speak humor, be humorous

Chapter 28 Humor in Speech (1)
A speech is an inspiring, persuasive, lyrical and performative speech made to a crowd in a more formal setting.However, because it is more formal, the speaker must put on airs, put on a straight face, and make a boring statement.Therefore, creating a humorous and relaxed atmosphere is a clever way to make the speech acceptable.

Humor Elevates Your Speech

Many excellent speakers are good at grabbing the audience's attention with humorous language, making the audience resonate with him in knowing laughter, so that it is easier to accept and firmly remember his point of view.

The famous comedian Bob Hope said: "There is a difference between a good subject and a mediocre subject, but I know how to turn an ordinary joke into a great one through time control."

When you want to grab the audience and better illustrate the theme, the humorous joke or skit inserted must be unaffected.Be fluent in speech, natural in manner, and moderate in demeanor.

There was a man in Chicago who wanted to be the chairman of a certain club.He went overboard during a speech to club members, delivering at least 510 jokes in less than two hours, complete with expressive expressions and laugh-making gestures.

The audience roared with laughter, and just as he was finishing his last joke, someone yelled, "One more!"

This dude really did have another one, making everyone laugh again.

But he didn't become president of the club - he was the second-worst candidate in terms of votes.

As he walked out of the club sullenly, he asked the audience who yelled "one more": "Are you saying I'm worse than them?"

"No, not bad at all," said the man. "You're so much funnier than them, you could be a comedian."

As a speaker, the first problem you encounter is usually: what should you do when the host introduces you to the audience and praises you?At this time, we can't just nod along with the host's introduction.That way, you'll lose your sense of humor and fail to impress your audience.

If someone invites you to give a speech, then you'd better write a self-introduction in advance and hand it to the host before the speech begins.Otherwise, the host might introduce you as something like "famous..." or "great..." out of politeness.And none of that will help you in the slightest for the speech you're about to give.If your name is special or error-prone, you may wish to use humor to let the host know.The famous speaker Dirk is an expert in this area.Here's a conversation between him and the host:
"What's your name, sir?"

"Oh, my name is Dirk."

"Are you from Texas?"

"No, I'm from Louisiana."

"Then why did you name yourself Dirk?"

"I think my name is Dirk better than Lewis. There's an advantage to having a weird name like that, but I haven't found out what it is."

This is a great way to introduce yourself.However, it should be noted that you must base your introduction on a true and credible basis, and it must be concise and easy to understand, so that the host can understand it at a glance.In this case, the host will also be happy to cooperate with you.On top of building rapport between you and your introducer, you also have to use the power of humor to adapt to circumstances.

After a misguided introduction by the host, one speaker said calmly with a smile on his face: "I wish I could say it was the best introduction, but it wasn't. Do you know what the most satisfying introduction I have ever had? ?It was a speech to thousands of people, and I was looking forward to the 'greatest' introduction, and I finally got it. That was me introducing myself."

There was a lot of laughter off the court, and the orator pulled through.

start with humor
The opening of the speech is very important, it can set the tone of the whole speech.As far as the speaker is concerned, if he starts to speak seriously, it will be difficult to be active in the following speech.Once the relationship between the speaker and the audience is alienated and estranged at the beginning, it will not be easy to get closer in the future.

So it pays to start with a little humor.It can make both the speaker and the audience in a relaxed state and shorten the distance between the two parties.

Moreover, before the main body of the speech begins, there is full freedom to amuse, and there are various themes and methods of amusing.

There were also people who came to the podium in a way that made fun of themselves.Let's listen to the opening remarks of two Chicago speakers:

The first person announced his name, and then said: "I don't know if there are any friends from my childhood? They know that I have a disgraceful nickname. I hope they are not there!"

The opening statement of the second place is more eye-catching.This is a tall guy with surprisingly large features.He said: "Ladies and gentlemen, you have seen what kind of person I am. My ears are very big, like Beethoven. But when I grew up, I was ashamed of these ears. But now I I'm used to them. After all, it doesn't hinder me from standing here and speaking!"

Originally, after the first speech, the audience was a little sleepy, but the opening remarks of the second speaker made their nerves active again, and laughter drove away the sleepiness.

These witty opening remarks are undoubtedly much better than monotonous and rigid self-introductions.

Captivate your audience with humor

For a speech to impress and motivate the audience, in addition to emphasizing moving people with emotion and convincing them with reasoning, careful planning and arrangement of the speech content is also very important.The speaker can't put on a straight face and just talk about the truth to show the depth and thought-provoking of his speech; nor can he be satisfied with expressing his own thoughts and emotions.If it is limited to empty preaching, listing of phenomena, and platitudes, the audience's attention will not be able to concentrate, and the speech will hardly have a good effect.The speech needs to be easy to understand, but it doesn't have to be straight to the point and straightforward. "The text seems to look at the mountains but not the peace." A good speech must pay attention to the density and density, and the degree of relaxation, so as to attract the audience's full attention and investment.Sometimes the twists and turns of the emphasis are more conducive to the fascinating speech.

Let's take a look at a speech by Mr. Lu Xun "What happened after Nora left".This is the speech Mr. Lu Xun gave to the students on December 1923, 12 when he was teaching at the Beijing Women's Higher Normal School.This speech talked about the serious topic of women's liberation and equality between men and women. It explained that Nora's leaving was not the fundamental way out for women's liberation. To achieve liberation and gender equality, women must first obtain equal economic rights and carry out hard work. The revolution of the economic system is such a profound theme.

But Lu Xun did not make the audience tense up to listen to the truth, but started from Ibsen's play "Nara", talking about some people who think that Nora either degenerates and enters a brothel, or has nowhere to go, and has no choice but to go home.Here Lu Xun gave full play to the characteristics of dense and dense speech, and extended it, saying: "The most painful thing in life is to wake up from a dream and have no way out." "If we can't find a way out, all we want is a dream; but we must not dream of the future Only the dream in front of me.” However, since Nora woke up, it was very difficult to return to the dream state, so she had to go; but after she left, sometimes she would inevitably fall or return.Otherwise, one has to ask: "What else did she take with her besides an awakened heart? If there is only a scarf made of purple-red velvet cord like the princes, it is completely inappropriate no matter how wide it is two or three feet." Moderate use. She needs to be richer, and she has something in her bag. To put it bluntly, she needs money." "Dreams are good, otherwise, money is important."Lu Xun's speech sounds casual, like chatting or joking, but it is actually deeply related to the theme of the speech, that is, Nora's escape, in addition to her inner awakening, she also needs to solve the problem of survival.Lu Xun used popular and humorous language, connected with the audience's actual attire, and spoke eloquently. On the surface, he was relaxed and casual. Using the words "Dreams are good, otherwise, money is important" leads to the theme of the speech, which is well-dense and fascinating.

The ancients advocated that writing articles should be "as if the wind is floating on the water, it will be written naturally" (the words of Liu Qi in the Song Dynasty). .If there is only violent wind and rain, or indiscriminate bombing, it will not be a beautiful scenery anyway.The same is true for a successful speech. It cannot be told in a straightforward manner, making people feel like drinking plain water; nor can it be done in one go, making people breathless.If you want to make your speech vivid and moving, you must pay attention to richness and variety in the content arrangement, pay attention to density and alternate, swaying and colorful; there are waves, ups and downs, sometimes relaxed, sometimes serious, in a relaxed language environment, subtly guide the audience , to infect the audience.

How to make the content of the speech vivid and appropriate?From many successful speeches, we can see that well-conceived, well-arranged, paying attention to the rhythm and center of the speech, carefully selecting and organizing materials, paying attention to the variety of language, making the speech ups and downs, interlocking, is the key to success. key to speech.

Dealing with accidents with humor

Sometimes a speech will encounter some unexpected situations, such as a small audience, someone deliberately disrupting, the audience asks tricky questions, the audience opposes the speaker's point of view, and so on.When encountering these situations, you must not be discouraged, angry, or treated rudely, as this will make your speech fail miserably.A good orator can deal with all kinds of unexpected situations calmly and tactfully in a humorous way.

Once Lin Yutang gave a lecture on Chinese culture at Columbia University in the United States and praised Chinese culture.A female student asked unconvinced: "Dr. Lin, you mean that everything is good in your China. Is there nothing in the United States that can compare with China?" This is a difficult question to answer. If the speaker praises the United States in turn, it is not conducive to the topic of the speech; if he seriously expresses that the United States is inferior to China, it will arouse the hostility of the students present.

Lin Yutang simply replied, "Yes, your American flush toilets are better than Chinese ones."

His words elicited a roar of laughter, the atmosphere was lively and harmonious, and the questioner had nothing to say about the answer.

If you encounter different opinions from the audience during the speech, you should not ignore them indifferently. If you do not deal with them properly, it will be difficult for the subsequent speeches to proceed smoothly.

Sometimes the speaker will encounter malicious attacks or curses. If the speaker gets angry or scolds with him, it will damage the image of the speaker and make the tricksters succeed.

British Prime Minister Wilson once gave a speech at a public meeting, and encountered some fierce protests. A protester cursed loudly: "garbage!" discuss."

He cleverly turned the abuse of the protesters into a problem that needs to be solved in real life, freed himself from the siege, and relaxed the atmosphere in the venue, thus getting rid of his passive situation.

When the US political figure Kaysen delivered a speech in the House of Representatives for the first time, he was dressed in a rustic attire.A congressman interjected during his speech: "This man from Illinois must have pockets full of wheat!" The crowd roared with laughter.

Kaisheng said calmly: "Really, not only are my pockets full of wheat, but I also have a lot of rapeseed hidden in my hair. Most of us living in the west are rustic." His self-deprecating frankness won the goodwill and respect of everyone, and then he said loudly: "But although what we hide are wheat and rapeseed, they can grow very good seedlings!"

The crowd applauded this neither humble nor overbearing speaker, and his speech was a success.

Humor makes the ending linger

Among the various speech conclusions, humor can be regarded as one of the most interesting ones.A speaker who can win laughter at the end is not only a manifestation of his mature speech skills, but also leaves pleasant memories for both himself and the audience, and it is also a symbol of the successful conclusion of the speech.

Mr. Lao She, a famous Chinese writer, is very humorous.In a speech in a certain city, he said at the beginning: "I will talk to you about six issues today." Then, he talked about the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth in an orderly manner.After talking about the fifth question, he found that there was not much time to disperse the meeting, so he raised his voice and said solemnly: "Sixth, the meeting is adjourned." The audience was stunned at first, and soon applauded happily.

What Lao She used here is the art of "making waves on the flat ground", breaking the normal speech content, thereby surprising the audience and receiving a humorous effect.

One year, the National Writing Association held its annual meeting in Luohu District, Shenzhen.At the opening ceremony, relevant leaders at all levels of the province and city ranked each other according to their seniority and gave congratulatory speeches one by one.When it was the Luohu District Party Secretary's turn to speak, the opening ceremony had been going on for a long time.So he said: "First of all, on behalf of the Luohu District Committee and the district government, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all experts and scholars." After the applause, there was a pause, and he said loudly: "Finally, I wish the conference a complete success. I'm done." He ended his speech with lightning speed.

The audience was stunned at first, and then burst into applause.Because, jumping from "first" to "last" at once, the second, third, and fourth speeches are omitted in the middle, like a stone from outside the sky, unexpectedly, it achieves a shocking humorous effect, it is indeed a unique style and ingenuity .

(End of this chapter)