The biggest blockade to funny is, you can only be as humorous as those around you allow you to be. If you're surounded by 12 board members of some stodgy real estate company, your chances for funny are slim. On the other hand, it takes almost no effort at all to find the funny amongst 12 kindergarten children.

But, the benefit to the board members if you can succeed in finding the funny is most likely more than to the children. Children are immersed in funny, and have no hard time finding it themselves. The board members would be knocked flat with just a smidgen of funny, as their drole lives don't know they joys of funny as well as the children.

I guess it's all a matter of knowing your audience, and to be able to percieve their receptivness to the funny. Googling humor gave me a few tidbits. You might want to try there.

~X

Your jokes tend to goto the whole Question:Answer format (oh it's engine by the way ;) )

Try and get away from that, trying to expand on Xooxer earlier I find that humour can only be found by bouncing off others. Its practically impossible to get someone to laugh *with you* from single liners. Try to build up to the answer or just try work from something people share in common. So you could try make something that is byond based?
e.g. : How many DBZers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Three, one to offer to almost do it, another to steal the bulb and a third to copy it and put it up ;)

Have you heard about the Star Fleet officer with three ears? First, he has a left ear.... second, he has a right ear.... and then he has a final, front ear.

You have to remember, being funny online is much different from being funny in person. The key to being funny to others in person is to try not to be nervouse. If you are nervouse then you will look stupid with whatever you are trying to do. Also appearance can help comedy, if you can emphasize something comical with your body movements then people will eat it right up. Also, stray away from telling jokes unless its appropriate at the time, like persay your out late night with a bunch of friends doing whatever and having a good time, thats usually when jokes start getting told. Also, the number one rule is, remember where to draw the line! It's good to know your audience too, like my friends and I like to do pranks and act immature, so we do stuff like taking dumps in the urinals at school, or spraying our pants with cologne and lighting them on fire for a few seconds. Wait, we are just immensely stupid, but that is what we find funny. You just have to remember, you can't appeal to everybody at one time.
(Although I recommend not trying any of the stuff I mentioned unless your well versed in how not to screw those things up.)

Xooxer wrote:

If you're surounded by 12 board members of some stodgy real estate company, your chances for funny are slim.

OUCH! Et tu, Xooxer?

Being funny sucks. No one takes you seriously. It's also really hard, because you'll say something then people decide because they're in a bad mood they'll get angry at you.
Same goes with women, one minute they're telling you how you're so funny and great, the next minute they dump you because you aren't serious enough.
Also funny is only for you if it's fun. If you're trying to be popular or need a gimmick, I suggest avoiding it. It could lead to serious selfesteme problems if you succeed (you're whole social life becomes based on something that isn't you, so you can't be yourself anymore without risking breaking everything).


Anyway, to be the sort of funny I am ("wacky, but sweet") you have to not think about it, enjoy yourself and be a nice person. Go out and rent a bunch of comedy DVDs then sit back and watch them. When I say watch I mean watch, not study.
Funny soaks in as long as you don't look to far into it.

I recommend the following:

• Adam Sandler movies. They are really stupid, and usually just about a social freak with super powers, but they are funny.
• Old Jim Carey. I'm talking Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, The Mask, etc.
• BUY DIRTY WORK. I went out and got a new multi-region DVD player just so I could watch it (they didn't realese it in my region). Norm McDonald is a horrible actor, but the way he can make the word whore sound so funny, it's magic.
• Stuff by former Saturday Night Live cast members. They are usually good for a giggle.
• Mike Myers has a lot of good stuff out there. Not just Waynes World and Austin Powers. 'So I married an axe murderer' is a good example of one of his lesser known comedies.
• Kevin Smith made a lot of good movies, watch them all.
• Super Troopers, great lesser known movie.
• A lot of old movies such as Caddyshack, SpaceBalls and Ghostbusters. They're classics for a reason.
• Crappy old movies like the original Godzilla movies.
• Mel Brookes, he's is great. Everything that man touches is funny.
• MTV movies. The channel may be pure garbage, but they've made some good movies. Orange County and Joe's Appartment are two of my person favourites.
• Jackie Chan is really really funny. Even back with movies like Rumble in the Bronx he was funny, he just didn't have enough control over the movie to be funny.
• Ben Stiller has made some really funny movies. Don't be scared off by the ads for Zoolander, it's as rediculous as it looks but it actually works.
• Beavis and Butthead Do America. I said somewhere that unpopular movies are sometime great, but well known movies are
• Rob Schieder. He's very funny.
• Action movies, particuly 80s to early 90s action movies. They're full of great lines, and inspire a lot of great lines. My personal favorite is "You made the wrong bet", but you guys wouldn't get that.
  
  
  Don't just go for the DVDs either, a lot of good stuff is only out on VHS. Look around the comedy section and go nuts. There is a lot of really funny but extremely unpopular movies out.
  
  Try watching a lot of Simpsons as well, everyone loves Homer. Lot's of cartoons are funny. Family Guy and Futurama are two great cartoon series.
  
  Know what you're talking about and know who you're talking to. I sort of look like Spike (From Buffy/Angel) when I do my hair right and the light is right. So sometime I'll talk in his accent and say general Spike lines.
  Now if I did that around most people I'd just get a little pity chuckle, but if I do it around some who watches Buffy/Angel I'm likily to get a genuine laugh.
  An excellent example is Maz's DBZ lightbulb joke I just read. If you said that to a non-BYONDer they wouldn't think it's funny, likewise if a non-BYONDer said it without understanding it they'd probably mess it up some how.
  
  I seen that you constructed a joke in another reply to this thread, that seems to be a no-no for you. From what I can tell you're trying to do standup when you want to do casual social "I'm the funny guy" humor.
  Right now you're making solid jokes, the sort that you have a start and an end on where you say "Oh, I know a joke..." before you start. You want liquid jokes, the sort that can flow in and out of a casual conversation without effecting the conversation.
  It's almost impossible to plan out liquid jokes and have them work, which is why you'll want to absorb as much funny from movies, TV, live shows, strip joints, etc as possible.
  
  
  
  You've also got to be willing to fall flat on your face a lot. It comes with the turf.

Adam Sandler, Jim Carey, Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, The Mask, DIRTY WORK, Norm McDonald, Mike Myers, Waynes World, Austin Powers, Caddyshack, MTV, Orange County, Joe's Appartment, Jackie Chan, Rumble in the Bronx, Zoolander, Beavis and Butthead Do America, Rob Schieder, Buffy/Angel

You, sir, are a cultural wasteland.

Took the words outta meh mouth. Jokes have to be smooth, just come naturally. Like he said, liquid or whatever.

Also, what I hate with a lot of people is how that, once they see the joke they made is fun, they try and milk it for all it's worth, making bad jokes about the same thing and stuff. That is SO annoying, cause they make themselves look stupid and stuff.

Like the guy said, watch lots of funny movies, be around funny people. I was never really funny, but I came around to be funnier when I hang around a lot of my funnier friends.

Steven3428 wrote:

He forgot to mention American Pie :o that's one of the funniest movies I've saw

- Steven

I didn't put a lot of good stuff.

Kusanagi wrote:

Actually what you said is what I see as to why most people are not funny. Simply because they try to learn how to act from T.V. and movies....

Then you misunderstood me. You don't learn how to be funny from TV and movies, you soak them in. That's why I took the time to say "When I say watch I mean watch, not study".
Anyway, that post wasn't meant to be a fool proof plan to "get funny". Personally I think you have to be funny from pre-school, otherwise you wont be natural about it.