Lynn GrasbergCan Comedy Be Taught?

Can Comedy Be Taught?

By Lynn Grasberg

I'm a pragmatic optimist. That means, I hope for the best and try things to see if they work. When they don't, I keep my sense of humor handy so I can see the silliness of the moment, share it with others, LAUGH, clear my head, and continue to try new things to see what DOES work.

One thing I know is that in public speaking, humor works. In fact, it's essential. You do not have to be a stand-up comedian to hold your audience but you do have to be able to find and share the absurdities of life with them. And keep your perspective when little things go "wrong" (when the lighting, sound system, or your brain temporarily blows a circuit, for example).

Humor comes from the heart. It's about our connection to ourselves and each other. And we all have a sense of it, even if we have to dust it off occasionally. Now, comedy is another thing. It involves visual and verbal jokes with a set-up and a pay-off (laughter or an Ah-Ha! moment). It requires you to have your wits about you, so it engages your head as well your heart.

Myth: You can't learn (or teach) comedy.

Reality: You just gotta know how to break it down. And be willing to practice.

Comedy requires two things, according to my brilliant director and fellow speech coach, Jonathan Bender: One is timing. The other is tuning in. We've been working both these angles as Jonathan helps prepare me to unleash my one-woman show, Life as a Person of Many Colors: One Clown's Story, for the second time around. FYI: Jonathan is a godsend. Although, I coach and direct other speakers and performers, I'm not at all objective about my own show. It's essential to have someone else with an experienced eye watching, coaching and helping to keep me on track.

Timing is a technical skill. You can practice how you punctuate and pause. Where you speed up, where you slow down. Where you . . . stop. And start again.

Tuning in is not as technical but this ability is essential to any relationship, including your relationship with your audience. It means noticing people and intentionally modifying the dynamics of your communication. You do this all the time in one-on-one conversation. And the same principle applies to working with groups. Tuning in is about paying attention to people, whether it's one person at a time or a thousand.

Tuning in encompasses the first two Principles of Inclusive Humor. Number One is "Include yourself." Number Two is "Include everyone else." (You can read about all 10 Principles in my book, Bounce Back! The New Play Ethic at Work.)

If someone's eyes are glazing over when you're talking to them, you know they're not with you. They're preoccupied, overwhelmed, bored, or just out-to-lunch. The good news is that you can do things to get back in sync. Here are three things you can do with your audience, if their attention is lagging.

1. Ask a question.

An example you might use in a business meeting: "Exactly how many BILLION TRILLION widgets do we have to sell to break even this quarter?"

An example for a motivational speech might be, "How many of you have ever locked your keys in the car with the engine running?"

2. Give a direction.

For example, "If you're awake, raise your hand." (I actually used this once in a sleepy meeting. The people who raised their hands laughed. The person who was actually sleeping woke up with all the commotion.)

3. Vary your delivery.

This is the big one. If you've been standing still, you may need to move to another part of the stage, or even into the audience. If you've been talking in a fast, excited way for a long time, you may need to slow down or vice versa. This is where feedback from a speech coach or director is really useful.

Hope for the Hopeless

You can learn ANYTHING in the realm of expressing yourself, whether speaking, singing, or being funny onstage. I've been appalled at how often I've heard the fiction that you can't learn these things. And amazed at how often people have learned them in my presence. "You either got it or you ain't," just ain't true.