Top Ten Ways to Make Someone Laugh

If your reading this, this scenario  may be an all to familiar experience.  You are at a party and hear a man deliver a fantastic joke,  they hang on his every word and are practically begging for more.  You write down the joke and keep it in your back pocket just waiting to tell it to an audience of your own.  The time comes and you deliver the joke, just as he did.  So why is no one laughing, instead of it being your shining moment, you feel shamed and embarrassed.  Likely the next couple of days you’ll be thinking that was a dumb idea, i can’t believe i said that.

The fact of the matter is, the joke was irrelevant, you had failed far before you said one word.  When people hear a joke they perceive the joke through the person telling the joke.  For instance, I have extremely crude friends who can say fuck 32 times in a sentence and make the crudest of jokes seem like a children’s book.  People expect him to talk like this so it seems suitable.  Some people crazy enough as it sounds would refer to it as his “charm”.    So instead of working on finding that perfect joke that will absolutely stun your audience you may first want to work on how people perceive  you.

Take this scenario for instance,  imagine a very quiet man who never speaks up.  One day in a room full of people he decides to tell an explicit joke.  The joke is already be over before it started.  You will even be able to see the look in the peoples eyes, they expect failure before he even opens his mouth.  And God forbid he drops a punch line like and then i banged her strait in the ass.  The crowd would feel incredibly awkward, not as awkward as the man telling the joke however, who has just had a rude reminder why he doesn’t tell such jokes in the first place.

Here is a list of of how to learn to make people laugh.

• Note:  When I say the word joke, I don’t mean some cliche anecdote that found on Google.  In this passage the word “joke” should be taken as how you convey your personality, a story, or an observation on life.

Bonus (get in and get out) I hear a lot of people telling these long drawn out jokes that bring a crowd to silence.  By the time the punch line gets there everyone forgot what the hell the joke was about in the first place.  If you feel the need to use such a joke, please keep it short.  The longer the joke takes to tell, the greater the crowds expectation has become to laugh.

10.  First impression- There is a reason people always say make a good first impression.  Its such a cliche old saying it almost seems like no one even stops to think about it.  It is however, incredibly important.  You need to let the person  have a glimpse of your sense of humor.  If you make them laugh the first time, its likely when they see you the next time they are going to have a smile on their  face.  You are now a new form of entertainment for the person, congratulations, the second round will be much easier.

9.  Test the water- A good first impression is very important, but you might ask well how do i know what he or she thinks is funny.  That is probably one of the most common fears, what if they don’t laugh.  This is why testing the waters is a gradual process.  For the first joke, you might not expect any laugh at all.  Judge their body language to see if they are enjoying your sense of humor.   I’m not asking you to go out there the first time and quote richard prior lines on the first meeting, you would be nuts to do that or socially inept (not that this is an uncommon approach).

You need to gradually see what they laugh at.  For some people this could take a couple of days or even weeks breaking them in.  Your not going to meet the person the first day and say get over here you son of a bitch, how the fuck are ya.  Make slight clean references to scenarios you think are funny.  If they are laughing keep revealing more of your personality.  This is a good method because its gradual, allowing for an inability to fail.  Say your a vulgar person like myself.  I start by referencing clean humor and gradually work my way to vulgar.  I gently increase the inappropriateness of my joke and allow their body language to determine when its time to up the annie.  If they get your sense of humor your keep going, lets see if you cross a line.  If they don’t get the joke no worries, you’ve built a foundation of comfort, it was just one line you slipped on.  They will think “that was pretty inappropriate, but i still really enjoy this person”.  No harm no foul.

8.  Body language (Yours)- There have been several studies suggesting that your body language is even more important in what you say.  Imagine you trying to tell a joke with your head looking at the ground giving no eye contact to your audience.  Once again the joke is over before it started.  Especially when you first meet someone, give them a firm handshake, and look them square in the eyes.  Don’t be afraid to use your hands when you talk and show that you have some passion and fire behind the things you say.  Not just some turd with his hands in his pockets speaking meekly.  Think of all the great comedians and how they use their body language to tell the joke for them.

7.  Body language (theirs) - Their body language is just as important as yours.  If you can see them drifting away, no worries abandon ship.  If you notice that they are uncomfortable and want to leave while your stumbling through the end of a joke, odds are they are going to say that guy is a moron.

6.  Not everyone gets it – Some people are just not going to have the same humor as you.  That is fine, and to be expected.  There are so many different personalities in the world that this should be expected.  I get along great with almost everyone I know.  But there are only a handful of people who can really get my jokes for what they are.  Some people  love what your doing, but they don’t have the ability to produce jokes themselves.  I call these people the laughters, they are good in a group but can’t really spit it back and forth with you.  Give them time though, most often these people will imitate your humor after a certain period of time.  They like what your doing and will pick up on how to do it.  Sure it won’t be the best but dammit they are trying.

5. Tried and Tested – A musician plays his best songs, a poet reads his best poems, a comedian will tell his best jokes.  You should remember what works, if you feel you need to write them down.  It could be as simple as an observation, a tone of voice, or a quick joke.  What is most important is you are comfortable saying it because you have seen success with it in the past.

4.  Eye Contact – Looking into someones eyes is an incredibly powerful tool.  Its something that takes time to be mastered.  Mike Tyson once said he could tell the moment he broke his opponent in the ring just by looking into their eyes.  Try making the person look away before you do.  You’ve made them a little uncomfortable, good job.  You have also shown them that you are a strong person.  People naturally gravitate to strength, “if he thinks that is funny it must be funny.”

3.  Believe what you say – You need to sell your jokes, if you don’t think you can say it with some passion then don’t bother saying it.  Nothing is worse than someone stumbling over there words, giggling to themselves uncomfortably while telling a joke.  You heard the joke and it made you laugh, so show they why its funny open up and commit to the joke.  If they don’t like it odds are they have a stick up their ass.

2.  Self depricating humor (laugh at yourself) – Mastering self depricating humor can be difficult for some.  I’ve seen a lot of people try this method  and they get labeled as the asshole who you should make fun of because they make fun of themselves.  If you like self deprecating humor like myself at times, don’t stand for this fire back or change approach.  Never allow yourself to be an easy target.  The main goal i stress here is not to make fun of yourself, but the ability to laugh at yourself.

Imagine this going two ways.

• A mans joke fails, he fumbles over his words and needs to leave the room because he is so uncomfortable and embarassed that his joke was not laughed at.  You have made the situation uncomfortable not the poeple, they are simply playing off your body language and vocal tone.
• Second scenareo, i tell a terribly gay joke, then I laugh and say holy shit that did not go well, or ohh lord that was some serious crap right.. haha blaa bllaa.  Your comfortable and shown you can laugh at yourself, your not embaraced why should you be.  Your failure goes unnoticed.  A swing and a miss, get em next time.

1.  Connecting ( know your audience) At the end of the day your going to connect with everyone differently, thats just how it is.  My best advice is get to know the person, find out what makes them laugh.  There is no joke I can tell you that is going to work on every person.  In the end there are the ones who get it and the ones that don’t.  But if you can connect with each person in your own unique relationship, the next time you stand to tell that story or joke, they are all for different reasons going to believe that should be telling that joke, and that they genuinely want to hear what you think is funny.  Because after you connect with someone what you think is funny, they think is funny.

Beconfident, be yourself, have fun. No one clicks with everyone.

-Amen

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