Public Speaking - Breaking the Rules of Funny
Recently, I ran across some youTubes from veteran speaker Joe Malarkey. Definitely check out this video called “The Upside of Down,” I’m sure you will enjoy it. After you watch the video, leave your youTube page on the screen so you can rewatch it and see how my comments below explain why Joe is so funny. Here is the link to the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFJ6-AsabWw
Good talk huh? Joe is a very funny guy. The three specific sections I want to focus on are the jokes at video index 1:29, 4:39, and 6:25. Rewatch those sections (about 10 seconds each). Go ahead, I’ll wait. Dum … de dum dum … dum de dum. Oh good you’re back. Now we can analyze the comedy technique that is used here. It’s called “subliminal humor.” Let look at the first joke at video index 1:29, where Joe talks about working in Las Vegas. Here is the joke.
“I was a show girl … I’m just kidding … I was a stripper, but my point is …”
Standard humorous thinking state that you should always wait for the laugh after your punch-line, but this is where Joe breaks the rules. “I was a show girl,” is funny and then Joe waits for the laugh. “I’m just kidding,” is the set up for the bigger joke. “I was a stripper,” is the punch-line, but notice that Joe doesn’t wait for the laugh here. Instead he quickly adds, “but my point is …” which has nothing to do with the speech, it just adds to the humor of the punch-line. It makes it appear as if Joe really didn’t mean to say that and it just leaked out as a Freudian slip. This makes the joke extra funny and is a very advanced technique.
Now, go back and watch those three sections again and notice that Joe ends each joke with “but my point is …” Knowing how this works will give you an entirely new appreciation for Joe’s abilities and possibly give you a new tool in your speaker arsenal.
Tags: Cliff Suttle, Comedy, Homorous Speaking, Humor, Joe Marlarkey, Public Speaking, Speaking