I can’t be the only person who has weird stuff happening to them. Yesterday I took my grandson to a large specialty ice cream shop in a seaside town. Big shop on a high rent sea-front corner. Fancy awning, indoor and outdoor seating. The hard-faced teen behind the counter told us right off, “We only have vanilla flavor.”
Say what? it reminded me of Henry Ford who would sell any color car as long as it was black. Experiences like that become part of my collection of oddball happenings. It might one day become the basis of a speech or an anecdote within a speech. Humorous speech time is when this collection come in handy because your basic choice is one long five-to-seven minute story or a group of funny anecdotes relating to one overall theme.
If you go with the selection of anecdotes, be sure each one is funny in itself as well as contributing to the overall humor of the theme. It’s quite possible to have a topic that is not usually considered funny. I’ve heard several wonderfully funny speeches about husband/wife disagreements. Now marital discord is not, in itself, funny. Marriage counsellors can tell you that.
However, in the mind of a creative person there are several slants on man versus woman that are quite hilarious. They may not be hilarious when you first germinate the idea but with a bit of mental juggling, an incident from here, an anecdote from there, an exaggeration or two and a couple of ‘what if’s’ you start to build a humorous speech.
Another choice might be three stepping-stone anecdotes that, along with an opening and a conclusion, address the topic. Your focus is on the topic and the anecdotes move from funny to funnier and funniest. If an earlier anecdote is funnier than a later one there can be a sense of let-down.
You can also do a series of jokes or one-liners, rather like a stand up comedian. The problem with this is that all those one-liners are hard to remember, especially if this is a contest and you are nervous.
Another choice is a tall tale – a story so far fetched with characters and situations so far beyond belief that the ridiculousness of it makes people laugh. It takes the audience far away from the real world.
Opposite to this is a story or anecdotes that point out quirks and foibles we had not really noticed, but we recognize as soon as they are mentioned. This can be a very subtle story or anecdotes for a fairly sophisticated audience. It is very much in the real world, and will be very close to home for many. The trick is to be funny without being cruel or pointing a finger at any one person or group of people. It helps if you are a part of the group you are needling. I could get away with stories of older people who like to eat their evening meal very early, or who read with the book at arm’s length. A young person making the same points might be seen as rather cruel.
And lastly, test your jokes on friends, adjust them as needed, before you try them on an audience.
