Funny – Grouchy or Straight?

People often use funny lines in their dialogues and this has been confirmed many times. In fact there have been several studies done on the subject matter. These studies have concluded that people will gravitate towards topics that make them laugh. It is human nature. The point is when you are trying to get across a message or a thought you do need a little humor to break the ice.

Some of the top comedians in the world use humor to keep readers or viewers engaged. When you read stand up comedy reviews or funny things that other comedians say you will see that there is a rhythm to the delivery and content. When you see a comedian get a joke you might notice a pattern to what they say and an underlying flow to their delivery. When you watch stand up comedy the delivery will be different but you will note that again there is a rhythm to it and that the jokes flow naturally.

Incongruities are what make us laugh. There is no point in trying to get your audience to understand something if you’re unable to make them laugh. Funny lines that drive your audience to laughter are like a trademark on a company’s product. If you can use humor to hide incongruities and you can make your jokes work; you have a winning product. If you can sell anybody on a concept or product then you have accomplished something.

Grouchy Allens, on the other hand, know how to use humor to humor their audience. In other words they use it as a diversion. There is no question that some jokes made popular by the Allens are very funny indeed. I am a big fan of jokes like that. I find the timing of the delivery of the jokes to be brilliant. The Allens are masters of when to use humor and when to just go with straight comedy.

So here’s where the humor research comes in. You need to know which kind of funnyman you want to be. There is no real rule that says you can’t be both funny and grouchy. As long as you recognize the different between the two kinds of people then you will be able to master the art of being both funny and grouchy at the same time. It is possible.

Knowing this, the next step is to be able to harness these two unique elements to create the best possible funnyman or woman. That is where you need humor research. Go out and have some fun making people laugh. Not all of it will be successful but if you apply yourself and do a little studying you should be able to come up with some great funny stories and turn them into a repertoire of quick-liners for your own stand-up comedy.