sample humorous speech

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How to Write a Funny Speech

Last Updated: March 29, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Patrick Muñoz . Patrick is an internationally recognized Voice & Speech Coach, focusing on public speaking, vocal power, accent and dialects, accent reduction, voiceover, acting and speech therapy. He has worked with clients such as Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, and Roselyn Sanchez. He was voted LA's Favorite Voice and Dialect Coach by BACKSTAGE, is the voice and speech coach for Disney and Turner Classic Movies, and is a member of Voice and Speech Trainers Association. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 169,785 times.

Writing a speech is already a challenge, so why bother adding humor? Successful humor will relax the audience, making them more attentive and receptive. It can break down perceived barriers between you and the audience, fostering a sense of camaraderie with the audience. Read on to learn how to use humor to your advantage when giving a speech. [1] X Research source

Choosing Your Topic

• Think about -- and then make -- a list of things you know a lot about or enjoy talking about. Single out the topics you’re knowledgeable about but also know you can be funny about. This might rule out topics that are hard to joke about, like poverty, domestic violence, etc.
• Use this list (in combination with the next step) to select a potential topic.

• What’s the general age of your audience?
• What do your audience members have in common?
• What kind of speech are they expecting to hear?
• What kind of humor are they likely to appreciate?

• If you’re writing a speech whose primary goal is to convey information or ideas, you’ll want to integrate humor while focussing on the ideas you want to convey. So draft the informative parts of your speech first, then integrate jokes and humor.
• If you’re writing a speech whose primary goal is humor -- perhaps a satire or parody -- then you’ll want the humor center stage from the beginning. Choose a topic that lends itself to your sense of humor as well as to what the audience is likely to find amusing.

Writing Your Speech

• Remember to choose a specific topic -- if your main idea/topic is too broad, you won’t do it justice in a relatively short speech. Choose something that you can describe in reasonable depth in the time allotted.
• For example, if you’re writing a humorously informative speech about early American cinema, your main idea might be, “the advent of sound in film hurt rather than helped the medium by detracting from its visual potential”. This is specific enough not to be overwhelming while still leaving you room to develop substantial supporting points.
• If, on the other hand, you’re writing a satirical speech, say, about reality television, your main idea might be, “nothing has contributed more to the cultural and intellectual richness of American society than reality television”.

Mine your own unique experiences for inspiration. "It's always good to take something that's happened in your life and make something of it comedically."

• Write down your main idea.
• Below it, write out everything that comes to mind when you think about that idea. Use whatever visual or textual brainstorming method you prefer (eg, clustering, listing, freewriting, etc.).
• Eliminate anything that’s too far away from the topic, that you don’t feel comfortable discussing, or that would require too much time and depth to cover.

• I. Introduction (where you state your main topic and the points you’ll make)
• II. Main point one
• III. Main point two
• IV. Main point three
• V. Conclusion (in which you sum up the main points, re-state your main idea, and issue a call to action from the audience, if appropriate)

• Effective hooks include humorous personal anecdotes, surprising or entertaining examples, or direct questions to the audience that invite their participation and give them a chance to laugh at themselves. [10] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source
• For example, if you’re writing a speech about studying abroad, you might start by asking if anyone has ever wished they had an accent or intentionally faked one. You can then suggest they do it right and live somewhere they’ll actually have a legitimate accent.

• Err on the side of clarity over style, subtlety or artistry. Unlike a written piece, a speech is as much about delivery as it is about content, and the audience will be less attuned to the intricacies of sentence construction and more attuned to your overall message and the expressions as you give it.
• Avoid overly long and complicated sentences. Long and difficult sentences will be hard to follow. Simplify your point and/or break complicated sentences into smaller, more easily digested ideas.

• For example, a word like “incendiary” is both more vivid, specific, and aurally interesting than a word such as “controversial”. “Incendiary” communicates the idea of something explosively provocative, while “controversial” is a more general term for something that generates disagreement.

Incorporating Humor

• Consider generational differences with humor -- use references and jokes that address topical issues for that age group. For example, if you’re writing a speech about volunteering to an audience of high school students, relate the information in your speech to specific things and events relevant to teenagers. You might make a joke about volunteering versus staying home and trying to be Jimi Hendrix on Guitar Hero. Or you might pick a guitarist more recent than Jimi!
• Know what the audience members have in common. Use it when writing jokes oriented around those shared elements, which are more likely to hold the audience’s attention. Doing so is invariably a crowd-pleaser. For example, if you’re addressing teachers, you might make a humorous reference to students’ most bizarre homework excuses.
• Situational and observational humor that’s tailored to its audience is often particularly effective.

• Watch your favorite funny movie, television show, or comedian.
• Read works by your favorite humorous writers.
• Don’t hesitate to take cues from their delivery -- learn from what they do to make a joke successful. (But don’t plagiarize!)
• Pay attention when you make people around you laugh. Note the things you do or say that make people laugh and how you do it.
• If, for example, your friends can’t stop laughing when you humorously re-enact stressful situations or conversations, try to incorporate similar elements into your speech.

• Targeting particular people or groups is not only inconsiderate, it can alienate members of your audience.
• Avoid jokes that are made at the expense of one side or another in a contentious issue, like jokes about one side of a political or religious debate.
• Don’t make jokes about experiences you don’t understand. A good general rule is to write what you know. So if you, for example, have a learning disability, you might make a joke about the difficulties of dealing with standardized tests. But if you don’t have a learning disability, don’t make jokes about those who do -- you don’t share their specific experience, so you may unintentionally be making jokes about sensitive, potentially even hurtful, issues. [13] X Research source
• Also take the taste level of your audience into consideration when deciding if a joke is going to be offensive. If you’re giving a speech to a room of educated adults, you’ll probably want to avoid overly bawdy or sexual humor.

• The more relevant your jokes are to the specific matter at hand, the more likely they are to be successful with and entertaining.

• But don’t go to extremes of self-loathing, as that will have the opposite effect. The audience won’t know whether to laugh or what you’re trying to accomplish.

• Remember just what information it is you need to convey and ensure that it’s clear.
• Don't let the humor become distracting. Humor can be a great tool for enhancing the information you’re conveying, as long as it doesn’t become a larger focus than the informative content itself. [15] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

• Give yourself enough writing time so that you can go through and revise multiple times.
• The more attentive you are to the details, the more successful your speech is likely to be.

Delivering Your Speech

• Read the entire speech aloud until you’re comfortable enough with the material that you don’t need to read directly from your script but can simply use it as a prompt when needed.

• If you watch comedians and humorists closely, you’ll find that they tend to lead in to their jokes in a particular, deliberate way. Specifically, they’ll use a combination of slower speech, significant pauses, and punctuated emphasis. So when you’re leading up to a joke, cue your audience by slowing down your delivery, pausing slightly before delivering the punchline, and emphasizing key words within the punchline. [18] X Research source
• Emphasize important words, but not to the point that it becomes distracting. Practice how you would naturally speak the lines, paying attention to specific places where your tone rises, falls, or becomes more expressive. Keep those inflections in your speech and play them up enough to be animated, but stop short of being continually exaggerated, which will likely distract the audience from the content of the speech itself.
• Watch and listen to speeches you admire. Pay attention to how the speaker manipulates their tone and pacing to enhance the speech and try to apply those same techniques to your own speech.

• It can be somewhat uncomfortable to watch or listen to yourself, but doing so will help improve your presentation enough to be worth the momentary discomfort.

• Think of being somewhat theatrical, you want your gestures to be visible and distinct from a distance. Favor several broad gestures over a series of small ones. [20] X Research source

• Allow yourself to feel nervous. Accept that you’re going to feel that way and decide not to worry about it.
• The more confidently you act, the more confident you’ll eventually feel.
• You have a chance to share your humor and ideas with an interested audience -- enjoy it!

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-publicspeaking/chapter/humor-in-public-speaking/
• ↑ http://www.drmichellemazur.com/2013/04/speech-topic.html
• ↑ http://www.write-out-loud.com/how-to-use-humor-effectively.html
• ↑ Patrick Muñoz. Voice & Speech Coach. Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.
• ↑ http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speech-preparation-3-outline-examples/
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/speeches/
• ↑ http://writetodone.com/how-to-write-funny/
• ↑ http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/How_to_add_humor_to_your_speechwithout_being_a_com_47538.aspx

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