Little Lesson #14:

How To Tell A Joke

By Nancy K. Crevier

Life is a series of tasks. Some are easier to perform than others. Some are downright tricky. Some tasks we have mastered, while others remain, for one reason or another, a mystery. The Newtown Bee is presenting a series of short articles, “Little Lessons,” meant to light the way to a new or easier way to tackle those day-to-day duties, or even those less commonly encountered tasks, each one accompanied by a video at www.newtownbee.com. Welcome to the classroom.

Every joke is different, and every audience is different, and while professional comedian Andrew Kennedy considers himself a storyteller more than a joke teller, he still feels confident that his tips can help the layperson conquer a laughable situation.

“The number one thing about telling a good joke,” he said, “is in not letting people know you’re telling a joke. Then they react to the punchline,” he said. The way to do that is to just slip the joke into casual conversation.

“There are two ways to tell a joke: sell it or share it. Avoid selling a joke,” he said, “which gives listeners a chance to buy it — or not. But if you share it, it’s up to the listener to respond however they want. The payback just happens.”

By not focusing on the joke, it becomes conversational and much more successful.

“You can’t look nervous. For people to laugh, everyone has to be comfortable,” Mr Kennedy said.

Part of that comfort factor comes from knowing the audience, which Mr Kennedy said is absolutely critical to success.

“It makes all the difference in the world [who your audience is]. Telling your boss a joke is different than telling your best friend, or a crowd of kids. Make sure, too, that you are making a joke about what their knowledge base is,” he suggested. Gearing a joke toward the knowledge base is why Knock Knock jokes are hilarious to children, but political jokes will fall flat to that demographic.

That is also why humor directed to a mixed age audience is particularly hard.

“Reaching kids and adults in the same audience has to be the hardest thing to do,” he said.

Whether telling a joke to one person or a crowd, be sure to make eye contact. “You’re engaging whoever you are sharing the joke with, and it is another thing that keeps you from looking nervous,” Mr Kennedy said.

Timing is another component of delivering a joke. How the joke teller paces the joke gives the audience time to think about it — but not too long.

“Timing is one of those things that you have to know innately. You have to pause a little, and it should happen spontaneously. If you tell a joke too fast, for instance, it loses its end punch,” he said.

Even professionals lose their train of thought or forget the punch line now and then, admitted Mr Kennedy, and the only way out of that is to ’fess up. “Acknowledge you have lost it, and you disarm it, and that in itself can be funny,” he said. Pretending that the goof-up never happened is disastrous. “If you realize that you are messing it up, believe me, the audience is aware of it, too. Just be honest,” he urged. “There’s no shame in that.”

Be comfortable, be casual, be smart, be aware — and be funny. And that is the ultimate reward, said Mr Kennedy. “Making somebody else laugh, makes you feel good. And that’s a fact!”

Visit www.NewtownBee.com to see the video of Andrew Kennedy discussing the nuances of great joke-telling. If more laughs are needed, go to www.AndrewKennedyLive.com to see the Sandy Hook resident in action.

Andrew Kennedy will perform at the Savin Rock Roasting Company in Stratford N June 11, and will be in New Haven at Joker’s Wild in July. More information can be found at his website.