This week: How To Be Funny Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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There's only one true superpower amongst human beings, and that is being funny. People treat you differently if you can make them laugh.
-Jeff Garlin
You shouldn't get too close to the truth, because then maybe you stop being funny.
-Bob Newhart
It's a grim business, this being funny. Every time you come up with a strong, satiric idea, the world tops it.
-Del Close |
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For as long as I can remember, I've wondered how to be funny.
"Tell jokes" doesn't cut it. I mean, almost anyone can tell a joke. Telling a joke that makes people laugh, now, that's a different story.
And that's jokes that you hear and retell. Coming up with your own jokes is hard. Like, rocket surgery hard. But unlike brain science, there are no reliable post-graduate courses in comedy.
Fortunately, there's the internet. I've learned a lot from the internet, like how to be a cat, how to eat a sandwich, and how to avoid vertical video. So I thought, "Waltz, why not Google 'How to be funny?'"
Well, now that this is in my search history forevermore, I'll share with you the fruits of my labor. Surely, I thought, someone out there knows exactly how to be funny, and has graciously provided that useful information to the unfunny masses...
How to Be Funny: 15 Ways to Improve Your Sense of Humor
Okay, good, this looks promising; let's see...
1. Expose yourself.
And I stopped reading there. That's not how to be funny; that's how to get yourself arrested and put on a List. And then you're up in front of a judge, and the judge will say something like "Do you think this is some kind of joke?" And so of course, being a comedian, you have to answer "...yes?" And then you have to spend an extra 90 days in jail for contempt and register your address with the court when you finally get out.
Don't expose yourself. Sure, it'll make some people point and laugh, but come on, man, there are kids around.
So, I don't know; maybe the rest of the article has better tips. Like maybe "do a little dance" and "whip it around." Since I'm not willing to find out, I guess I'll just have to provide my own wisdom, gleaned over several arduous minutes, about how to be funny.
1. Understatement.
Someone just got their legs crushed by a ten-ton loader. You: "That'll leave a mark."
2. Hyperbole.
The polar opposite of understatement, hyperbole is absolutely the greatest literary tool ever created. Using the above example, you can be like "The trip to the Emergency Room is going to suck. It'll cost at least $20,000, and that's just for two Band-Aids and a tongue depressor." Note: that joke only works in the US.
3. Facial Expressions.
While the paramedics are working on the crushee, you can be all like: 
4. Personal Experience.
You turn to your buddy and go, "I know how that person feels. I got a splinter once."
5. Reference Jokes.
"This is like that time when Luke Skywalker got his hand cut off. Wait, what do you mean, you've never seen The Empire Strikes Back?"
6. Legal humor.
By which I don't mean the opposite of illegal humor. "I'm sure they'll try to sue the company, but they won't have a leg to stand on."
So that's it, the Waltz guide to being funny. You just have to wait for something tragic to happen (to somebody else) to put it to use. |
Other people know how to be funny. Here are a few examples.
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Last time, in "Office Conversations" , I tried translating corporate jargon.
Beholden  : Thank you so much for including my little poem, The Phone, in your Editor's Picks.
Happy to leverage the actualization of your process.
So that's it for me for June! See you next month. Until then,
LAUGH ON!!!
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Comedy: June 23, 2021 Issue [#10841]
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