Finding The Funny Fast: How to Create Quick Humor to Connect with Clients, Coworkers and Crowds - Softcover

McInnis, Jan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0984099905 ISBN 13: 9780984099900

Publisher: Cubicle Comedy, 2009

Synopsis

If you've ever thought about using humor in a speech, sales letter or even casual conversation but stopped because you had no idea where to start looking for the funny or were overwhelmed by the thought of spending hours crafting a joke, then this book is for you! Jan steps you through the ways she writes humor fast for herself and her clients. Humor is the best way to make your communications memorable, connect with employees and coworkers immediately, keep people interested in what you have to say, sell a product or service and diffuse tense situations. Become more effective with everyone you're communicating with by using humor now!

About this title

About the Author

When she was 10 years old, Jan declared to her parents that once she turned 16, she was going to "buy a motorcycle, ride cross-country to Los Angeles and become a comedian." Her parents didn't quite share her "vision" so she ended up graduating from Virginia Tech and having a marketing career for over a decade before getting on stage. Today, 16 years into her comedy career, Jan has performed for thousands of groups, and she's been featured in The Wall Street Journal as a top convention comedian whose act is clean. Jan has also sold comedy material to just about everyone on the planet--from late night TV shows, to hundreds of radio stations, CEOs and professional speakers. Oh, yes, Jan did finally make it cross-country to Los Angeles, where she currently resides, AND she just bought a motorcycle!

From the Inside Flap

FINDING THE FUNNY FAST
How to Create Quick Humor to Connect With
Clients, Coworkers and Crowds
(a few excerpts)

By Jan McInnis
INTRODUCTION

1. WHY PUT HUMOR INTO OUR COMMUNICATIONS?
· Can you really do this?
· Customized humor
· Humor writing for CEOs and other non-professional speakers

2. GETTING INSIDE THEIR HEADS
· Picking the right thought for funny
· Listening to the sarcastic voice
· Acknowledging your role
· Using this technique if you're writing a sales letter
· Using this technique when networking one-on-one
· Using this technique for general correspondence

3. ANALOGIES, STEREOTYPES AND COMMON ASSUMPTIONS OH MY!
· Using the environment when you're not present
· A thing about questions
· A word about lists

4. PULLING OUT THE IRONY

5. SELF-DEPRECATING HUMOR ROCKS

6. JOKE FORMULAS

7. CALLBACKS ARE COOL, TAGS ARE TREMENDOUS.

8. FINDNG QUICK HUMOR IN OTHER PLACES

9. RESEARCH TIPS FOR FAST FUNNY

10. CRAFTING THE HUMOR SO IT FLOWS

11. RULES OF HUMOR

12. MEMORY TECHNIQUES

13. BOMBING, DYING AND KILLING. . . HUMOR IS SUBJECTIVE

14. THANKS! THAT'S MY TIME. . .


A BRIEF SAMPLE. ..

CHAPTER 3 ANALOGIES, STEREOTYPES AND COMMON ASSUMPTIONS, OH MY!

Use common knowledge, even if it's inaccurate (example: Women are bad drivers.), to get to the funny fast.

Another way I write humor fast is by making connections between elements in the environment and stereotypes, common assumptions and analogies we have about those elements. The only time you're allowed to use stereotypes and common assumptions is when writing and speaking comedy--and then, only as long as you're nice.
When I walk into a room where I'm speaking, I make a list, either on paper or in my head, of all the things in the environment. Who's in the room? Is it cold? Is it hot? Are there decorations? What's the seating like? And then I take one of those elements and list common assumptions, stereotypes and analogies about it.

SIDEBAR/NOTE
Have some fun with common stereotypes we have about people. For example, the rich: "Bill Gates threw a top-secret party on an Alaskan cruise ship for 500 of the world's most famous people, including many top models. For the first time, there was more saline on a ship than in the water."

For example, if I see 700 women in the room, which is one of the elements in the environment, I then list all of the analogies, stereotypes and common assumptions (even if they aren't exactly accurate) that people have about women. Women talk a lot, carry big purses, take a long time in the bathroom, have PMS, bash men, wear a lot of makeup and are not good drivers.

Then I make a connection between the element in the environment (women) and the common assumption, analogy or stereotype (long time in the bathroom) we have about that element to come up with a joke such as, "It's nice to be here with 700 women, but I've been trying to get into the bathroom since 6:30 this morning." Or, "I knew there were a lot of women at this event. All the cars in the parking lot have dents." All right that one's easier to get away with if you're a woman. (We'll get into some of the rules for using humor later.) And again, the stereotype may not be correct. (I think women are actually better drivers than men.) It just has to be the collective viewpoint.

Another example: Suppose you walk in and it's really freezing. I mean so cold that everyone feels it, so you've got to say something. Come up with things that everyone associates with cold. You can start with the obvious stuff, which is usually not that funny, but it'll get you warmed up, so to speak. Things we associate with cold include the sniffles, Mt. Everest, snow, refrigerators, Eskimos, ice cream, ice cubes.

Then ramp it up a bit. Take the opposite of things we associate with cold--things we associate with hot. Anything funny? The devil, hot flashes/menopause, sweating. Get outrageous. Ask what's cold? Where is it cold? Who is cold? Step over the line if you have to; you can always come back. Who is cold? Naked people, people who live in Iceland, my ex-husband/wife, the Clintons' bedroom. (Not being political, just trying to be funny--and political figures are fair game!)

Ahhhh, now we're getting somewhere. "Boy it's freezing in here! Who's in the audience? My ex-wife?" Or, "Hey, this place is colder than the Clinton bedroom."

Now try it again with another element of the environment. Maybe the ceilings are high. What does everyone associate with high? When do we associate with high? Who do we associate with high? Where do we associate with high? Again, get outrageous and you can come up with things, like, the sky, birds, Ozzy Osbourne. This might lead you to, "Hey, the ceilings in here are almost as high as Ozzy Osbourne."

The cool thing about referencing the environment when talking with someone or in giving a speech is that you don't need to use a lot of words to do it. You don't have to say, "It's freezing," because people in that environment know it's freezing. Start out looking at the stuff closest and easiest, like the room set up if you're physically present. And then move out from there to the entire hotel, the city, the state.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cubicle Comedy
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0984099905
• ISBN 13: 9780984099900
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 121