Are you too serious? Do you always ruin jokes? Good news. You can improve your humor and learn to be funnier. All it takes is practice and these cool tips for learning, remembering and telling jokes

1. Let’s get funny –
develop your humor
With Debbie Iancu-Haddad

2. READY TO
START?

3. Good news.
You can improve your
humor and learn to be
funnier
All it takes is practice
ARE YOU TOO SERIOUS?
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

4. Having a sense of humor
means possessing the
capacity to see something
as funny
Amusement
Passive use of humor
Enjoyment
Positive emotional chang
Laughter
Performance
Active use of humor
Using humor in
communication with
others
Let’s get funny –
develop your humor.
Debbie Iancu Haddad

5. The problem with jokes
Most people experience one of two problems:
Memory Performance
You get lost in the
details.
You cant remember
the important parts
of the joke or forget
the punchline
You don’t know how to
tell the joke.
You start laughing during
the telling, reveal crucial
information too soon
and spoil the surprise
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

6. Solving the problem with jokes
The solution to both problems starts with practice
Memory Performance
1. You more often you
repeat a joke the less
likely you are to forget
it. Tell the joke several
times to memorize it. 2.
We are going to learn
how to simplify the joke
so there are less details
to remember
Once you practice
what works best and
have the joke
memorized you stop
laughing during the
telling, build suspense
correctly, and learn
what details to include
for your audience
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

7. How to make things funnier
 When you start speaking,
people start to anticipate what
comes next. They base their
anticipation on common
patterns, social norms and past
experience. To make them
laugh you need to surprise
them, but there are lots of
ways to do that.
The secret to humor is surprise but how can you
make your surprise funnier?
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

8. What ending does your audience expect?
Try to find the opposite of what they would expect.
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

9. Anatomy of a joke
 The joke skeleton is the inherent structure that
leads up to the punch-line and cannot be
changed – or the joke won’t work.
 To find the skeleton break the joke down to its
essential components.
 The punch-line is the surprise – the skeleton
leads up to the punch line
 For a joke to work:
 Most jokes are based on incongruity = surprise.
In the first half of the joke we create
misdirection. The punchline reveals the
misdirection.
 Don’t rush it – take 2 breaths before and after
the punch-line
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

10. The punchline = misdirection revealed
• Assumptions are based on
the socially acceptable
course of action.
• If there is a common way of
doing something (or a "right"
way to do something) my
audience will immediately
assume that is what is going
to happen.
The punchline is based on revealing that what we
expected to happen – did not.
In fact something completely different happened.
The less we expect what actually happened – the
funnier it becomes (of course that should be within
certain boundaries that my audience will find funny
rather than shocking or offensive).
The misdirection is based on my audience's assumptions.
What my
audience though
would happen
What actually
happens
Let’s get funny – develop your humor.
Debbie Iancu Haddad

11. Example joke
A man was walking down the street with a penguin
when a policeman came up to him.
• "That is an endangered animal you can't just walk
around with it. Take it to the zoo".
The next day the same policeman sees the man
with the penguin again.
• "I thought I told you to take that penguin to the
zoo"
• "I did", said the man, "we had a great time. Today
we're going to the movies".
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

12. So let's break it down:
• My essential components are
– Two people – one can be an authority figure – and
– An exotic animal you would not have as a pet.
• Misdirection: Take him to the zoo – my audience will
assume
– A. "take the animal to live at the zoo"
• Rather than option
– B. Take him out to have fun
• Punchline – misdirection revealed – "We went to the zoo
and had fun, today we are going to have fun somewhere
else".
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

13. Base
situation
•Essential
components
Creating
misdirection
•Make audience
expect one thing
Use
alternate
meaning
•Punchline
goes in
another
direction
Creating humor – understanding joke
structure
Expected
Unexpected
+ Flexible
Decorations
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

14. Place exotic
animals live
Fun place
to visit
Documenting the joke:
I have a visual memory so I like to create a picture in my mind, or draw on a piece of
paper. You can also make a very short list. I often find this is enough to remind me of a
joke after I have told it a few times.
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

15. Improving your joke skills
• In order to remember jokes follow these simple
rules:
1. Write down the joke the first time you hear it
2. Break it down into elements: the punch-line
and the joke skeleton
3. All the rest is just decoration you can change
4. Tell it several times to different people soon
after learning it (start with safe audiences)
5. Customize it to your audience
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

16. Exercise
• Practice breaking down the joke to its
components.
• It was New Year's Eve and I was out at the local
pub, drinking and having a great time with my
mates. When it got late I decided to do the
responsible thing. I left my car in the pub's
parking lot and took the bus home. I was really
proud of my responsible decision; the only
problem was that I had a lot of trouble backing
the bus into my driveway…
•
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

17. How to use humor in a conversation
3
Try to work the joke into the context of the conversation
Don’t ask if they want to hear a joke, let it be a surprise
Have a strategy to fall back on if they
don’t get the joke, for example: “I guess
you had to be there..”
Practice on someone friendly
Have the joke elements clearly mapped out into your mind before starting
Breathe – take a breath and pause before and after the punch line
Smile and wait for the joke to sink in
Let’s get funny – develop your humor. Debbie Iancu Haddad

18. Let’s get funny –
develop your humor
Debbie Iancu-Haddad
Join my online course in
English for improving your
humor and learning to
laugh more.
Join me to see how you
can have more fun in
everyday communication,
at work and with your
friends and family
Want to learn more and develop your humor?
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