Everyone wants to be known as someone who has a sense of humor. Truth is we all have a sense of humor, only at varying degrees. And what makes one laugh does not necessarily guarantee another that it would generate the same fits of laughter on another person. The skill to make people laugh is a gift, but as I said, it is a skill, an ability that can be learned and practiced.
If you are interested to hone your comedic skills for your personal improvement and not necessarily to start a professional career out of it, following are steps that will help you towards that path:
Try observing people who are close to you. Whether they are the ones providing the joke or the ones receiving the jokes, examine the dynamics happening between them. For those making people laugh, what antics did they do that elicited the most laughter? Did they have to resort to using exaggerated facial expressions to make them laugh or were his jokes enough to bring out the laughter? Did he have to change his voice and his accent? What striking details of his actions drew out the most giggles? Were his comments witty enough? Keep on observing people especially those who are skilled at making other laugh. Copy them at first until you are able to develop your own style.
Now that you have observed how people make other people laugh, it is time for you to connect with your family or friends and try the techniques you have learned on them. Did they laugh at your jokes? Did they ask for more? What is important is that you keep that bond alive because exposing yourself to a bunch of happy people makes laughing easier because of the spontaneous reactions you get when interacting with them.
Another source of material for learning how to make people laugh is through joke books. When I say joke books, I am not referring to the book that contains possible material for your jokes but rather the techniques that these types of books offer. These are very helpful because these books share popular practices followed by more established comedians when they were still studying. In fact, some have even worked first-hand with comedians and what they share are methods that they have observed comedians follow.
After learning about the fundamentals of delivering a good joke, you should now try putting what you have learned into play. Remember a couple of jokes that you have read or heard somewhere? Then gather a couple of your friends and tell them about the joke. Apply whatever techniques you have learned and see their reactions. Ask them for feedback so you know what you should improve on and keep on practicing.
A final trick that you should learn is how to improvise. You cannot always depend on other people’s materials because no matter how funny their joke is, if you cannot deliver it with the same passion as they do, then it will all come out unnatural. So, use your personal experiences or observations and start from there. Remember that it all boils down to delivery.
Did you find these tips helpful? Read more books or attend improvisation classes is you want to learn to be funny on a more professional level. I am James Patrick and I teach classes on the subject. Check me out at: http://www.howtobefunny.net for more advices. Cheers!