I want to improve my humor. What are some good websites, books, or blogs that teach humor, or are just funny and inspiring?

2010-11-22T02:06:06+00:00

[permanently deleted]

2010-11-22T01:34:33+00:00

You can't learn to be funny from books or blogs, watching stand up might help but practising cracking jokes based on your current conversation takes a long time to hone and a lot of practice.

2010-11-22T02:28:03+00:00

you need to be able to think a few steps ahead, and think on your feet.

i can make women laugh with total ease, i have no idea how i acquired this skill. its totally off the cuff, but an easy way is to take something someone said, and either connect it to seemingly disparate elements, or turn it around completely.

something unexpected is usually funny.

cheddarchexmix · 2010-11-22T04:19:41+00:00

I was shown an exercise by a standup comedian that helped me to hone my joke-cracking skills. You grab a newspaper (or go to like washingtonpost.com), read a headline, then try to come up with a jokey subtitle for it as soon as possible. If you practice this regularly, it will improve your ability to come up with well-timed responses to what people say. Also, I know it's overused, but even practicing when to throw in "that's what she said" in the funniest way possible is decent practice in comedic timing. Everyone knows that joke, but I still use it a couple opportune times a night and often get people really cracking up.

ertdubs · 2010-11-22T05:29:55+00:00

It helps to have someone to "riff" with, if you have a funny friend just try and come up with ridiculous conversations to work on your timing and wit. Otherwise improv class is probably a good way to meet funny people. Comedy is a combination of having the right thing to say at the right time. We've all experienced this before.

secretsedditor · 2010-11-25T05:29:57+00:00

Don't you fucking dare try to learn jokes from websites, books, or blogs, and then tell them thinking you're funny. If you start trying to drop jokes you read online in any social setting I will step back and watch people hurt you, and that will be the funniest thing you do that night.

Being funny requires you to interact with people, identify with people, and then make a humorous connection they didn't already make. All humor is situational - if it's not about the situation people are in, you set up a situation with a story for them to inhabit, and then introduce the humor. NEVER tell a joke. If you say something off topic, at least make it a good story.

You can't be funny without both practice and analysis. So, here's some analysis from Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. Click here for the entire blog post, which I would definitely recommend reading. In short, humorous stories/comments/one-liners must be at least two of the following:

Clever Cute Bizarre Cruel Naughty Recognizable

Recognizable is almost always a must, and this refers to the contextual thing I was talking about. Keep humor recognizable, and then mix in a few of the other items. I'm naturally kind of cute, so I use that one a lot. I have a dirty mind, so sometimes I go naughty, but it has to be a clever naughty normally, unless it's extremely contextual, otherwise there's a creepy undertone. I love clever humor, but you have to make sure everyone makes the same connection, otherwise nobody gets it. Bizarre is a mixed bag, and I rarely ever use it.

Humor is about making people happy, so use it often with everybody, and don't ever try to use it as a tool to make people like you - you just want to make people's lives better. It's a great feeling to brighten people's day. Good luck!

PUAMinny · 2010-11-22T00:59:50+00:00

Watch the british show Mock the Week. There are killer jokes in there, and no one has heard them before.

bicajax · 2010-11-22T01:07:16+00:00

Watch a lot of comedy central. Try to hang out with a funny relative during the holidays.

Title	I want to improve my humor. What are some good websites, books, or blogs that teach humor, or are just funny and inspiring?
Author	LittleSlugger
Upvotes	4
Comments	17
Date	November 22, 2010 12:51 AM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/seduction
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/seduction/comments/e9omz/i_want_to_improve_my_humor_what_are_some_good/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/seduction/i-want-to-improve-my-humor-what-are-some-good.1313140 https://theredarchive.com/post/1313140

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