"Almost every night of the week, baby!"
Ten Tips to Tell a Joke:
1. Do NOT start with “I’m going to tell a joke.” A joke is dependent on the element of surprise.
2. Tell only jokes that bring a smile to your face and ring true for your own life.
3. Tell jokes that are relevant to those you are telling.
4. Adapt the joke to the topic being discussed in the conversation.
5. Add familiar places and characters.
6. Use five senses in the telling—sight, sound, taste smell and feelings.
7. Tell it with exaggerated emotional tone.
8. Pause before stating the punch line or surprise ending.
9. If they don’t laugh, continue the conversation. No one will be the wiser.
10. Have fun.
Here is an example I share with girlfriends and tell in my presentation, Merry Love Making: How to Strengthen a Long Term Love Relationship: “After thirty-five years of marriage Les and I have sex almost every day of the week. Pretty impressive, eh? Well we do IT, almost on Monday, almost on Tuesday, almost on Wednesday . . .” This is an adaptation of a very old joke. Now you can decide what you do “almost every day of the week” to create your own version.
Joke telling courtesy code of conduct: use sarcasm, put downs and insults sparingly. Avoid vulgarity and profanity and the temptation to use them for shock value. Avoid discriminatory remarks about culture, race, religion or sex. Be careful when joking about something that a person can NOT change. People in the public eye, as opposed to the public washroom, are often an exception to this rule as the price they pay for fame and wealth. Self-deprecation is the safest form of “jokey humour.” Is it not better for an overweight man to make light of his size?
Share a joke with us . . . tasteful, please!
