Blue Humor—A Comedy Cop Out

Keep your humor clean for long-term success.

I've been studying and using humor from the platform for 30 years. As each year passes, I believe more strongly that keeping your humor clean is the way to go. I've made the mistake in the past, more than once, that I can take more liberties with "this audience"... and have normally been wrong.

Why do people use off-color humor?

First, it's easy. It's much simpler to say a four letter word or tell a sex joke than to use your creative muscle to actually create something that's funny on its own. It's easier to get people to laugh at shock value or by making them uncomfortable than by creating a clever and original humor bit that hits the funnybone. I call it a comedy cop out. The lazy path to humor.

Second, monkey see monkey do. They see comics use off-color material almost all the time, and get laughs. Translation, if you want to get laughs, be blue.

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Developing Original Humor for Your Talk

Most humor in the real-world setting is unplanned. It just happens.

Most humor in the business setting is unplanned. It just happens. Spontaneous events with clients and co-workers create the surprises and uncomfortable situations which call for humor as a coping tool.
We all have differing abilities to recognize, appreciate and create humor. How's your HQ (humor quotient)? Do you work with people who are full of wit?
Regardless of where you are now, you can increase your humor skills. When you study humor, it's obvious there's more to it than just spontaneous laughs. There are times when you may want to deliberately use humor, maybe even plan it in advance. Perhaps you want to spice up a training session or a planning meeting. Maybe you want to lighten up a sales presentation. You can learn ways to administer a dose of laughter to help you connect and communicate.

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Public Speaking Nightmares

Bad speaking situations and lessons learned.

As a speaker and entertainer with over 30 years experience, I've had my share of nightmare speaking and performing conditions. The best thing that can come from a bad situation is that we learn something which will prevent it from happening again! Let me share some of my worst memories...and what I learned.
The Nightmare: Booked to perform 30 minutes of comedy at a New Years Eve Party, I was introduced at 11 pm, one hour before the stroke of midnight. To accommodate my portion of the entertainment, they stopped the dancing. The 300 people at the party were not happy. Then I discovered that the sound system was horrible. Only the people in the first two rows could hear me well. The people in the middle could hear me a little. The people in the back couldn't hear me at all. So the ones in the back of the room started talking amongst themselves! The chatter from the back of the room resulted in the middle of the room not hearing anything I was saying, so they also started talking. You get the picture: A tsunami of indifference was sweeping toward the front of the room. Soon only the front row could hear small portions of my program. Disaster. When it was over, I didn't hang around to meet the audience. And I almost swore I'd never perform again. Almost.

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The Use of Timing to Make Your Humor Connect

Humor is more than just words.

Humor is one of the most effective tools for connecting with an audience. It builds bonds and refreshes the mind. And although the right words can make people laugh, humor is more than just words. As speakers, we learn that the impact of humor is heightened by how you say it, what you do when you say it, and how you use silence...the pause. The pause adds punch to the punchline!
One of the reasons the pause strengthens your laugh lines is that it builds tension. There is a relationship between tension and laughter. It's easier to use comic timing when you understand that relationship. So let's examine the link.

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Interview with Rolf Heimann

Rolf Heimann (born 9 May 1940) is an Australian author, cartoonist and illustrator. Heimann was born in Dresden, Germany, fled to the West in 1955 and migrated to Australia in 1959.

He is the author of over forty books, including novels, travel books, cartoon collections, but mainly of children's books, which have been translated into German, Danish, Spanish, and Chinese and have sold millions of copies worldwide.

In 1974 Heimann skippered La Flor (renamed Greenpeace IV for the voyage) from Melbourne, Australia, to Mururoa via New Zealand but arrived after the final nuclear test for the year.
Heimann has been cartooning since the mid-seventies and is a member of the Australian Black and White (cartoonists) Association. He has contributed cartoons to numerous publications in Australia and overseas. Among his most popular works are the 'Eagle Eyes' series of books published in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

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The Woman Driver

Story by Darminto M Sudarmo

It was a stinking hot day, with the sun burning down relentlessly and dense clouds of dust whirling about, as everybody tried to fan away the choking pollution.
Srikandi kept her cool as she sat astride her motorbike. She was the only woman in the group, and she was also the only women who made her living driving an “ojek”. An “ojek” was a motorbike commonly used in Indonesia to transport passengers cheaply.
Srikandi was still young, not yet married, her body solid and a little plumb. Her hair was contained by the cap she always wore. Her blouse was tight, matching her rumpled jeans. Her face could be called cute, certainly eye-catching, although not actually pretty. Her radiant smile seemed to invite men to pinch her cheeks. Not surprisingly she was the most popular ojek driver and much in demand in the area. Maybe in the whole world! This exactly was the reason for her troubles. Although Srikandi herself always kept her cool.

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The Generous Man

Story by Darminto M Sudarmo

Mr. Gembrul was the richest man in my village. He had a nice house, surrounded by a wall that was topped by spiky shards of glass. He also owned large rice fields. He owned not just one or two cars, but several. Unfortunately he was also very tight-fisted. His house was always locked and looked haunted. No neighbors ever visited the house unless they had a very good reason.
One day my father and some villagers went to Mr. Gembrul’s house to discuss something. My mother explained to me that my father and some villagers wanted to ask Mr. Gembrul to share the cost of building a floodgate at the end of the village. With a proper floodgate the water could be managed better and channeled to all the rice fields around the village, including of course to the fields of Mr. Gembrul.

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