A tip to cushion a bombed joke

[The Rev]

Often, the best jokes are the ones that require the biggest risk on the part of the joke teller. When these jokes hit, it's great. But obviously, sometimes the jokes bomb. It happens to the best of us. The silence or awkwardness that might result can scare away future attempts at risk-taking and thus stifling sense of humor.

Something that I always do is as follows: if I tell a joke or try to say something funny, and it bombs...I keep talking, like nothing ever happened. Cool, nonchalant, like the "joke" I made was never a joke. It annihilates any potential awkwardness while encouraging you to continue to take risks when joking in the future.

This is something that always helped me and it will help you if you're trying to develop your sense of humor.

P.S. By risky jokes I don't mean jokes that push the envelope in terms of content, but rather jokes that may be VERY funny or might bomb horrendously.

 

[PalmerTheCharmer]

Hmm.. yes very true.

I also find a good piece of advice is not to expect anything from your target audience (actually this can apply to a lot of things), but basically don't expect them to laugh too much (and don't laugh yourself).

Then, if they do laugh, bonus. If not, you havent lost anything anyway as you weren't expecting them to. So there is no feeling of 'oh no! they didn't laugh!' and no panic, therefore it makes things a lot easier for you to carry on the conversation confidently.

Also, don't take things personally. It's amazing how some jokes told the same way can have one person in stitches, yet you tell it to another and they just respond with a blank face.

Useful advice for those practicing C&F, anyway. Just keep trying and don't give up.

 

[Miles Davis]

can you give an example? thanks

 

[Julian]

If i make a joke and no one laughs ill just pull sone dangefield type ish... look around with a stunned look on my face saying "tough crowd eh?" Then i just do some kind of spin move and walk away.

 

[The Rev]

Hm, an example...kinda tough to just pull one out of thin air...let's see...

My style of humor is very conversational, as opposed to set one liners or jokes that I've memorized or practice. It's very improvised and it flows naturally from a conversation, so it's hard to come up with a specific example. That said, this style of humor lends itself to this tip because I can continue the conversation normally.

If you're interested in stand-alone humor a la a pickup line or something in that realm, it may not work as well unless you have a natural follow up for the convo.

The general rule is be natural and maintain composure in all circumstances, including when using humor.