Ever want to be a socially attractive and funny person? Have you ever wanted to be a comedian? Well, this article is all about how you can be a funny and like able person that others enjoy having around. You could even go so far as getting on stage and making a crowd laugh.
1Know good social skills: If you don't get out much, please do. Learn what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in certain situations. Learn good manners. Keep your personal hygiene up and clean; if you're a dirty slob, that could be like putting on people repellent. (Unless, of course, you want to be around dirty people). It's good to know how to be around people, accept all kinds of people, and probably keep your views somewhat universal (That doesn't mean stop believing whatever you believe in).
2Social, social, social: Be around people! Learn to be comfortable around people. This may be hard for some, but you can do it. It may take time, or, no time at all depending on where you're at social skill wise. Don't start trying to crack the jokes out yet, especially if you can't tell funny jokes. It could turn people off. Try giving speeches, being the center of attention, or maybe doing some kind of performance, either formal or informal. That doesn't mean go and be a class clown that annoys people! Take the spotlight in the right place, at the right time, and not for too long, 3-5 minutes tops - about as long as an elevator speech. The more times you get in the "spotlight" the more comfortable you will become in the "spotlight". Remember relevancy and timing. Make sure you do it in the right setting at the right time; if you are not supposed to be the center of attention, then don't try to be.
3Study jokes: Now that you're comfortable in social settings, start learning your jokes. Buy joke books, listen to comedians, listen to what's going on on the news, find things that make you laugh. Find jokes that fit you, and, if you want to appeal, find jokes that fit a broad spectrum of people and know what's going on in the social group you're involved in. Know your jokes! Find out what it is exactly that makes them funny. Study good jokes and bad jokes, (that doesn't mean clean jokes and dirty jokes!) Try to find out why some jokes are more powerful than others. I'll explain more about jokes in the tips section and how I find out how jokes can be funny or not. Don't start trying to make your own jokes yet! Test the jokes you study, which is explained in the next step.
4Try your jokes out: Keep the jokes relevant, and try not to offend or put off people. Don't be annoying and try to hog the spotlight all the time, or shout out above others. If someone else cracks a joke and you don't find it funny, don't fake laugh; it's annoying, especially if your fake laugh is loud and/or annoying. Remember good timing and your social skills. Don't take a joke too far, or at least not too fast. Be optimistic. Have a good, attractive attitude. Your joke has to sound like a joke. Lots of people try to crack a joke without giving it the right sound and mood and people instead took those people seriously. Attitude makes a difference! Don't get down; keep your head up and keep smiling. Become one of the few "enlightened ones" that so many have talked about.
5Try making your own jokes: This step may come naturally to you. Remember how your other jokes work, and keep things simple. If you you go too complex, you'll only throw people off make them think, "This guy is a DOOFUS! What the *bleep* is he talking about?!". If you've ever been around someone who tells bad jokes, you'll have seen this. Keep your jokes relevant to a certain topic. They can be improvised or premeditated. (Warning: Improvised jokes can be really hard to pull off and requires spider-man like tongue reflexes (otherwise known as "wits" or "smart mouth") and can be addictive, therefore tempting you to try too much to be funny without thinking. You could get more and more annoying, and eventually your friends will make a "*your name* stick" and beat you with it each time you say something stupid.
6Take it in a direction: Use your newly acquired skills for good or evil, love or war, use them casually or make a profession out of it, or just plain do whatever you want with it. You can even revise jokes and work on them for a while. It's your choice!
Questions and Answers
Give us 3 minutes of knowledge!
- Make sure the joke is welcome. If your mom died and you cracked a joke about it in front of your dad shortly after, no matter how powerful and funny it is, no matter how you timed it, (in this case, the better the timing the angrier your dad), it would just plain be a bad sick idea. It's not a bad idea if your mom didn't really die though, and it's probably a good idea to turn it into a story line joke so the characters aren't your mom and dad.
- Self humor is the best kind there is. For example, if you are very skinny you can say, "Don't be hating 'cause I am skinny. I am benching like 250, 300 (pause) grams."
- Don't use substances like drugs (including alcohol) to try to make yourself funnier. Be sober and be in control (For example, letting the dark secret out that you don't actually sing while taking a shower, because you were under an influence at the time, wouldn't be a good thing. It could embarrass you later on, especially if what you do instead while taking a shower involves a computer. Someone might think, "that idiot goes and electrocutes himself while taking a shower!" (Yeah, whatever... depends on what kind of electrocution. And just who is that guy calling an idiot, anyway!?)).
- Good attitude, always.
- Keep a universal view and learn to be friends and get along with all types of people.
- Don't say over the line things that can screw your life up! The government in America allows freedom of speech, which means we're free to say things that get us into deep trouble.
- Practice in front of the mirror.
- Be flamboyant! Expression is powerful! Just make sure you represent yourself correctly.
- Know your one-liners, they're really subtle and hard to master, but they come in handy and it's worth it, like puns for example. "This country is going to become an Obama nation!" That's why things like the news are important. Current events can usually be joked about, depending on their seriousness.
- Don't think too much about what you are gonna say because it may start to sound like it's been scripted! Let the jokes come naturally. You don't always have to be funny.
- It doesn't matter what you say, what matters is how people take it. For example if you're a guy and a girlfriend or wife asks you if her pants make her look fat, and you say, "I dunno", she could think, "I'm fat!", "He's blind.", "He's stupid!", "He doesn't care", "What other girl is he looking at now?!". Or if you say, "They're slimming!" she could think, "If he thinks they're slimming, then he must think I'm fat." or "It's okay, I inherited big hips, I was designed to carry and give birth to children and it's normal. Everything is okay..." or "He's so nice... nice and stupid! They TOTALLY make me look fat! It's the bottom of a sumo-wrestler costume!" or you could say "Honey, you look absolutely beautiful in those pants! I'm so lucky to have a woman like you!" and she could think, "He's trying to butter me up cause' he wants something!" or "He's so amazing! That's exactly what I wanted to hear! He thinks I'm beautiful!" or she could say back, "Darling, I'm not that woman over there, and I'm wearing a skirt. And just why exactly did her call her honey?"
- Social are everything! Learn, do, screw up, get up, learn more, do, screw up something else, get up, learn more, do more, screw up more (this is a sad process, isn't it?), maybe lay there for a while before getting back up this time, now get back up, think a little, do something else wrong that screws something up (By the way, you usually don't try to do that "screw up" part, it's supposed to come naturally!), etc. and then look back and remember all that you have learned! Give yourself a pat on the back (if you can reach that far, anyway. If you're impaired, you can rub your stomach. If you are far beyond impaired, go get some lotion and rub your feet)!
- Refrain from hurting other's feeling deeply, don't purposely make fun of or ridicule people (not too much, anyway, if they're really easy going.), this isn't being funny, it's being a jerk, so lay off already and apologize!
- Don't offend and know your audience if you can! If you don't know your audience, don't tell a joke about music theory or something that only certain people would understand.
- These are just tips. Take them with a grain of salt if you desire, or you can take them as scripture. It depends on who or what you want to worship.
- LOUDER IS NOT BETTER! Adjust your volume! Don't make people mad, please! Remember good social skills!
- Story jokes are the same, and for the best results, make it a true story or a story that at least sounds like it could really happen. That doesn't mean you lie. Your just telling a joke. Story jokes are also good for memorizing and altering. Change it for your benefit, make it cleaner, dirtier, (don't change the relevancy of the punch line or the leading lines! It all needs to be relevant, or it will stink!), throw in some one liners, if there are characters in the story that means the opportunity for question-answer jokes, (don't put a story joke in a story joke! LONG AND BORING!).
- Believe it or not, image is important and representing as well as portraying yourself is important. You need to look friendly and be comfortable to be around. Be responsible about your hygiene, look nice, put off a friendly countenance, and let the air around you be welcoming. You also need to be comfortable yourself. If you think you might even need to change your wardrobe, facial hair, makeup, nail length, or whatever, you should do it. You can look cool and be friendly at the same time, and people can tell.
- Don't be stuck up.
- Don't make enemies.
- Joke tips: Jokes should be relevant. They need timing. They need to be understandable. Different words and a wider vocabulary in your arsenal means you can give the jokes more power, because different words have different amounts of expression and power themselves, hence the fact that cuss words are often used in jokes as a simple, easy and uneducated way to make jokes more powerful.
- Keep your jokes within good timing, this is important for the joke's power, its relevancy, and just plain how you're using it. Don't say it too fast or too slow. Know when it is your turn to speak if it is in a social setting (social skills, again!).
- Don't be annoying. Comedy can come through repetition, but not if it's too monotonous. If there's something funny about the fact that there's a blue bunny in the room, every time you want to bring up the blue bunny again, make sure the comment is relevant. If the group talks about the friggin' space time continuum, telling the instructor or guy in the spotlight "the blue bunny's a space time continuum" would make no sense. On the other hand, if the color pink came up, you could come up with "That must be the color the bunny turns when it's suffocating!". Now, that's funny! (not) All the "your mom" jokes could be a good example about terms that get annoying.
- Question-answer jokes should either be deliberate and accepted or the question should be relevant to your current situation. For the most satisfying results, make the question relevant.
- Keep things simple and flow naturally. If you have to think or put any effort at all into a joke to try to make it funny or make it relevant, don't let it out. Think before you speak as well as not to offend, sound stupid, or make enemies.
- Don't give up!
- Don't ridicule others.
- Don't offend other people.
- Don't be something you're not and don't believe that you're a bad person on top of it.
- Know your jokes and how they need to fit in and be timed, as well as how they might appeal to others.
- Don't forget to be mindful about your audiences.
- Don't be too arrogant or even a little arrogant.
- Avoid racist jokes. They may seem funny but in people's minds are very bad.
- Watch your attitude.
- Don't be a bigot of any kind.
- Don't hate people.
- Don't annoy people.
- Dirty and suggestive are two completely different things!
- If you know you're not funny, stop trying to be funny and think about it before you try again.
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