How to Write a Humorous Speech

Dramatic pause, punch line, laughter, more laughter. Your speech continues with the audience at full attention, entirely engaged by your humorous speech. With every pause you build tension and with every joke you release it. You better pause your daydreams and start writing jokes. Otherwise your audience won't have anything to laugh at, except for your speech. Read on to learn how to write a humorous speech.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Creating Structure

1. Set goals for your speech.

2. Research your audience and write a short summary of its characteristics. Determine if it is a large venue or intimate occasion. Think about what type of humor the audience expects and always keep in mind what is appropriate.

3. Plan the topics and issues that you will cover.

4. Outline your approach. Your speech should have a beginning, middle and end.

Writing Jokes

5. Choose two unrelated topics that come up in your speech. For example, if you are giving a retirement speech, golf and a day at the office.

6. Brainstorm words that go with the two different topics.

7. Find potentially humorous relationships between words that go with the two topics. In a retirement speech you can make a joke along the lines of "Every time I get stuck behind a slow golfer who won't let me play through, I will think of working with the accounting department upstairs."

8. Develop the relationships until you have a selection of strong jokes.

Putting it Together

9. Fill in your outline with content. Keep in mind your goals and the audience profile.

10. Add in your jokes where they fit.

11. Insert transitions to make the speech flow smoothly.

12. Write an opening that gets the audience's attention. Make sure that it is consistent with your goals. An opening should be part of the material you want to cover, not a diversion from it.

13. Compose a closing. It can be a simple thank you or a rousing conclusion.

Tips & Warnings

• Preparation is crucial, but if you add spontaneous details to jokes your whole speech appears to be spontaneous. Even this can be practiced.
• If no one laughs proceed as if there was no joke.
• Don't include complicated details because your audience has no way of referring back to them.
• Don't try to be someone else when giving a speech.

Resources

• More Resources for Speeches, Humorous and Otherwise

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