Every movie theater has a refreshment stand, and every movie theater refreshment stand sells popcorn. They might sell other snacks too – soda, candy, shaved ice, smoothies, mixed nuts, ice cream, or even granola – or they might not. But you can always depend on finding simple popcorn for sale in a movie theater.
Are you afraid of blowing it on stage?
The bad news is that it happens. The good news is that you CAN live through the experience! I have.
My head feels like an anchor, my shoulders feel like lead.
My voice went on vacation and my stomach won’t be fed.
My temperature got so hot that the thermometer just turned red.
Emails are stacking up, I don’t even care what they said.
Speakers, teachers, and marketers all know that humor gives sparkle and pop to your presence.
But even naturally funny people sometimes wish that they knew the formula behind the comedy to make humor more dependable.
“A Jew, a Hindu, and a Christian walk into a bar–” Sound familiar?
For some reason, human beings like to hear things in groups of three.
Rhetorically speaking, this is sometimes called the Rule of Three, and it is just as powerful in a serious context as it is in humor.
Have you ever listened to someone use a microphone for the first time? Do you remember the first time you used one?
Maybe you were at the Chamber of Commerce’s giant, annual, Bring a Guest Meeting. The crowd was so big, that they rented a microphone for the occasion. The meeting director said a few words of welcome and then it was time for each person to introduce themselves to the group.
OMG, scientists have come up with a new approach to reduce the populations of mosquitoes without using pesticides. One of the recent proposals was … wait for it … mosquito birth control!
One evening, a few years ago, while sitting around with my family at the Thanksgiving Holiday table, we started talking about turkey trivia. I know, my family is interesting and a bit odd.
You are chatting with a co-worker at the water cooler, when he kicks you in the shins! Then he grins and says, “Just kidding.”
What is your response?
What is funny?
What makes us laugh?
Why is something “funny?”
In the most general of terms, humor is a way for humans to release tension in an uncomfortable situation. Peace, contentment, and joy are wonderful states of being; but they aren’t funny. Humor comes from the things that go wrong:
