t tell it with conviction and it won’t work. So Practise, practise, PRACTISE(!) until you KNOW you have it ‘off-pat’ and can deliver it correctly. Try pausing at different parts of the joke and for different lengths of time to see if one way is better than another. Try it with different gestures and facial expressions, even different accents (by the way, if you start off using an accent, keep it up right to the end; don’t stop half way through and say, «I’ll stop the Scottish accent, I know it isn’t very good.»)
10. Never explain it
If they don’t laugh, just move on. NEVER explain the joke. If it didn’t work, whether it was the wrong joke for that audience or you told it wrong. But you’ll never make them laugh by explaining it.
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