Humor Creation Made Simple:

Learn Humor in 30 Minutes…!

Ramakrishna Reddy

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Introduction
One of the key ways to entertain an audience is by adding humor to your speech. Even
though many say it is difficult to come up with ideas for creating humor, I think it is not
‘that’ difficult. If you are able to laugh at something, you can transform that as laughter
matter for your audience as well. All I am trying to say is – you can create HUMOR from
your own life experiences. You need not look for jokes in a joke book or from someone
else’s material. If something can make you laugh, why not use the same concept in your
speech.

Ideas for Adding Humor

Self-Deprecating:
Largely Relatable Unexpected Events:
It is amusing and interesting things that happen to us which are good laughter matter.
These are the incidents you would not like to share with anyone. Only, you know about
it. Let us understand this with a scenario. Let us say, you went on a date and it turned
out to be the worst date. I am pretty sure; you will share this incident with your buddies
at the coffee table. Just note the way you describe the incidents to your friends. Note
down the instances and sentences at which they laugh. Note the exact sentences or
lines in your mobile or in a piece of paper (maintaining a file is highly recommended) .
This will be your fodder for humor creation process which we’ll see in the ‘How to
Create Humor’ section.
Unusual Physical Traits:
Your physical traits are what the audience will see at the first place. If someone else
makes fun of your physical trait, then it becomes offensive. If you self-depreciate your
own physical trait, it is comedy! Just think, what is unique about your appearance. Are
you very tall, good looking, or not so good looking? Write down instances where you
had embarrassing or funny experiences because of that trait.
Let us see an example. I have seen a speech, where the speaker won the Humorous
Speech Championship at toastmasters just with one idea – ‘He was short’. He
constructed the whole plot with his height. He shared his embarrassments since he was
a child. He cited funny incidents at school and public places. He described his
relationship with his wife who was taller than him. It was a laughter riot. What ideas
does this give you?
Are you dark in color? I don’t want you to spark any racist feelings. Only if others talk
about your color, it can be called as racism. If ‘you’ joke about your color, it is not
racism. There must be certain instances where you were embarrassed or had unique
experiences because of your color. This could be your idea for entertaining speech topic.
Your Current Life Situation:

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Think about your current life situation. In whatever stage of life you are currently in, you
could easily form topics. For instance, are you a teenager? You can talk about your
experience with your ‘girl’ friends. It does not mean that you need to have one. Even if
you don’t have one, write how hard it is to live without a girlfriend. If you have a girl
friend, write how hard it is to maintain one!
Are you in your 20s? Can you talk about your quarter life crisis? Maybe you are not
happy with your job. Maybe you don’t want to get married. Maybe you want to get
married but are scared. Maybe you got married and have new things to learn! Just
complain!
Even if you are in 30s, 40s, or 50s, I am sure some part of your current life situation
worries you. By being real and authentic, you build trust and credibility with the
audience. This is very important to create humor.
Your Identity:
By far, the best entertaining speeches are the ones when the speaker builds instant
credibility with the audience. One way to build credibility is to pick topics related to your
country, religion, or culture. If ‘you’ do it, it is ok. Only if anyone else does it, it becomes
a controversy.
Are you from a particular country or ethnic group? For example, Chinese are famous for
low cost manufacturing. Indians are famous for software industry. United States is
famous for outsourcing. What is your country famous for? What are the characteristics
of people in your country or group that amuses you? If you find it funny, chances are the
audience also may find it funny.
Are you from a particular religion? Even though religion is a taboo topic, I think it is ok to
talk about the truth of one’s own religion. There are always misconceptions/false beliefs
in the name of religion. Have you felt that before? Can you jot down instances of the
same? The legendary George Carlin’s stand up on Religion is a masterpiece. It might
spark an idea or two for you.
Are you from a group/race that speaks or pronounces English language in a different
way? For example, Chinese speak English with a lot of accent. Africans have a different
accent. Europeans have a different accent. I think Russell Peters is an expert in this area.
You should watch his stand-ups to get some practical ideas.

Characters in your life:

Characters in your family:
From observation and experience, entertaining speeches related to your family usually
click. I would recommend you to watch Kevin Hart’s ‘Laugh At My Pain’ (Check in
YouTube). Most of his acts are related to his dad, son, and daughter. You can learn tons
and tons about comedy by watching his one show.
Let us relate to different scenarios.

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Do you have interesting conversations with your Dad? His point of view and your point
of view are totally different? Or your Mom is super religious and you are not. The
contradiction plays a major role in entertainment.
Do your Grand Parents ask ridiculous questions that you cannot answer? Do you feel
there is a generation gap? Do you get frustrated?
Do you have younger brother/sister who drives you crazy all the time?
The responsibility of raising a baby might scare someone. Do you have a small child who
irritates you? Just to give an example, check ‘Louis C.K Why?’ in YouTube
Are you a Dad or a Mom? Do babies scare you? This might sound weird but it is true.
Do you have teenage children who don’t listen to you? Right there – you have a topic for
an entertaining speech.
The mother of all topics: Your better half. Maybe it is your boyfriend/girlfriend. Or it
could be your husband/wife. Let us assume; you have a girlfriend or a wife. By and large,
even though this topic is widely pervasive in entertainment world, it still works. You
need a proof? Look at the number of romantic comedies in Hollywood! Maybe the
instances with the characters happened in the past. It is ok. If someone had laughed
listening to your story, chances are there that your audience might as well laugh in your
speech.
Characters in your professional life:
Is there a boss or a co-worker who is weird? Frame a speech around how that character
annoys you or how that character amuses you. I am pretty sure similar characters are in
your audiences’ lives as well.
Did you face any strict professor or teacher who gave you a hard time? How was your
experience with him or her?
Characters in social setting:
Do you have a friend whose actions entertain you all the time? Can you decode the
instances and nuances on what are his or her characteristics? Can you form a speech out
of the same?
Did a car salesman rip you off? Or for that matter, did any salesman rip you off? I am
pretty sure, your audience would also relate to the same. Can you create humor based
on your experience with the salesman?
Did you ever have a tiff with a cab driver/auto driver? Does this sound like material for
your speech?
Did you meet an unruly waiter at a food joint? Did he scare you before even you
ordered the food? Try to think of your experience with Flight attendants, Tele
marketers, Shopkeepers, etc.

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Mechanics of Creating Humor
First of all, some people are naturally talented that humor just stems out of them. And
then there are others like me! There are lot of tools and techniques to create Humor.
Let us keep this simple. I want to share something that you can use it today.
Many people think creating humor is hard. Actually it is not that hard. I will show you
why. Let us go step by step.
Structure of a Joke with Illustration
You can also make people laugh. Yes, creating humor is a skill. You can master this skill if
you are willing to learn and work.
Any Humor Content will follow the below formula.
Premise + Pause + Punch = Laughter
Let us understand it with a laugh line.
“People exaggerate that parents in India, pressure their children to only
become a doctor or an engineer. That’s not true. They don’t just pressure.
They blackmail.”
You can watch the video (Joke Illustration) of joke delivery to a live audience.
Let us breakdown the joke into its elements.
“People exaggerate that parents in India, pressure their children to only become a
doctor or an engineer. That’s not true. They don’t just pressure. <Pause 1> They
blackmail <Pause 2>.”
1) Premise: The underlined part is the premise. Premise is the information needed for
audience to understand or appreciate your joke. In our example, the premise is
“People exaggerate that parents in India, pressure their children to only become
a doctor or an engineer. That’s not true. They don’t just pressure”. Premise should
do two things. It should be:
a) True or at least believable. You see, this statement “People exaggerate that
parents in India, pressure their children to only become a doctor or an engineer”
is completely true as well as believable. The audience is able to relate because they
also might have parents who might have asked them to get into a profession.
b) Lead them in one direction. Now, we want to take the audience in one direction
(so that we can surprise them later). In order to do that, I said, “That’s not true.
They don’t just pressure”. Now, audience is thinking that I am going to say
something positive about Indian parents.
2) Pause 1: This is needed to build the tension. The job of this pause is to heighten the
suspense.
3) Punch: Punch is the word or set of words that will actually trigger the laughter. The
function of the Punch is to surprise the audience by saying something contrary to
the audience’s expectation. Here, the punch is “They blackmail”. The laughter is a
result of the release of tension built up in the premise and the pause.

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4) Pause 2: This is to give time for the audience to laugh. Many speakers do not pause
here. If you do not pause, you will be stamping on the laughter.
If you can identify the premise and punch for every laugh line you write and follow the
principles that are given above – you’ll be able to create humor.

A Simple Yet Powerful Tool to Create Humor:

Do you want to know a very effective and easy tool to create humor?
There is no change in the concept, which was explained earlier. However, the tool is
going to help you in applying the above concept. The tool, which we are going to learn,
is ‘Rule of Three’.
Before that, let’s see if you grasped the above concept. Here is an example of another
laugh line.
“Have you realized that the things you really really like always cost you a little more
money? Think about it – that beautiful house, that beautiful car, that beautiful girl.”
Take a print and fill the answers for the following questions.
What is the Premise in the above example?
…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…
…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…
…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…

What is the part that is true or at least believable?

…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…
…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…
…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…

What is the part that’ll lead them in one direction?

…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…
…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…

Where should you give <Pause 1>?

…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…

Where should you give <Pause 2>?

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…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…

What is the Punch?

…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…
…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…………………….…

I hope you identified. If not, go above… do this exercise. This is not an exam. You are
learning great skills.
I’ll wait.
Now, I am assuming you completed the exercise. Let us see the answers.
1. Premise:
Have you ever realized – the things you really really want always cost a little more
money? Think about it – that beautiful house, that beautiful car
a) True or at least believable:
Have you ever realized – the things you really really want always cost a little more
money?
b) Lead them in one direction:
Think about it – that beautiful house, that beautiful car,….
2. Pause 1:
Have you ever realized – the things you really really want always cost a little more
money? Think about it – that beautiful house, that beautiful car, <Pause 1> that
beautiful girl
3. Punch:
That beautiful girl..
4. Pause 2:
Have you ever realized – the things you really really want always cost a little more
money? Think about it – that beautiful house, that beautiful car, that beautiful girl
<Pause 2>

Rule of Three:
In general, Rule of three is widely used ‘thumb rule’ to present data. It is nothing but
presenting the information is 3s so that it is easy for the listener or reader to follow. If
you present two items – it is less, if you present four items – It becomes more. We are
going to leverage this concept in our humor creation process.

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Let us say that we have three items – Item 1, Item 2 and Item 3. In order to create
humor, the first two items should be something that the audience is expecting and the
last item should be something that the audience is not expecting. In other words Rule of
3 for humor creation can interpreted, as ‘Expected’, ‘Expected’, ‘Unexpected’. You
can smartly use this tool in the humor creation process where you are going from “Lead
them in one direction” to “punch”.
You can use ‘Expected’, ‘Expected’ to lead them in one direction and use the
‘Unexpected’ to create the punch.
In our example – ‘That beautiful house’, ‘that beautiful car’ is the ‘Expected’, ‘Expected’
that lead them in one direction and ‘that beautiful girl’ was the ‘Unexpected’ that was
the punch.
And finally, here’s the video illustration (Rule Of Three) where the joke is delivered to
a live audience. Enjoy. Observe the attitude, intent and style with which the joke is
delivered.

Conclusion
Congratulations on learning a niche and essential skill in your Public speaking journey.
I’ll be over joyed if you implement these skills and see results for yourself. Let me know
how it goes. You can send a note to Rama@PublicSpeakKing.com
Keep Smiling, Keep Rocking and Happy Public Speaking.
Cheers
Rama

Want to learn more about humor?

If you are serious about creating humor in your speeches, you need to check this out.

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