So, You Think You're Funny?

By David Membrila

A comprehensive guide to writing funny, specifically geared toward middle/high school students, adults, teachers, pastors, motivational speakers, wanna be comics, and amateur/semi-professional comedians.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Jan 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781456638740

Book preview

Preface

The text that starts the book

Who knows who wrote the first joke? Was it, "God created the world in 7 days, and rested on the sabbath…

…because Oy! That party on Friday night was a doozy!

Or

Was it when Eve brought Adam THE APPLE, and Adam said, What? No bananas?

Okay. We know it wasn’t either of those because I just made them up. Nonetheless, the word joke itself, has been around since, at least, as far back as I can remember.

Originating from the latin word iocus, meaning to jest, sport, or joke, we’ve used jokes as ice breakers, to create friendships, or to keep the congregation attentive. Whatever the case may be, jokers, jesters, comedians, clowns, entertainers and even teachers and pastors have used jokes to ease the audience and warm up a crowd.

I made a career out of being the class clown. In my youth it got me attention, and as I grew older, it got me in trouble. The one thing I noticed was that it unlocked the key to an artform that is rarely taught in schools…creativity.

I mean, sure…one is taught a little about the imagination in art class, or how to solo in jazz band, but rarely is one taught improvisation when it comes to public speaking. Having to give an impromptu speech at the last minute can lead to a cold sweat and a mumbling tongue.

This book is a guide to help you to find your funny. It’s designed to teach even the most inexperienced writer and/or conversationalist how to provoke cleverness, develop their wit, and utilize irony to get folks’ attention.

It will teach the class clown how to gain the respect of their peers without risking lunchtime detention. It will teach the INTROVERT at work how to use humor as an ice breaker and be respected as a team leader, rather than as a party pooper or boss. It will teach the middle schooler, high schooler, or college kid how to write papers or assignments worthy of an entertaining read…and finally, it will teach the aspiring comedian how to write to gain favor with an audience, as opposed to the possibility of being heckled or booed off stage.

In an effort for me to submerge myself in creating this publication, I needed support from those that love me the most, even when they may like me the least.

Hugs and appreciation go out to my wife Bertha, kids Jasmine, Liam, and Carmen, for their never-ending support, as well as the Pueblo High School Class of 1977, for they have always been my foundation of support throughout my post high school life.

**WARNING**

The context of this publication may cause you to enjoy reading, writing, and formulating jokes.

Read at your own risk!

But…Enjoy the READ!

Chapter 1

Butt seriously folks…(pun intended)

Funny comes in different shapes and forms, but laughter is universal.

-Dave Membrila

The class clown

As mentioned, I was the class clown from 1st grade through my 2nd college degree. I was also the class clown at recess, in the lunchroom, and even in the principal’s office. Laughter was my applause, and quickly became my addiction. I found that other kids liked jokes, and girls liked silliness. Nonetheless, the attention I received led to acceptance, which led to cuts in the lunch line, invites to classroom birthday parties, and getting picked first on the playground when divvying up kickball teams. The latter part was super important as I had very little athletic ability, so to beat out a stud for possible placement on the winning team just because I was Mr. fungi, (spelling intended) empowered me to feel good about myself, content that I earned a spot with the cool kids.

At the time, there weren’t many parameters. Bits about boogers, knock-knock jokes, or riddles made up most of my repertoire…you know, kid jokes. In grade school, that’s what got the laughs. Occasionally, a kid would try to introduce a dirty joke that they heard from an older brother, but most went over our heads.

Oddly enough, I don’t remember many girls who looked for stage time at that age. It was mostly the boys who grappled for top seed in the comedy showcase.

If class clown is the crown you seek, spend as much time as you possibly can searching for joke books on the internet. Growing up, we didn’t have the luxury that kids have nowadays…the internet at their fingertips. If we wanted to find a book, we searched what was called a card catalogue; a drawer that housed the names and the authors of all the books in the library. While other kids were doing book reports on the Danny Dunn series, (Danny Dunn was a combination of Johnny Quest and Dora the Explorer of the ’60’s and ’70’s), I would search libraries and magazine book clubs for more comical literature.

Danny Dunn was adventurous and intellectually motivated to expand his knowledge. The Danny Dunn series were actually a pretty cool read. There was Danny Dunn Time Traveler, Danny Dunn and the Fossil Cave, Danny Dunn and the Heat Wave, etc. Eventually I graduated to the Danny Dunn sequence, but I spent many after school sessions trying to convince my teachers that joke books were appropriate literature for book reports, especially since a book report was merely a synopsis of the written manuscript’s content.

When my systematic plan didn’t work, I had to quickly bring my grade up by binge reading legit books and making up book reports. Because of my love of jokes and Bazooka Joe gum wrappers (many of which contained jokes) I found that I was DOUBLING my reading. I was checking out literary references as well as joke books.

But…it was my fascination with joke books that sparked my interest to READ.

I remember later in years when I became a teacher, I came across a student who was failing reading class. It turns out that the student had an undiscovered learning disability which led to a lack of focus, and the attention of a fruit fly. I gave him a comic book and encouraged him to report on that. Now, mind you I was just a music teacher and had NO idea how to even teach a reading course, but I knew that the secret to reading was to find something you liked, or what you would consider interesting reading…and WHO doesn’t like comic books??

Long story short, although the student was reading comic literature, the ultimate goal was attained…the student was reading. Eventually, the student traded in the superhero Marvel books for real life heroes like books about Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, and Muhammad Ali.

If you are a child who has issues with reading suitable material or if you are a parent of a child who has trouble reading, find out what they like. Find out what your child’s interests are and start them off with that.

Mad Magazine reinforced my ability to read, although its humor was geared toward older kids, even young adults, but was written in comic book form. This meant I had to sharpen my knowledge base of vocabulary, aimed at a more mature audience, in an effort to understand innuendo and punchlines.

Because much of the magazine’s content dealt with political events of the time, it also expanded my comprehension of what was going on at the helm of our nation’s government as well as our nation’s problems, which in MAD magazine, were being illustrated in cartoon form.

If your plan as a class clown is to eventually evolve into a stage comedian or comedic actor, you’re going to want to feed your brain as much information as possible. People think that comedians are lazy and unmotivated. Quite the contrary. Although you’ll find there’s laziness in EVERY job occupation, the working comedian knows that like a prize fighter, he has too continuously train and stay in shape if they want to remain the champ.

Thus, comedians know that they must stay on top of current events (social studies), be schooled on historical events (for the sake of clarity), be tops in language arts and writing (to be able to read contracts and write material) and versed in math (to make sure comedy club owners, managers, and promoters aren’t ripping them off).

It is said that young’uns with a great imagination and sense of humor are a tad smarter than the average kid…you HAVE to be, to be able to keep on your toes.

So, class clowns just can’t be silly. Silly without smart is just immaturity. Are you making faces to emphasize a punchline or just to get attention?

Silliness was aggravating to us class clowns who really worked hard at our craft, because we didn’t want to be associated with cheap laughs.

There’s a story that Eminem, the rapper, would read the dictionary to widen his grasp of vocabulary