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How to be funny
04-15-2014, 03:24 PM
I tell you what does make me laugh.
Those stupid internet memes. I find some of them hilarious. And much better than traditional jokes and the satirical cartoons you see in newspapers.
I could literally find a thousand on google images that make me laugh.
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How to be funny
04-15-2014, 04:07 PM
I just looked up the definiton in a dictionary - it defined ego as 'a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance'.
I have no self importance - but I feel good about myself. I wonder if that counts as self esteem?
I'm confused now.
I hate getting into debates around whether or not a single word applies to me or not.
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How to be funny
04-15-2014, 04:23 PM
I never really liked Sigmund Freud. Although I have never studied his work properly.
As for what you quoted. I can't make much sense of it.
If you are asking if I have a drive and purpose in life - despite feeling life is meaningless - then yes I do. My intellectual pursuits provide a lot of meaning for me. Which is why I am sad I will have to one day die - since I know there will always be more things I am curious about learning.
I will be happy to try and answer your question again. But - you will need to break it down into easier to swallow chunks! :-)
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04-15-2014, 07:54 PM
one of the biggest lessons i learned in improv about being funny was that you are the most funny when you don't try to be. the audience typically knows when you're trying and it just doesn't come across as funny. but if you're not trying to, then something you incidentally say will be funny. i think this is the best way to approach humor.
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04-16-2014, 10:22 AM
Just be like most and use stories or props (vine videos, YouTube, etc). Most people really can't give off a natural funny vibe and be aware enough to just be funny in that moment. Most folks just use recycled stories or content that isn't there own.
I've had the vibe it my whole life so it's a blessing and a curse (hard for people to take you serious, plus I can have a smile painted on my face when I'm just fuking with people... Women always like to call me "cute" because of that painted on smile. If I don't have it I look like a angry African doctor, can't win). I don't keep up with pop culture but can still be funny just by being witty and smart enough to be blunt or call out people being too ironic.
It can help if your witty or smart. But I don't believe there is some academic way to crack it. You use the smarts to read situations and then figure out how to exploit them (bust balls..crack jokes), but that's it. Unless your doing stand up where studying routines is important, to be just a funny guy ain't all that hard.
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How to be funny
04-16-2014, 11:03 AM
Christ - Bill. You trying to psychoanalyse me? :-)
Fell free to PM me - or ask questions here. But I am worried about derailing the thread and boring others.
Cardguy - not depressed. Not suicidal.
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How to be funny
04-16-2014, 12:28 PM
This is the message I sent Bill. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it here. I am a bit worried that people think I'm depressed or something.
Quote:Quote:
I am not depressed.
But I do have a number of beliefs that often associated with depressed people.
But that shit doesn't depress me - instead I find it funny.
I think I put it down to the effect the dark comedy and extremely dry comedy of Chris Morris had on me when I was a teen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Ge76wFYrE
I was obsessed with Chris Morris when I was younger.
Perhaps as a result - the more meaningless and pointless something is. The funnier I find it. I LOVE the fact that life is meaningless - it suggests that the universe has the same sense of humour as me.
Cardguy
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How to be funny
04-16-2014, 12:41 PM
How to be funny?
My best laughs come when I'm being serious.
For example today we had Salmon for lunch. I said, "is this farm raised or wild caught?"
People laughed.
I was being serious though.
A lot of my laughs come like this. It's as if people think I'm joking because they haven't opened up their minds to the possibilities.
Also some of the things I say are so raw and blunt that people think to themselves, "oh he must be joking. No one is that upfront!?"
Own it though.
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04-16-2014, 02:06 PM
"That men who have a great deal of wit, and prompt memories, have not always the clearest judgement of deepest reason...For wit lying most in the assemblage of ideas, and putting those together with quickness and variety...thereby to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions to the fancy...wherein for the most part lies that entertainment and pleasantry of wit, which strikes so lively on the fancy, and therefore is so acceptable to all people, because its beauty appears at first sight, and there is no required labor of thought to examine what truth of reason there is in it". - John Locke
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04-17-2014, 10:31 AM
I get complimented on my humour often but I am by no means a humour guru. I considered taking improv classes but I haven’t yet made the effort.
Firstly, laughter is a response to a stressful or awkward situation. There are studies which correlate this, feel free to look them up.
Secondly, you must accept that being funny is predominantly at someone’s expense. Very rarely will you get people laughing about stupid inanimate things unless you deliver it in a visual, comparative manner to something funny. The ability to project this is what makes people consistently funny.
Thirdly, to be funny, you cannot take yourself seriously. This is what differs from people laughing with you and people laughing at you.
- The most important thing you could change is your delivery. I say outlandish things with a deadpan face and an occasional smirk, if needed. I say serious things with a mischievous smirk. Reversing the roles, so to speak, usually makes things funnier than that they may be perceived.
- Relevance is key. People will find things funny if it is relevant to the moment. Just rocking up with a crib sheet of jokes will get you nowhere and at most you are just an entertainer with canned material. You’re not a funny guy, you are a parrot.
- Have an arsenal of to-go-to material. I always have a funny story. Not because I read them on the internet but because it has happened to me. Yesterday, I saw a wasted guy hanging out with his schlong out just peeing as he was walking around at 2pm lunch time. This could either be a really gross story or I can apply my own lens (humour) and see it for the actual humorous value it has. I have genuinely funny people surrounding me in life. The humour arises from our different backgrounds.
- Spending time with people of various backgrounds gives you an insight as to what is genuinely funny and transcends boundaries. You also get a general grasp of how some cultures perceive things funny which others may not. For example, I know Greeks and Russians enjoy jokes about women more than let’s say Norwegians. South Africans have a more racist sense of humour than Americans, etc.
- Be observant and witty. For me, this is the greatest weapon I have. My wit ultimately defines my humour. The ability to come up with something on the spot, the unexpectedness creates the humour. Observe something funny and then use the wit to make a humorous connection. People can only laugh at what they are familiar with and looks natural in their surroundings. Learn how to do so. I see things and I visually think, that looks like a 'x', e.g. cars with sad looking faces, lookalikes etc. I hear things and I associate sounds with sounds I find funny. I see scenarios and I make connections.
Game example FWIW: Talking to a bitchy, gorgeous girl (German) who I know is into me and is sitting next to me. Guy approaches us and says “Hey, you are so beautiful but it’s a shame you look so angry…” (not that bad). I immediately pounce and announce “Yeah dude, she is practicing for this new movie she’s got coming up in which she plays a very angry, sexually frustrated marketer.” I was trolling her on her dress sense prior (always be entertaining yourself otherwise you are wasting your time) and this was the ultimate crowd pleaser. I could sense her panties getting wet.
- Some people will always laugh at a specific category of things. I for one, am a sucker for farts/toilet humour, schadenfraude-esque failures (small level like falling over etc.) and generally sadistic things crack me up. Dark humour if you will. Others find impersonations, jokes or general humour (these are the boring people and hard to entertain). Find out what makes people laugh. A lot of people have a similar sense of humour.
If you are doing this for game, don't try and be entertaining. Entertain yourself and never, ever take yourself seriously. With the whole alpha/beta dichotomy being the defining theme in what people here take to heart, there is a fine line to being alpha and funny (self-entertaining and bringing people into your world where things are funny) and entertaining them. Cardguy, I am sure the same applies to magic. Seeing one of my friends who is an excellent magician, with attraction, it's all about drawing them into your 'fantasy world' for a trip and then once they leave they want more.
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How to be funny
04-18-2014, 04:27 PM
Book recommendation: a couple of guys over the years have raved to me about 'Comedy Writing Secrets' and said it helped them be funnier.
Its on my kindle but I haven't got to it yet.
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http://pickupspanish.com/
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How to be funny
04-21-2014, 11:22 AM
Quote: (04-17-2014 10:31 AM)Noir Wrote:
- Relevance is key. People will find things funny if it is relevant to the moment. Just rocking up with a crib sheet of jokes will get you nowhere and at most you are just an entertainer with canned material. You’re not a funny guy, you are a parrot.
- Have an arsenal of to-go-to material. I always have a funny story. Not because I read them on the internet but because it has happened to me. Yesterday, I saw a wasted guy hanging out with his schlong out just peeing as he was walking around at 2pm lunch time. This could either be a really gross story or I can apply my own lens (humour) and see it for the actual humorous value it has. I have genuinely funny people surrounding me in life. The humour arises from our different backgrounds.
- Spending time with people of various backgrounds gives you an insight as to what is genuinely funny and transcends boundaries. You also get a general grasp of how some cultures perceive things funny which others may not. For example, I know Greeks and Russians enjoy jokes about women more than let’s say Norwegians. South Africans have a more racist sense of humour than Americans, etc.
- Be observant and witty. For me, this is the greatest weapon I have. My wit ultimately defines my humour. The ability to come up with something on the spot, the unexpectedness creates the humour. Observe something funny and then use the wit to make a humorous connection. People can only laugh at what they are familiar with and looks natural in their surroundings. Learn how to do so. I see things and I visually think, that looks like a 'x', e.g. cars with sad looking faces, lookalikes etc. I hear things and I associate sounds with sounds I find funny. I see scenarios and I make connections.
Relevance is important and also being able to read your audience. Different people find different things funny. I find "funny" often depends on the situation, the person, and the culture they are from.
You have to say the joke at the right moment. A joke can be funny at one moment, but be totally out of context at another moment. Also things depend on the people you are talking to. Some people will find it funny, while others won't. For example yesterday I was using situational humor with a group of 3 girls, one of them found it funny, while the other was confused (she thought I was being serious).
Also language and culture are important. A person has to have a good grasp of the language the joke is being delivered in, to be able to understand the nuances. Culture also plays a huge role. For example two weeks ago I was at a comedy club in Manchester, and the guy I found the funniest was the only non-English guy doing a routine, a Canadian. I think the reason is that I could relate to a lot of the things he was saying. Some of the English guys were making references to local things and local stereotypes, which I had no idea about and so did not know why what they were saying is funny...
Also did anyone read any material on humor and being funny? For example that book by Helitzer? Any good resources on the internet?