Taking chances and having confidence add punch to your humor.
There is a rule of improv comedy that highlights the value of boldness. The rule is, if you have to sing and you are not a singer, then sing loud. The key is your commitment. I heard from one of our subscribers, Colin Pearce, CSP, from Australia.
Colin wrote: “For several years I’ve included a bit in my Key Note where I do Pavarotti at the Butcher ordering steak and sausages and a little piece – a piece – a piece of tri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ipe. I am no opera singer. I am more a Rex Harrison rhythmic talker, but I am loud and confident and you would not believe the number of people I have had come up and commend me on my fine voice and ask where I was classically trained. Hilarious!!”
Thank you for sharing a lesson in boldness with us, Colin.
Boldness is being fully in character and enjoying the moment. Boldness is letting yourself go and letting your hair down. Boldness is stepping outside your comfort zone.
Boldness is not forcing your humor on others. Boldness is delivering a funny line and trusting that it will be funny. A friend in an Omaha Toastmasters club told me twenty-five years ago: “I have figured out why you are so funny. You insist that we laugh!” What she meant was that I had the boldness to try an untested line, and the calmness to wait and give the line time to register in the minds of the audience. Boldness is courage and patience.
After you deliver a line or bit with boldness, then let it go. Pause a bit to let the audience laugh. But if they do not laugh, do not beg them to. Do not give them any indication that you expected them to laugh. Pretend you were serious and move on. The odds, however, are in your favor that they will laugh. And with experience, you will become a good judge of which bold efforts are worthy of laughter, which are worthy of entertainment value, and which will simply make a serious learning point for your presentation.
Boldness is commitment. Boldness is courage. Boldness is patience. Boldness is funny.
Copyright 2005 by John Kinde
By John Kinde, Motivational Humorist from Las Vegas, NV.
(702) 263-4363 www.humorpower.com