If you think you lack a sense of humor, it doesn’t matter! Amuse your friends, invent funny jokes, be witty and interesting person Absolutely anyone can. The ability to joke is developing perfectly, all you need is your desire. Funny expressions, successful phrases and well-spoken jokes will make you the life of any company. It will be easier for you to solve your affairs, and people will strive to communicate with you.
How to learn to joke - techniques for constructing jokes
There are special techniques for constructing jokes that are used by screenwriters and humorists. If using them allows you to make thousands of people laugh, then they will be useful to you too.
How to learn to joke
Understanding the nature of humor and knowing how to create jokes will allow you to create your own humor. Moreover, not using hackneyed jokes and expressions, but creating your own! We recommend you easy exercise, which will not take more than 3 minutes and will definitely make you smile.
- Choose any 1 letter of the alphabet and make up a 10-word sentence in which all words begin with that letter.
- Do this sentence several times with different letters.
- Smile and re-read.
For many people, this exercise causes the brain to creak. This is a good indicator - it means that some changes are taking place in you, which allows you to open a new perspective on long-familiar things.
Any joke must be told on time, and if you cannot yet quickly create humorous statements, use ready-made ones. Find jokes and quotes on the Internet and tell them when the opportunity arises. This will allow you to become the life of the party and the main cheerleader, so do not ignore this method, it is also very good.
Do you want to learn how to joke in any situation? You need to understand how jokes work. As you'll see, comedic conflict and humor are not entirely inseparable. A joke is simply a structure () that is intended to create comedic conflict. All jokes create comedic conflict, but not all comedic conflicts are created from jokes.
Understanding comedic conflict greatly enhances your repertoire as a comedian. The audience is not passive in stand-up comedy. As you'll learn in this article, it takes a lot of effort to get a joke. This is why comedy is usually only about 90 minutes or less. Additionally, the audience will have more difficulty maintaining because they will have low energy.
When someone "makes a joke," he or she goes through three steps to: construct (understand the setting), count (recognize the problem or inconsistency), and solve (fix the problem).
How to learn to joke: building a joke
Framing is how the audience creates an understanding of the joke. This is especially important if you want to learn how to make great jokes in any situation. When the audience listens to jokes, they take in all the information (the comedian's words, gestures, voiceovers, situation, etc.). And they try to connect it all in a meaningful way. For example, take this setting (we'll add a punch later):
The bus driver says:
While you were reading this joke, you were "building" an understanding of it in your mind. You did this by selecting information that seemed important. Since you (presumably) didn't know what the punch was, you can't be sure what information will actually be important until the joke is over. What you consider important might look something like this:
Woman sits in bus with his child.
The bus driver says:
“Ugh, this is the most birth baby, which I have ever seen!
A woman walks to the back of the bus and sits down, smoking. She tells the man next to her, "The driver is just insulted me!" . Man says: “Then go to him and hit me hard.
Come on, I’ll hold yours for now...”
Just by remembering the highlighted words in a joke, you could probably turn around and tell someone that joke. You yourself wanted to learn how to joke in any situation. Of course, you can switch to multiple words, but the highlighted words carry the entire important information for a joke.
How to learn to make funny jokes in any situation
As you made jokes, you also started making predictions. These are the predictions that create the comedic conflict that we will look at a little later. While you were reading the last line, you probably automatically filled in the last sentence to say, “Go ahead, while I hold your baby,” because that’s what we expect from that person. Understanding the structure of a joke and comedic conflict will help you learn how to write funny things and make jokes in public or on stage.
How to learn to make great jokes: payback
The payoff, the second phase of the joke, is what makes a joke a joke. The audience recognizes an inconsistency or problem with their original understanding of the story—their prediction was wrong. A wrong prediction forces the audience to rethink the setting.
A woman boards a bus with her child.
The bus driver says:
"Ugh, that's the ugliest baby I've ever seen!"
The woman walks to the back of the bus and sits down, smoking. She tells the man next to her, “The driver just insulted me!” The man says: “Then go to him and hit him well.
The word (or words) that cause the shift are the keywords. This joke is "chimpanzee". If you replace the word "chimpanzee" with "child" then that's pretty simple story. It doesn't become a "bad joke", it just stops being a joke. But you wanted to learn how to joke funny, and not just make jokes in any situation. The guy offers to hold the baby while the woman screams at the bus driver. IN best case scenario This story is mildly interesting, but certainly not funny.
How to learn to make great jokes
But when you get to the word "chimpanzee," you have to figure out why the man said "chimpanzee" instead of "child." This causes a shift. Now you must search new way understand a story that makes sense.
Note that if you go back through the ugly kids joke a few times and change the way you say each line, nothing changes. It doesn't matter whether you deliver it as if you're excited or sad. It doesn't even matter if you or I tell this joke. The keyword steals the show. Humor is entirely based on words. This is important to learn in order to immediately write jokes correctly and make funny jokes under any circumstances.
Keywords are an instant joke. There's a very clear before and after. Once you get to the keyword, there is nothing to do. The audience has all the information they need to laugh.
You'll notice that the keywords almost always appear at the very end of the joke, often like the last word. Keywords always come at the end because they cause a shift. Addition new information after the punch it will kill the joke. Note how to continue after the keyword drains the humor from the joke.
A woman boards a bus with her child.
The bus driver says:
"Ugh, that's the ugliest baby I've ever seen!"
The woman walks to the back of the bus and sits down, smoking. She tells the man next to her, “The driver just insulted me!” The man says: “Then go to him and hit him well.
Come on, I’ll hold your chimpanzee for now.”
Come on, I'll hold your chimpanzee so you can go.
and tell this guy how rude he is.
Technically these are the same jokes. But when you continue after keyword, the audience's attention moves with you. You hit the keyword, but instead of letting the audience connect the pieces to get the joke, the audience is still listening Additional information. By the time the additional words are finished, the word "chimpanzee" is no longer a surprise.
How to learn to joke: a resolving situation
While creating a regular joke, we collected information about the joke and created a prediction. When we entered the calculation phase, we learned that our prediction (or perception) was wrong. Solving this joke is the final step. It answers the question: “If my first idea was wrong, then what is right?” Think of it as the moment when you think, “Oh! I get the joke." During the resolution stage, you understand the second joke.
How to learn to joke well
The word "skating rink" is the key word. You decide to change the understanding of the word skating rink” Now the pun makes sense.
Again. To learn how to tell funny jokes and write jokes, you must start by building an understanding of the story. You select ideas that seem important...
Now all the pieces fit together and your new understanding of the joke makes sense. If you didn't move on to a new performance, you would be very embarrassed when the joke ended. Once you realize there is no other line, you may be thinking, "Wait, what did I miss?"
How to learn to joke well: click point
The time it takes for the audience to leave the construction stage, go through settlement, and end at the resolution stage is called the “click point.” This is the time when everything “clicks.” This is important to remember if your goal is to learn how to joke well in any situation and generate humor quickly.
If all goes well, the click point should occur about 0.3 seconds after the keyword (though the physical laugh comes much later). All other things being equal, the shorter the click point, the greater the surprise and the better the laugh.
A long click point creates fewer surprises than a short one. Have you ever misunderstood a joke and had someone explain it to you? You hear a joke for the first time but don't quite understand it, then your friend slowly explains. However, when it is explained, there is never anything funny about the joke. This is because the click point is too long. Instead of putting everything together in 0.3 seconds, it might take three full seconds... And that's plenty of time for your brain to jump ahead of you and kill any surprise.
So here it is. There are many more subtleties in how to learn to make funny jokes in any situation, how to create killer jokes and how to develop your sense of humor. And I willingly share them on Leave a request right now and continue to comprehend the depths of this outrageously interesting science.
They say that a sense of humor is related to the level of intelligence - the smarter a person is, the funnier his jokes are.
This statement is ambiguous, but has a truthful basis. The broader a person’s horizons and interests, the more situations he is able to play out using humor.
Healthy humor, as well as sarcasm and other types of entertaining eloquence, should be appropriate. It is the relevance and timeliness of the joke that ensure its success. And for a joke to be relevant, it is important to say it not only in the right situation, but also in the right society. Different cultural characteristics, worldviews and ethical standards dictate different conditions for humor.
And how does this relate to intelligence?
Intelligence is not just a number, the result of an IQ test, but a body of knowledge. The ability to correctly analyze the situation and cultural characteristics of society in order to adequately assess the situation will allow you to react wittily, make funny jokes and not hurt anyone’s feelings. But you also need to remember the joke in order to apply it. Thus, thinking and memory are directly related to a sense of humor.
You can develop a sense of humor by expanding your horizons.
Cultural education, studying the characteristics of various social groups– through literature and art – will allow you to navigate the situation in order to joke effectively and be understood. To master this art, flexibility of mind and attention to detail are important.
Thus, to joke funny and appropriate, you must:
Expand your horizons,
- develop memory, attention and thinking,
- keep your brain in good shape.
For all this, regular training is required. The Vikium service offers gaming simulators based on scientific research comprehensively develop mental acuity and stimulate thinking.
Using the example of famous and successful stand-up comedians, we can trace this relationship - they all have a broad outlook, are aware of current news, competently analyze the situation and very accurately choose the moment for a joke. It is useful to watch them, for example, watch regular episodes The Ellen DeGeneres Show or performances Louis C.K. or Jimmy Carr on YouTube. In addition, everyday, universal humor is clearly shown in TV series, for example, in the legendary "Friends"(Friends 1994-2004).
intelligence happens different types. Perelman is not joking at all. The creators of new weapons in Russia too. Their sense of humor could only be appreciated by nuclear physicists, who began to explain to the world that it is not realistic for a rocket to fly around the globe with these parameters and apparently not crash along the way. In every profession, at the professional level, there must be instinct. Comedians have it. They just feel why the hall will explode and why not. At the same time, this does not apply to some individual, who, for example, in principle, cannot be made to laugh in certain situations, this concerns the general mass of their jokes, which are often stupid and vulgar, but people are already forming a reflex. And Atkinson can just pick his nose - they’re already laughing. The same effect with Zadornov, Zhvanetsky and Galkin. They may already be talking nonsense, but it will seem beautiful, because the image of the clown has been formed. Likewise in individual situations, if you know a person well, then you know him weak spots, you understand how he feels. Therefore, they say that people are matched not only by smell, but also by what they laugh at, if they can relax together, then they are a couple, and if they strain each other, then this is a business partnership.
Many people would like to learn how to make funny jokes. This is especially true for representatives of the stronger half of humanity. After all, a sense of humor is extremely valued among the fair half. A man’s ability to make people laugh is the same as a peacock’s huge bright tail, a deer’s powerful antlers, or a nightingale’s clear singing. That is, a way to attract attention and win the hearts of as many individuals of the opposite sex as possible. A sense of humor has other functions. Jokers, as a rule, are the soul of any company, everyone strives to communicate with them, they are invited to all parties and other events. A sense of humor helps you fit in new team or get out of a difficult or awkward situation with honor. And finally, with a sense of humor it is simply easier to live and enjoy life.
Is it possible to learn to joke funny and develop the talent of a humorist or is it given from birth? It's definitely worth a try. After all, not all famous comedians were born with a great sense of humor. Moreover, they say that in life many of them are gloomy and silent people. This means that humor is work for them. And work can be learned.
Zadornov, Petrosyan and the residents of the Comedy Club create their jokes according to the same patterns that Krylov, Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin did two hundred years ago. You too can create jokes if you understand their structure and learn the basic techniques of wit. Of course, knowledge alone is not enough here. It takes constant practice. At first, you may not be very funny, but over time, your ability to connect different thoughts, giving birth to something new and funny, will definitely develop.
What does a joke consist of?
Why do some phrases or situations seem funny to us? Humor researchers have long answered this question. Laughter is caused by surprise and incongruity. You thought that the phrase would continue like this, but it was continued in a completely different way. The situation assumed some standard development, but in reality everything turned upside down in an unexpected way.
Example: dialogue between husband and wife
M: - Where were you, it’s already one in the morning!
F: - In the club.
M: - Do you go to clubs without me?
J: - So what? You go fishing without me.
M: - So I’m with the men.
Zh: - Well, so am I with the men...
Thus, a joke consists of three main parts:
- The beginning that describes the situation
- A trap that involuntarily creates in the mind of the listener an idea about the possible development of the situation
- Surprise - the situation develops in an unexpected and non-standard way.
Techniques of wit
To learn how to joke funny, you need to know not only the structure of the joke, but also the basic techniques of wit by which jokes are built. Let's look at the basic techniques.
- False opposition. This technique consists in the fact that the second part of the statement in form seems to contradict the first, but in fact, on the contrary, strengthens it. Many well-known aphorisms are built on this principle:
It's better to overeat than not sleep enough.
We will eat a lot, but often.
One more example:All the teachers gave him bad marks and predicted a career as a janitor, except for the singing teacher, who gave him bad marks and predicted him to become a bear enclosure cleaner.
Ostap Bender’s phrase: “Nobody loves us, except the criminal investigation department, which also doesn’t love us” is also an implementation of this technique. - False gain. This is the opposite technique to the previous one. In form, the second part of the statement seems to strengthen the first, but in fact refutes it. An example is the phrase found in one of Mark Twain’s books: “I seem to have enormous reserves of intelligence - sometimes it takes me a week to use them.”
Or:
She reminded me of the Venus de Milo: just as old, armless and toothless.
- Reduction to the point of absurdity. Some thought develops to such an extent that it becomes absurd, ridiculous, and therefore funny. In some cases, exaggeration, or hyperbole, is used:
Bloomers as wide as the Black Sea (Gogol).
His pajamas could cover four fire trucks.
She was so impregnable that even flies did not land on her.
- Unexpected comparisons. There is a standard set of comparisons that are used for one reason or another. For example, when they want to emphasize the coldness of something or someone, they say: cold as ice or cold as stone. Unconventional comparisons can make you smile.
Cold, like yesterday's dumplings.
Cold as a polar explorer's nose.
Another example:His imagination is as developed as that of a bus.
- Absurdity. The absurdity lies in the fact that the phrase contains mutually exclusive elements that are logically incompatible with each other.
Once upon a time there lived a dead princess.
Man evolved from a monkey, but with God's help.
Another version of absurdity is when an incorrect and absurd conclusion is made based on secondary signs.Moldovan scientists claim that the earth is not round. It's dirty and creaks your teeth.
- Mixing styles. When an ordinary situation is told to high or scientific style, this might get funny. Other options are also possible: describing modern events in Old Russian or retelling works of world literature or fairy tales using reduced vocabulary or “feni”. For example:
When Ilya Muromets leaned back from the stove, he created such a fuss that the Serpent Gorynych burrowed into a hole, and the Nightingale the Robber walked in front of him on the swords. - Hint. When using this technique, avoid using swear words and insults. They are simply hinted at. It looks more beautiful and elegant.
An Englishman and an American are traveling in a train compartment. The American puts his feet on the table.
- Do you mind? - he politely asks the Englishman.
- No, what are you talking about? You can place all four of your legs on the table. - Double interpretation of the word. Here we use the ability of some words (homonyms) to have absolutely different meanings with the same sound and spelling. From Ukrainian political humor:
And this one comes to him, with a scythe.
- Death, or what?
- No, Tymoshenko.
From children's humor:Three calves - how many legs?
- No matter how many calfs there are, there will be no more legs. - Irony. A technique when the opposite of what is meant is said. A coward is called a brave man, a lazy workaholic, etc. There are also more complex manifestations of irony. For example:
How can you tell if a lawyer is lying?
- His lips are moving.
OrA diplomat is a person who can send you to a known address in such a way that you will look forward to the journey.
- Random comparison. When using this technique, objects or phenomena are compared on a secondary or random basis. Another option: characterizing an object based on a feature that is not decisive.
The law is like a pillar: you can’t step over it, but you can get around it.
I don't like money, it bends at corners.
- Paradox. Sometimes minor alteration famous saying makes it paradoxical, or contradictory and illogical. But still funny and funny.
Doing nothing is the hardest work.
The best way to get rid of temptation is to give in to it.
The article was prepared using materials from the book by V.V. Billevich. "The School of Wit, or How to Learn to Jokes."
People with a good sense of humor are trusted more than others. They are always welcome at work, at home, in noisy company. Jokers tolerate stress more easily, relate to problems more simply, and have practically no complexes. They were definitely lucky, and you? Find out right now how to learn to joke so that you can be funny and not seem funny. After reading the article to the end, you will not be able to contain your smile.
How to learn to joke: step-by-step instructions
Become sociable
Sociability is a trait without which it is difficult to be funny. Almost all heroes of box-office comedies have similar qualities: talkativeness, fussiness, optimism, cheerful disposition. There are many examples – from the donkey from the cartoon “Shrek” to the inimitable Jim Carrey in all his cinematic incarnations.
Communication skills are needed in order to sense the mood and feelings of others, how they perceive reality and the personality of the joker himself. In no case should he be divorced from reality, unless he deliberately chose such a style.
Develop your horizons
Superficial jokes are designed for a narrow circle of people; it is unlikely that they will hook everyone - many people look for meaning in words.
We live in the age of postmodernism, when everything has already been said before us and “joked” about everything. The task of a modern comedian is to learn to joke about it all. But to weave Othello into your story, you need to at least know who Shakespeare is.
So, anyone who wants to master the craft of a jester, which, by the way, is one of the oldest professions, needs:
- Read a lot
- Enrich your vocabulary
- Visit interesting places
- Communicate with different people
- Develop diversified
Laugh at yourself
Self-irony is an effective weapon against stress and depression. Psychologists say that it is useful for everyone to learn to joke about themselves. How to do it? Forget about embarrassment - let your complexes become a reason for a joke. It’s a paradox, but when we make fun of ourselves, those around us are noticeably pleased, which cannot be said if we begin to praise ourselves.
How to understand a person and his sense of humor? To become him, to be like him, to be frank where he himself cannot due to shyness or other psychological barriers.
Memories from childhood, ridiculous situations, embarrassments, or a story about your own emotions will do. The main thing is to be sincere, honest and direct.
Train empathy
Even the funniest jokes fail. For example, when they are not appropriate. In order not to look strange, you need to learn to feel people, their disposition, state of mind. Black humor also has a place in this world, but you should be doubly careful with it. Tact and tolerance are not the most losing qualities in this case.
Gain experience
To carry yourself well and confidently, you need to perform more and watch how others do it. Visiting KVN, comedy parties, watching various comedy shows - everything is appropriate. Anyone who wants to learn how to learn to joke should always ask themselves the questions “What was funny/good and what was not so good?” Respectively strengths should be adopted and mistakes should be avoided.
Look for funny things everywhere
To learn to joke, you need to look for the funny side in everything. You should definitely find something funny about any event or situation, especially one that happens to yourself. How to learn to joke in 7 days? Come up with an unusual challenge for yourself - don’t emit negativity for a week, don’t be indignant, just experience positive emotions, do not feel sorry for yourself, be in constant search for a reason for a joke.
At first, not everything may work out, because it’s easy to joke when everything is good in life, but laughing in the face of difficulties is already a real skill.
Create a collection of win-win jokes
Everyone wants their jokes to be unique and original. But you can start learning to create your own humorous masterpieces by collecting funny stories, puns or anecdotes. The main thing is not to claim authorship, but to openly admit: “Once a friend told me…”, “This story happened to my grandmother…” and so on.
Be yourself
Almost everything famous people had strong charisma. Their style is recognizable, their manner is attractive, and their texts are always on point. But you cannot imitate well-known masters - plagiarism is always easily recognizable. There is probably nothing worse than hearing something like “Yes, this joke is already 100 years old,” “So-and-so jokes like that all the time.”
You can learn to joke only by remaining an individual unlike anyone else, having own style, manner, charisma.
To not give up
Everyone has a different sense of humor. This is especially noticeable when watching a comedy in the cinema. Some people crawl under their seats laughing from the very first frame, others only giggle from time to time, and still others watch the entire film with a straight face. That is, it is quite natural that one person laughs at something that seems “flat” to the other.
How to learn to joke: practical exercises
Jokes most often come spontaneously. It’s unlikely that anyone can predict what will be funny in a given situation. Nevertheless, there are certain constructors of humorous statements that can always be used on occasion. Why not master them right now? For those who want to learn how to joke appropriately and funny, we offer several exercises, each of which reveals one or another type of joke.
Looking for contrast
If we see a person resting at his workplace, we can seriously ask: “What, are you resting?” It is unlikely that a conversation will start or the atmosphere will be cleared. “It’s clear that I’m resting, why ask,” he’ll think. But if you use a radically opposite meaning, it can turn out to be quite a funny dialogue. For example: “Stop working, it’s time to relax.”
Connecting the unconnected
Probably everyone knows the joke “I really want something: either marriage or seeds.” Hearing this phrase for the first time, it’s rare that a girl manages to hold back a smile. Following the analogy, you can create similar characteristics, one of which should be completely neither rural nor urban. And the more absurd the last phrase, the brighter the reaction will be. For example: “I like black laconic shoes with which you can conquer a man, effectively walk across the dance floor and, if necessary, crush a centipede.”
Playing with words
Looking for double meaning is one of the main tasks of a person who wants to understand how to learn to joke easily and naturally. To do this, it is worth taking a word or phrase out of context and using homonyms. For example:
– Turn the handle.
– Which one – right or left?
Creating the illusion of empathy
You need to pretend that you understand the person’s hidden motives, pretend to be serious, and then say some nonsense. For example, “I see you are returning home for the second time in the last five minutes. You’re probably just pretending that you forgot something, but in reality you just like to turn the key back and forth in the keyhole, right?”
And yet, how can you learn to joke so that everyone laughs? The first thing is to really want it, the second thing is to listen to our advice, the third thing is to do the exercises every day. And there, as they say, it will turn itself around.