Being Funny: 3-in-1 Guide to Master Your Sense of Humor, Conversational Jokes, Comedy Writing & Make People Laugh

By Lawrence Finnegan

Being Funny - 3 Manuscripts in 1 Book, Including: Make People Laugh, Social Skills and Conversation Skills.

 

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MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH:

7 Easy Steps to Master Being Funny, Conversational Humor, Improv Stand-Up Comedy & Joke Writing.

 

YOU'LL LEARN:

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Lawrence Finnegan
• Release date: Jul 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088205181

Book preview

Being Funny

3 Manuscripts in 1 Book, Including: Make People Laugh, Social Skills and Conversation Skills

Lawrence Finnegan

More by Lawrence Finnegan

Discover all books from the Communication Skills Series by Lawrence Finnegan at:

bit.ly/lawrence-finnegan

Book 1: Body Language

Book 2: Assertiveness

Book 3: Conversation Skills

Book 4: Persuasion

Book 5: Make People Laugh

Book 6: Small Talk

Book 7: Social Skills

Book 8: Email Etiquette

Themed book bundles available at discounted prices:

bit.ly/lawrence-finnegan

Copyright

© Copyright by Lawrence Finnegan. All rights reserved.

This document is geared towards providing exact and reliable information in regard to the topic and issue covered. The publication is sold with the idea that the publisher is not required to render accounting, officially permitted, or otherwise, qualified services. If advice is necessary, legal or professional, a practiced individual in the profession should be ordered.

From a Declaration of Principles which was accepted and approved equally by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.

In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

The information provided herein is stated to be truthful and consistent, in that any liability, in terms of inattention or otherwise, by any usage or abuse of any policies, processes, or directions contained within is the solitary and utter responsibility of the recipient reader. Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or blame be held against the publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the information herein, either directly or indirectly.

Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

The information herein is offered for informational purposes solely, and is universal as so. The presentation of the information is without contract or any type of guaranteed assurance.

The trademarks that are used are without any consent, and the publication of the trademark is without permission or backing by the trademark owner. All trademarks and brands within this book are for clarifying purposes only and are the owned by the owners themselves, not affiliated with this document.

Table of Contents

Being Funny

More by Lawrence Finnegan

Copyright

Table of Contents

Book 1: Make People Laugh

Table of Contents

Book 2: Social Skills

Table of Contents

Book 3: Conversation Skills

Table of Contents

More by Lawrence Finnegan

Book 1: Make People Laugh

7 Easy Steps to Master Being Funny, Conversational Humor, Improv Stand-Up Comedy & Joke Writing

Lawrence Finnegan

Table of Contents

Being Funny

More by Lawrence Finnegan

Copyright

Table of Contents

Book 1: Make People Laugh

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Step 1 - Know Your Audience

Intentional Comedy

Children

Teens

Young Adults & Adults

Middle Age

Seniors

Beyond Age

Chapter 2: Step 2 - Find a Funny Feeling

Research

No, Really, Just Be Funny

Timing Is Everything

No Rules

OK, Maybe One Rule

Common Ground

Why You Can’t Explain a Joke

Last Laugh

Chapter 3: Step 3 - Try It Out

Social Grease

Clubs and Open Mic

Dying

Casual Setting

Improvisation

Chapter 4: Step 4 - Get Used to Word Play

Puns, Jokes and Classic Humor

Punny!

Have a Joke at the Ready

Absurdist and Non-Sequitur

Mimicry, Funny Sounds, and Silence

Timeless or Topical

Set-Up and Punchline

Chapter 5: Step 5 - Explore Physical Humor

Slapstick & Prat Falls

Learn to Fall

Costumes & Looking Funny

Props & The Bag of Tricks

Non-Verbal

Face

Slow Down

Chapter 6: Step 6 - Conversational Humor

Avoid Canned Humor

What’s So Funny?

Surprising Contrasts, Obvious Errors, and Comedic Truth

The Funny One

The Try-Hard

Thought-Emotion-Action

Joy

Chapter 7: Step 7 - Slam!

F*ck Off, Friend!

Love And Hate

Still Basic, Still Unexpected

Hecklers

One In Ten Rule

Pump The Breaks

Conclusion

Book 2: Social Skills

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Step 1 - Work on You

Balance and Reciprocity

Basic Self Care

Drives and Motivations

Acquaintance, Friend or Lover

Date Yourself

Chapter 2: Step 2 - Understand Them

There Is No THEM

What Do You Stand For?

Demographics Vs. Individuals

Why Are They Here?

Follow Your Bliss

Scenes, Haunts & Social Locale

Beyond the Bar

Express Yourself

Chapter 3: Step 3 - Make Small Talk Big

Just Do It

Ice Breaker

Keep It Going

Break Away

Chapter 4: Step 4 - Make New Friends

Take a Chance on Me

Just Friendship

There Is No Friend Zone

Hello, I Must Be Going

When to Call

Know No

Be a Friend

Help or Hinder?

Chapter 5: Step 5 - Keep Friends

Get In Touch

Shake the Family Tree

Besties

Make New Friends but Keep the Old

Forged In Fire or Bonded Over Time

Quick Tips

Be a Friend

Chapter 6: Step 6 - Go Deep

Observe, Consider and Decide

Run Toward Danger

Deconstruction

Complaining

Philosophy, Religion, and Spirituality

Existential Dread

Enrich, Explore and Enliven

Break It Down

Chapter 7: Step 7 - Build Strong Relationships

Go, See and Do

Take a Back Seat

Acceptance

Space and Boundaries

Accountability

If They Hit You, They Do Not Love You

Beyond Self Care: Self-Help

Nurture Your Nature

Conclusion

Book 3: Conversation Skills

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Step 1 - Engagement

Be Approachable

Setting

Smile

Empathy

Kindness

Mirroring

Composure

Chapter 2: Step 2 - Active Listening

Eye Contact

Let Them Talk

Body Language

Touch is Touchy

Back and Forth

Summarize

Chapter 3: Step 3 - Small Talk

Opinions

Open-Ended Questions

Processing or Problem-Solving?

Cognitive Bias

Conversation Piece

Interest Groups

Chapter 4: Step 4 - Know Your Audience

Locality

Cold Reads

Analytics and Data

One Of Us!

Monitor Feedback

Chapter 5: Step 5 - Reflecting & Difficult Conversations

Update and Adjust

Nobody Thinks About You the Way You Think About You

Feedback

Self-Reflection

Don’t Overthink It

Difficult Discussions

Chapter 6: Step 6 - Practice Alone

Multimedia

Limits and Dangers

Chapter 7: Step 7 - Educate and Enrich Yourself

Talk!

It’s Not What You Know; It’s Who You Know

Seriously, Just Go Up and Say 'Hi.'

Beyond Books

Conclusion

More by Lawrence Finnegan

Introduction

Welcome to Make People Laugh. Off all the communication skills you can learn, improve and attempt to master, humor is one of the hardest to teach. What makes one person laugh might be too dear for another. Even person by person, what gets the individual going at one time might not even make them smirk an hour later. This guide will look at laughter from a biological reflex to a social lubricant.

Not all laughs are created equal, and more times than not, we use humor as a social lubricant and laugh when no humor is implied. Some animals show a sense of humor, and laughter is such a universal trait that lack of one indicates trauma or neurological problems. Every step we take toward why and how the body and mind work together to elicit a laugh, we give examples of development and use of humor. While challenging, learning how to pull laughter from people is therapeutic to the individual and beneficial to the community. 

Humor is a topic well worth exploring and a skill worth improving because of all the shared human experiences, nothing breaks the ice, bonds strangers, and fills a body with a warmth quite like a hearty laugh. Healing, relaxing and cathartic, humor is one of the principal ways humanity blows off steam.

There's nothing funny about humor. That's a joke. It can be hard to get tone and inflection across in writing, so any attempt at literary humor has to be framed as comedy or over the top to leave no doubt. Even then, history more often than not will miss the joke, and examples of satire and parody mistaken for straight text abound: few realize Machiavelli's The Prince, handbook or dictators and fascists for centuries, was likely written as scathing critique. Of course, he wrote it from exile about the rulers who kicked him out, so it's not like he could end the book with Not. The modern age allows us to dissent without such convoluted double-meanings, though humor remains a powerful tool of protest, too.

There is hardly a facet of your life that can't be beneficially impacted by teaching yourself how to make people laugh, with love and intimacy one of the most significant. Poll after poll puts sense of humor in the top three features people look for in a partner, right up there with appearance and financial stability. The old cliché when you laugh, the world laughs with you, but when you cry, you cry alone is true, so learn how to express even dark times humorously, and you will discover that finding the light and a way out of darkness is that much easier.

When I mention audience in the next chapters, I mean a single individual or auditorium full; wherever the intimate versus public dynamic is remarkable enough to matter, I will point it out.

Also, a demographic is not just an age group, gender, or race; you can group humans by any number of traits, so as we move forward, don't hang up on that word meaning any one thing.

Humor is also used far more than a serious guide on developing communication skills normally would. Because you know; comedy.

So sit back, relax and get ready to learn the fine art of mirth making.

Let’s get started!

Chapter 1: Step 1 - Know Your Audience

Humor is subjective, so you must always be aware of who you are addressing. Ideally, you should employ clean humor, so-called Family Humor, initially. We go into depth on exactly what and how you keep things PG further on, but don't fool yourself: many adults are easily shocked or otherwise don't laugh at the crude, understand the political and are otherwise a 'tough audience.' We will also explore how to feel out and make headway with those sticks-in-the-mud. It's all about identifying what your audience identifies with and finding ways to exploit language and subvert expectation as you discuss it.

Intentional Comedy

Most intentional comedy is storytelling or dialogue-based. The humorist delivers a narrative and plays on expectations, the essence of humor being the inversion of what is expected. Just standing there telling jokes is difficult because of the earlier-mentioned subjectivity: a good deal of a stand-up comic's intro is setting up our expectations of them. I can think of only a few examples of comedians who don’t start with my family this or my job that. You begin the conversation we have all had to get your audience on the same page. Once you establish a subject and tone, you can start messing with it, but you have to know their essential thinking.

You will have a hard time with super-specific topics and subtle body language when the audience is large, and slapstick or roast humor doesn't translate to small groups. I have listed some gross generalities on universal topics for broad demographics further on. Still, I have to warn you: make your observations and research beforehand if possible. In the next chapters, I will attempt to offer some suggestions to get started, but I have to warn you: this is not a joke guide, per se, but an exploration of how to