How to Improve Your Sense of Humor

If your friends never seem to laugh at or even understand your jokes, work on developing a more mainstream sense of humor to fit in with the group. Once you improve your wit, you may also boost your self-esteem and feel more at ease in a crowd.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Have an honest conversation with a trusted friend and ask him why people don't consider you "funny." You may discover that it's just your timing or delivery, but you may also hear that your jokes are so off-color, unusual or offensive that the general "audience" doesn't appreciate them.

2. Study what makes your friends laugh when they're watching movies, television shows or talking to one another. Determine if they prefer one liners, physical comedy or sarcasm, for example.

3. Watch late-night talk shows to determine what makes the hosts so entertaining, funny and popular. Study the way they integrate jokes, humorous comments or teasing into the conversation to get a laugh. Use their techniques to improve your delivery.

4. Learn to make fun of yourself. Open up to tell humorous and embarrassing stories from time to time as long as they're not so personal that they make the crowd uncomfortable.

5. Borrow other people's funny lines until you're comfortable injecting your own into the conversation. Even when you credit the joke's original writer, you'll still get the laugh and gain confidence as you're developing your sense of humor.

Tips & Warnings

• Realize that not everyone has the same sense of humor. Try not to second-guess yourself if the entire crowd doesn't laugh at your jokes. It's better to get a few sincere chuckles than a lot of polite laughter.