This is an area I have been working on. Progress is steady but slow.
I don't know about putting too much weight in sarcasm. It can come across as negative. Use carefully and sparingly. It is not always a fun/positive sense of humour. It is my predominant style..so I know that it can wear thin from experience...
The biggest laughs you usually get are shock value / outrageousness laughs. They also are the biggest bombs when they go wrong. They are a high wire act. They usually work best when alchohol is involved and people are loose.....
"So Robert Blake claims he and his wife didn't get along, he took her to dinner, he left for a minute, some stranger came up and shot her.
No man is that lucky" - Gary Shandling
I pulled one off the other day that brought down the house at a party. We were playing that stupid drinking game 'Ive never'. About 2/3 of the way though, someone pulled an 'Ive never' card that said 'Ive never...ridden a roller coaster". It was totally benign and out of place. Most of the 'I've never' cards relate to something sexual or involving drink /drugs. It is supposed to be an adult game. So I blurted out ....
"Roller coaster? What kind of card is that? Who hasn't ridden a roller coaster? Try.. 'Ive never blown a tranny hooker on a roller coaster" Note I did not say blown BY a hooker. I did not say blown BY a tranny hooker. I said blown a tranny hooker. For a clean cut straight guy, that is pretty 'out there'. Now to me, there is nothing funny about chicks with dicks...but with a slightly drunk group, delivered right, the absurdity and shock of it killed. People were on the floor turning red...it was contagious. In a different setting, and delivered without confidence, that joke would have been a crash and burn.....
Wordplay or deliberate misinterpretation is good if you have that ability and a strong vocabulary....but use sparingly.
A good technique that is not used often is reversal....
"I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I will not exploit my opponents relative youth and inexperience" - Ron Reagan.
This technique can be used with C+F very well. I have been trying to craft some of these.
Nonrelated association works well too...and is not used often everyday.....
"Dino de Laurentis is 80 years old. Or as Anna Nicole Smith calls him...fresh meat" - Steve Martin.
As a technique (as opposed to a type of humour) tie ins are good too. That's when you keep referring to a previous joke. Seinfeld use that a lot in his older standup...and it was later incorported at a higher level (running gag) in Seinfeld eppisodes.
Exaggeration and absurdity work well in a social setting. "My ex was so easy. I broke up with her when I found out she slept with her boss. Yeah. She worked at the Vatican. She used to date the Oakland Raiders because there are only 15 players on a hockey team......" My shock value joke noted above had elements of absurdity. Most shock value jokes are exaggeration or absurdity to the extreme. Rodney dangerfield used a lot of exaggeration.
Deliberate misdirects also work well. Jay Leno uses these a LOT.
Things that are slowly helping me:
1. Body language - confidence sells!
2. Learn different types of comedy from your normal style. Practice them. Pick one technique you have never used, and strive to come up with situational lines in the moment in that style. That shock value joke I told was one of the first jokes of that type I ever made up. There were still elements of sarcasm...but it was a departure for me on that I was hanging it way out there.
I think you will find that most people have one predominant style. If you learn to use different types of humour....you will double...triple..quadruple the qty of funny things you come up with in passing.
3. As an aid in doing this, watch comedy routines / stand up and analyze them. Figure out what techniques and comedy styles they are using. This will help you apply those techniques in your everyday life. Get "How to Be Funny". Most of the comedy categories and examples I gave above came from that book. It will help you...almost like a study guide. You will say....aha...a 'deliberate misdirect'. As you learn to recognize these...you will learn to craft them.
4. Delivery. Do a humourous interpretation excercise. Here is one I came up with. Watch this youtube vid. Dont pay attention to the Monkey. It's funny without that. First of all, understand the types of jokes. More importantly, script it, study the vocal intonations...and read the script yourself. You will find it does not sound very funny because your intonation is not correct. Not saying you have to imitate this style...but you need to find intonation that is funny for you. Humourous interp excercises like this can really spice up your vocal style, and teach you the intonations that work with specific types of humour/jokes. Note that the pace of speech is much slower than your natural speech is too....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvndvfrdbz8
CHAT
