Laugh Tactics

Question 1

Describer the real power of being funny.

Answer 1

Humor is one of the most positives forces in life, and you can use that positive force to overcome obstacles, gain perspective, provide comfort, and create happiness in times of negativity and pessimism.

Question 2

What are the unbreakable rules of comedic delivery?

Answer 2

Watch comedians everyday
Know your emotion you want to evoke
Delivery
Deadpan - serious tone and face
Smirk - funny to me, not inherently funny, or apply a double meaning
Grin - obviously humorous, or absurd
Don’t backtrack
Spontaneity - make it look spontaneous
Never Laugh first
One sentence - each story or joke should be able to be summarised in one sentence.

Question 3

How create a mindset for humor?

Answer 3

Playing versus Discussing
Imagine how a five year old would react
what are the different ways you can reply?
Silly questions
outlandish hypotheticals
elephant in the room
view the other person as someone to joke around with.
(warning remember to actually answer the persons question

Misconstrue Intentionally
light misunderstanding
double entendre
puns comic confusion
complete 180

Non linear - Talk about whatever you want. - no way to be trapped.

What would my favourite comedian say?

Think slightly inappropriately

Question 4

What are the common mistakes in jokes and delivery?

Answer 4

Being Generic
Heard a million times before
No new spin
Picking the wrong audience
Rushing the punchline
Overlooking delivery
Leaving out vital info
Not tracking peoples reactions
fake smiles fade quickly
fake smiles don’t show teach
fake smiles have wide eyes

Question 5

What is the humor of relatibility?

Answer 5

Relatability is great for humor because it emphasizes a shared experience. When you can tap into those experiences, you can make statements and jokes that have lasting power because people will immediately understand your meaning.

Question 6

How can you use the relatibility to make humor?

Answer 6

Find something small that annoys you on a daily basis
Exaggerate in a vivid way how much pain that small thing caused you
Connect the two
Use it

Question 7

What is emphasizing contrast?

Answer 7

Contrast and defied expectations are foundations of humor because they lull people into a sense of security, only to breach it immediately after.

Question 8

How can you use emphasizing contrast in humor?

Answer 8

Think of what stereotypes your friend fufill.
How do they defy those stereotypes?
Whats the opposite?

Question 9

What is false importance?

Answer 9

Reacting in unexpected ways to normal, run of the mill events or statements can create humor because you are shaking people out of their normal routine and giving them something to think about in a funny way.

Question 10

How can you use false importance?

Answer 10

Make a big deal out of something small and displaying rage or triumph
sound serious
stay in character

Misconstrue something tiny to be a huge, exaggerated deal
not about emotions about consequences and rewards.

Using official and professional terms for silly and small things
management buzzwords to describe a drinking contest.

Construe anything people say as either a high compliment or a subtle and passive aggressive (or downright aggressive) insult.
Stay in character, like you believe it - only then break and give a sly smile
About creating contrast. Take something that has its own range of expectations and put a twist to it so that those expectations are overturned.

Question 11

What is vivid and outlandish imagery?

Answer 11

Our daily vocabulary and sense of description is sorely lacking. The first step to being funny is to do so in an understated way. Start to think in more vivid and creative words and phrases and the rest will start to follow naturally.

Question 12

How can you use vivid and outlandish imagery?

Answer 12

The first step is to destroy normal adjectives from your vocabulary and replace them with something that you have to think about. Other people often will not have actively thought about it, and it will be unexpected.

If you wanted to say that your weekend was “good,” what might be better and more descriptive ways of doing that?
Good -> imaginative -> splendid -> like a big Bloody Mary -> better than using the bathroom after a long car ride -> almost as good as Christmas Morning
I love coffee -> it is my lifeblood -> I’m dead without it -> my blood is fifty percent caffeine -> I would bathe in it if I could -> I drink so much my urine looks like coffee too.

Another way to inject vivid and outlandish imagery into your daily speaking is to simply choose to describe observations, actions, and objects in an unconventional and creative way.
The first step is to attempt to disassociate from what you see, and just focus on the elements and traits of what you see.

Use popular culture references to replace adjectives. The more widely known the the reference is, the better the joke.

Question 13

What is the art of misconstruing?

Answer 13

Misconstruing is the easiest way to initiate a joke with people, or get people out of a topic that you have no interest in. You just make an assumption, or pretend to play dumb, and suddenly you are in another topic altogether without any transition needed.

Question 14

How can you use misconstruing?

Answer 14

Exaggerated Conclusion
You exaggerate what they say to an exponential degree. If someone actually said X, you would pretend that they said X multiplied by one hundred and react accordingly.
If somebody says a politician has a good point, a really funny exaggeration would be “Yes, he is the epitome of this country’s political evolution, let’s use him for breeding.”

Playful Tease
This is when you misconstrue what they say to be negative about themselves.
Assume that they are making a self-deprecating statement and agree with them.
The other way of using the playful tease is to assume that they are insulting and being negative about you. Then you just react to that and act as if you are defending yourself.
If all else fails, you can just act shocked by the words and make a big deal out of them even though they said something fairly harmless.

Question 15

What is the power of irony?

Answer 15

Irony is essentially when you say two things at once, and it is up to the listener to deduce which is your true sentiment. You can use this slight moment of ambiguity to your advantage through ironic simile, ironic statements, and elements of sarcasm.

Question 16

How can you use irony?

Answer 16

Ironic humor is when something that is the exact opposite of what you might expect occurs.
Another way to define irony is when you say something, but mean the exact opposite of what you expect.

Words Versus Tone
This is where you use your words to say one thing, but use your vocal tone to imply the opposite.

Words Versus Body Language
This is where you use your words to say one thing, but your body language, facial expressions, and everything else non-verbal screams something different.

Ironic Simile
A simile is a literary device where you say one thing is like another thing. At least, that’s a normal simile. An ironic simile is a comparison between two things that are not similar at all, except for one shared trait or descriptor.
The way to use this for humor is to make a statement, and then compare it to something that is the exact opposite of what you are feeling.
“I’m as sad as a dog with a bone.”
“I’m as likely to vote for that candidate as I would set up an appointment with a narcoleptic proctologist.”

Hyperbole
This is when you say something negative about a positive statement, or you say something positive about a negative statement – in a hyperbolic and exaggerated way.
“Flat tire? Best news of the week.”
Negative occurrence, then positive statement.

Question 17

Whats a banter chain?

Answer 17

A banter chain sounds like improv comedy. You are creating the chain with the other person and actively collaborating to build it up. All you have to do is agree with them, amplify their sentiment, and go with the flow.

Question 18

How do you initiate a banter chain?

Answer 18

A banter chain involves both parties and allows a playful exchange that feels collaborative.

First, you need to misconstrue something in some way to enter the banter chain.

Second, you have to see if the other person will play ball with you.

Third, if they play ball with you, congratulations! You’re in a banter chain: they recognize what you’re doing, they’re playing along, and now you have to figure out how to play along back.

So, how do you do this? You build upon the direct response that they give you. You agree with them, and you add to it by exaggerating and amplifying the sentiment.
The easiest way to continue the chain is to agree and amplify.

Question 19

Whats skipping the middle step?

Answer 19

Skipping the middle step takes the action out of the traditional three step joke structure, and makes a plain statement funny because of what is implied.

Question 20

How do you skip the middle step?

Answer 20

State a situation or scenario
State a funny conclusion or outcome of that scenario. This is the step that you skip out loud, but imply and allude to when you go straight from step one to step three.
State a cause of that conclusion or outcome.
Combine Step One and Step Three.

Question 21

What is the six question approach?

Answer 21

When you know the parameters and expectations of any circumstance, you can then alter one or two of those elements to see how it changes the circumstance drastically with humorous results. The six questions are the classic journalist’s questions, so this approach helps you get better with gathering information about people and situations in general.

Question 22

How do you use the six questions approach?

Answer 22

The six questions are ones that you’re familiar with: Who is involved? What is happening? Why is it happening? When is it happening? Where is it happening? How is it happening?

The first step is to look at a scenario.
Second, you answer the six questions for that scenario in a normal, expected manner.

Third, for each question, write a contrary, silly, surprising, or outrageous answer.

Fourth, see how you can use these answers to create a funny scenario by changing one element to defy expectations. Simply combine and/or integrate them.

There is a trick to this laugh tactic: it has to be believable, but it also has to be shocking and unusual enough. It’s a fine line.

You can increase the impact of the six questions approach by injecting pop culture and topical references into step three.

Question 23

Whats the instant roleplay?

Answer 23

Role play is predicated on actively assigning someone a role, and the role is something that is relative to you. When you put them into the role, you give yourself a role relative to that in status or ability, and then you stay in character and ask questions to encourage them to as well.

Question 24

How do you do the instant roleplay?

Answer 24

One of the best ways to break out of interview mode is to engage in role play. Taking on a character, leaving yourself behind, and engaging in the ultimate type of conversational play.

Step one: make a “judgment” statement about someone. The trick is that the statement has to put them in contrast to you. It has to make them relatively better, worse, funnier, happier, crazier, or calmer than you. It can be a compliment, or a playful tease, as long as you can contrast yourself to them with it.

Step two: give them a label based on the statement that you made. Here you’ll see the reason it is so important that the statement you made in step one assigns a relative value to them. It is important that you actually give them a title or label, versus just describing how good or bad they are relative to you. It’s important because… that’s the role they will be playing!

Step three: starting playing the roles!

Question 25

Whats the comic triple?

Answer 25

The comic triple is one of the most famous joke structures. It gives a two-part setup, and then the third part of the triple completely shatters expectations. An easier way of thinking about this is to just state two positives, then one negative about something.

Question 26

How does a comic triple work?

Answer 26

The comic triple is one of the easiest and most recognizable jokes in the world.
Step one: think of your topic or theme.
list two positives, or list two negatives.
list one negative, or one positive.
put it all together.

Question 27

What is sarcasm?

Answer 27

Sarcasm is truly the art of saying something without saying it at all. In fact, you are saying the opposite of what you feel and relying on other people to deduce your true meaning based on everything besides your actual words.

Question 28

How does sarcasm work?

Answer 28

For the most part, sarcasm is saying the opposite of (1) an objective fact, (2) a subjective emotion, or (3) thought. It makes a contradictory statement about a situation to either emphasize or downplay its effect.

When someone says something or does something very obvious, you respond by saying saying something equally obvious.

The next application of sarcasm is when something bad happens. You say something about how that good or bad event reflects on the other person. If it’s good, you say that it reflects badly on them; if it’s bad, you say it reflects well on them.

Objective fact: Bob plays Tetris at work constantly. Sarcastic statement: Bob, you are the busiest man I know. Subjective emotion or thought: It is hilarious that Bob plays Tetris at work constantly.
Sarcastic statement: Bob deserves a medal for worker of the year.

Objective fact: There is a surprising amount of traffic lately. Sarcastic statement: What are we going to do when we get to our destination super early?
Subjective emotion or thought: I hate traffic so much.
Sarcastic statement: This traffic is the best part of my day.

How to receive sarcasm and be a good audience.
You need to amplify their statement and what they are implying. Does this look familiar? It’s a self-deprecating remark + a witty comeback!

Question 29

Whats a witty comeback?

Answer 29

Witty comebacks are easy because you can make them formulaic to a degree. Agree and bounce it back to the other person, which also has the benefit of making you look secure and comfortable with your identity.

Question 30

Whats the structure of a witty comeback?

Answer 30

Wit is essentially spontaneous creativity. You take a topic or statement and see it from a different angle in a way that is relatable, yet novel.

First, when thinking about a witty comeback, don’t think generically.

Second, don’t act like you can’t take a joke.
The vast majority of the time, people are indeed joking when they say something negative about you in your presence. In a sense, it’s a compliment because they assume you have a sufficient sense of humor and the emotional resiliency to deal with it. The people who aren’t involved in jokes and good natured ribbing don’t have many friends.

Third, use the right tone.
The best witty comebacks are delivered with 50% indifference. When you deliver one with 100% excitement and 0% indifference, guess what happens? You blow it and the comeback falls flat. Indifference is the correct tone because comebacks are about your attitude – pretend that you are James Bond delivering a witty retort after a failed murder attempt by a villain. 50% indifference also ensures that you aren’t being aggressive or hateful.

Type #1: Pick apart their words.
Think about the other person’s word choice and quickly analyze whether there is another angle or meaning to those words. An easy approach is to interpret their words as overly literal or outlandish. The key is to interpret them in a way that is favorable to you to make it seem as if they complimented you instead of put you down.

Type #2: Agree and amplify.
The idea here is to agree with whatever the insult was, and then add to it in an absurd way. You amplify the initial sentiment to a degree that is ridiculous. This was my go-to technique to deflect jokes about my weight.

Type #3: Reverse and amplify.
This is a simple deflection. This is when you get back at them in a subtle way. When someone says you are bad at X, you basically turn it around by saying that they are even worse at X.
It’s the exact same as the previous type of witty comeback, except instead of directing the amplification at yourself, you direct it to the other person.

Type #4: Use an outlandish comparison.
This brings the conversation into a different sphere and makes both people laugh at the weird outlandish imagery. What makes this work is that the comparison, although extreme, is still somewhat realistic. To use the same framework, you’re amplifying (to yourself or the other person) with an analogy here.

Question 31

Whats schadenfreude?

Answer 31

Schadenfreude is the pleasure you receive when something bad happens to somebody else.
To intentionally use it to get a laugh, you can either point out small failures and misfortunes of you or your conversation partner.

Question 32

Whats acknowledging the elephant in the room?

Answer 32

A quick comic quip is to acknowledge the elephant in the room, which is something people actively try to avoid mentioning or giving attention to. Sometimes it’s an uncomfortable truth that people tip-toe around, and sometimes it’s something relatively simple, like the fact that someone’s new haircut is terrible.
There are always inconvenient truths that most people know and are aware of, but are walking on eggshells to avoid.
When you acknowledge the elephant in the room, you end up releasing a lot of comedic tension, even with the person who might be the butt of the joke. Why? Because you say out loud

Question 33

Whats stating what you see?

Answer 33

Stating what you see is what it sounds like: Stating what you see in literal terms. You point things out in their most literal and descriptive form. You are simply observing and calling out what you see with your own eyes.
And that’s another way to look at it: think in terms of how a child might describe an observation, and be creative and vivid with it.
You’re making an observation and breaking it down into basic elements of shape, color, size, weight, and dimensions. It’s creative, unique, and can be funny if you approach things in ways that no one has thought about.

Question 34

Whats misdirection and how does it work?

Answer 34

Misdirection is when you say one thing and then proceed with an immediate opposite.
For example, “It’s a secret, but let me tell you immediately,” or, “That show is great, except for everyone in it.”
It seems confusing, but what you are doing is breaking a sentence into two parts. You’re stating something in the first part, then contradicting it immediately in the second. People won’t immediately be sure of what you mean, and part of the humor comes from this introduced confusion. You have both positive and negative, or vice versa, in the same sentence.

The second part of the sentence is the part that people will react to, while the first part is typically the setup. The second part is your true sentiment on the topic.

Why does misdirection work?
Most of us try to be polite to people. We use euphemisms frequently, and we don’t say what we really feel. The first part of a misdirecting statement is what people expect— politeness. Then, you contradict yourself and give them a dose of reality, which sets up a humorous contrast since you have deviated from what most people

Last but not least, misdirection is a funny way to express your feelings on something. If you really feel X about a topic, then use misdirection! “Opposite of X, but actually X,” will almost always be received far better than “Gosh, I hate X.”

Question 35

Whats reactionary humor and how does it work?

Answer 35

Sometimes if you want to be funny, all you need to do is react. You don’t have to proactively say or do anything. It’s the way you react to something mundane or funny that makes you funny.

All we need to do to be funny is to simply react to the situation in front of us by tapping your inner reservoir of extreme reactions. That’s the key here. For any comedic effect to happen, it has to be an extreme and exaggerated reaction, otherwise there’s too much ambiguity about what you actually think.

Reactionary humor doesn’t require a language, or certain information. All you need is something to react to that people can see in plain sight, and then you can convey an exaggerated emotion to draw attention to the absurd.

One good example of this is the character Jim in the British version of the television series “The Office.” Jim’s boss, Michael Scott, is ridiculous and outlandish, but recognizable. Jim isn’t inherently funny, but what makes him funny is the way he reacts in shock and disbelief when he’s faced with Michael’s absurdities.

In many scenes from “The Office,” Jim simply looks at the camera as if shocked, and the audience back home laughs. He set up the contrast between his inner monologue and the situation at hand.

This also works, because when we see his reaction, we know it’s exactly the reaction that we would have, too. It puts a face to our inner thoughts and is like exchanging a knowing glance.