Speaker - March 2007

• Is crafted/choreographed—flows naturally with the presentation

• Is funny to you

• Is presented with confidence

• Is refined through repetition

• Originates from pain

• Relates to the audience

• Is well-timed

• Employs segues from and to your points

• Takes place on a higher level of thinking or creativity

• Relaxes the audience

• Provides escape and healing opportunities

• Creates an immediate connection

Non-Eloquent Humor

• Tries too hard

• Is unrelated to your material

• Is used out of context or at an inappropriate time

• Relies on “standard” or “old” jokes; is unoriginal

• Distances you from the audience

Funny Action Items

1. Read and watch comedians and speakers. Study their timing and craftsmanship.

2. Don’t expect to be hysterical. There are other ways to engage and entertain an audience if comedy isn’t your natural gift.

3. Focus on segues. Once you have a strong funny story or joke, find a way to smoothly transition into and out of the joke or story.

4. Use quotes from seasoned comics, with attribution, of course.

5. Instead of delivering jokes, use humorous photos, video, props, or audience interaction.

6. Build on your strengths. Start simple. Grow your confidence over time.

CULBERSON That’s to encourage you. You know, it was very helpful to me last night (at the foundation event) when I was not confident in my material, to hear you laugh at one or two lines. For me, that gave me confidence because I wasn’t confident to start with.

RIZZO: You sucked.

CULBERSON (Laughs). He felt sorry for me. Yeah. There is that.

THURMON Dale, how are you confident with jokes that are untried? You are constantly coming up with stuff that you’ve never done before. You just walk on stage and present the material with confidence. You expect your jokes to work.

IRVIN Well, obviously they’re funny to me. That’s the real—the only—yardstick I have. And sometimes they’re funny to me, and they’re not funny to other people. And I think that a lot of confidence comes from your delivery. If you say something with confidence, people sometimes feel stupid if they don’t laugh. So, yeah, I think, and maybe that’s the “forceful” part (of eloquence), sometimes you force it on them to the point where you expect, almost demand that they laugh.

THURMON And, Ken, you take a different approach. I’ve heard you say that you don’t really maximize a story until you tell it 50 times.

FUTCH Yeah. The first time I went to an NSA event, Cavett Robert had a little breakout group and he said, “You can’t really tell a story or a joke until you’ve told it 50 times.” I thought to myself, “Sure you can, three times is good enough.” I didn’t know what he meant for years, until I finally figured it out. You can’t maximize it: turn your head, pause at the right moment or use the right expressions. Those things evolve over time.

CULBERSON I have a question for you. When are you not confident on stage? What are some of those circumstances when you have doubts?

RIZZO You know, that’s a good question. When I did first stand up, I really questioned my confidence. And when there are “industry people” in the audience—that can get you nervous.

IRVIN Oh yeah.

THURMON That’s true with speaking, too. Especially here at NSA.

CULBERSON Yeah, but can you break down what’s happening mentally? Why do you lose confidence?

RIZZO Well, you’re concentrating on “I wanna do so good.” And, you hope the audience is great and your mind is focused on their reaction, as opposed to just doing your thing.