Writing a humour speech

How many of us freeze in horror at the thought of writing a humorous speech?

Imagine this scenario. You drop your humorous line expecting the crowd to erupt with laugher, but you are met with silence; an awkward, uncomfortable quietness.

A stone silent audience when you drop a funny line is many people’s worst nightmare, leaving them feeling embarrassed, looking foolish and completely ruining the credibility of the speech.

This is why many people fear the ‘humour speech’.

If this is you, then you have a very wrong understanding of humour in speeches. You aren’t expected to be a stand-up comedian. We are not talking about writing comedy. We are simply talking about adding a few elements into your speech to warm and amuse the crowd and make your speech a little more engaging and enjoyable for all.

How can humour improve a speech or presentation?

• It helps you connect with your audience
• It makes you seem more human and trustworthy
• It makes your message more memorable
• It provides comic relief from heavy topics

In this article I am going to delve deeper into the reasons why you might want to add humour to your speech, the different types of humour that can work for you, how to do it effectively, and things to avoid in your speech.

Why add humour to your speech?

It creates audience connection and rapport: Laughter can be a social glue that quickly warms up the room, helps the audience relax, and makes you seem more relatable and authentic. You know your audience is ‘with you’ if they are laughing along.

It boosts engagement and grabs attention: Humour can instantly capture audience attention and keep them hooked, preventing them from drifting or tuning out during content-rich or otherwise dry sections of a speech.

It enhances learning and memory: People tend to remember things that are interesting and quirky. By connecting humour to key points in your speech, you increase the chances of the audience retaining your core message long after the presentation is over.

It eases tension and provides relief: Carefully placed humour offers a mental “refresh” button, providing breathing space during complex or serious discussions, and helping the audience digest information more effectively. An example would be a humorous image on a slide during a dry work presentation.

It relaxes the speaker and gives them a confidence boost when speaking: If people are laughing at what you’re saying during your speech you know you’ve smashed it, you must be doing something right, yes? And a speaker can draw upon this energy to be even more vocal, animated, engaging and overall, it can help them deliver a brilliant speech.

Types of humour that you can add into your speech

Personal stories, self-deprecation or observational humour are the easiest forms of humour to add into a speech. Let’s look at all of these in turn.

Personal stories or self-deprecation are easy for adding humour into a speech, this refers to funny anecdotes from your own life or light-hearted self-mockery of your personal flaws. This is an incredibly effective method of building rapport because the audience can often relate to you, it makes you seem warmer and more approachable and in turn builds trust without making anyone else the target of the joke.

Here’s an example: I just can’t take a selfie on my phone. You see friends and family, people on the internet take the most amazing super happy selfies, but I try, and my entire face tenses up, I can’t smile, I look in pain, like I’m sitting on the bog with the worst constipation. What trick am I missing or is this just my everyday expression?

Observational humour is another technique you can use. It works because if you focus on everyday situations, your audience will often be able to relate, and this will draw them in.

For example: don’t you just hate lane experts. You are going along the motorway, and you suddenly hit heavy traffic, maybe it’s stop start for 30 minutes, frustrating for everyone, but even more frustrating if you have a lane expert in the passenger seat. My wife is one. “Why are you in this lane, that lane over there is moving faster, you need to change”. And every lane you switch to is the wrong one!!!! Other lanes always seem to move faster. She’ll then say, “you got it wrong again and “we’d have been home by now if you’d listened to me.”

So here I have connected observational humour with my own personal challenges, and this works because it is so easy to relate.

There is rich material to be found in all situations, especially when we have little control over events, such as when talking about self-assembly furniture, luggage carousels and waiting rooms.

Can anyone else think of some great examples? Another obvious one that comes to my mind is Microsoft Teams and Zoom meetings, they are a pain in the rear! People muting themselves when they talk or not muting themselves when they are in a busy environment. Poor quality cameras or microphones, the list goes on!!! But see how relatable these things can be, and it is easy to talk about because it is everyday life.

How to effectively add humour to your speeches

Know and respect your audience: This is critical. Tailor your humour to the demographics, interests, and background of your audience. And just like the rules of Speakers Club, avoid topics like politics, religion, or anything that could be offensive or inappropriate. Also avoid the mockery of any group of people

Timing is everything! Carefully practice timing of each line including the pause that follows the humorous line. Great timing is essential to good comedy and a skill that improves with practice.

The use of pause is critical. You must build in pauses to allow the audience to laugh and recompose themselves before you hit them with the next line. If you make them laugh, then rush ahead with the next line, they may not be ready, and the expected impact may be lost. You see comedians doing this all the time, standing on stage waiting for the audience to quieten down before continuing. Practice the pause – I like to count in my head if I want to use the pause, 1,2,3… otherwise you can’t help but rush ahead with the next line.

Use rhetorical questions to get the audience on your side. For example: “Have you ever been in a situation where…?” or “We have all found ourselves…haven’t we?

Incorporate gestures and body language. A slight grin, a look of bewilderment or surprise, a deadpan look can all amuse without having to say anything. A few great comedians that do this brilliantly include Jack Dee for dead pan, and Rowan Atkinson for confused. And over the top body language can also have the audience laughing along.

Use your voice to highlight the humorous point, amending the volume and pitch where appropriate.

Create word pictures for your audience (and allow them to develop), as these can be even more amusing to the listener than the speaker intended.

Integrate humour naturally and relevantly: The humour should be a cherry on top of your content, not a stand-up routine. Ensure jokes or witty remarks are relevant to your topic and support your point, rather than being a forced, standalone “joke” from a book. You see this a lot in best man speeches. Wooden jokes taken from the internet. They may get a laugh from family and a slightly tipsy audience, but it won’t work in most scenarios, and it is quite cringe-worthy.

Use visual aids: Incorporate relevant, funny images, memes, or cartoons into your boring work presentation slides. This takes the pressure off your delivery, as the visual does the “punchline” work, requiring only a pause from you for the audience to process it. Just be careful not to compromise your professionalism!

Be prepared for silence: Not every attempt at humour will land perfectly. If a joke falls flat, don’t dwell on it or point it out. Simply smile (if appropriate) and confidently move on with your presentation.

Stay authentic: Leverage your existing personality. If you are naturally witty, use wit. If you aren’t, focus on well-placed, light-hearted observations or visuals. Authenticity is more credible than a forced attempt to be a comedian.

What not to do when writing humorous speeches

Don’t use the ‘isms’. 1970’s comedians may have sustained a career out of ageism/sexism/racism, but these are not appropriate today. What amuses the speaker could cause acute embarrassment and discomfort to the audience.

Don’t swear or use ‘blue’ humour.

Don’t wait if a laugh isn’t forthcoming. That pause which you carefully planned may not be needed so you need to be ready to quickly move on.

Don’t lift jokes from books or the internet. It will be obvious and seem very forced and unnatural. It should be a natural part of your presentation.

Summary

Finally, remember that humour is subjective so test it out with people before inserting it into a prepared speech, and when you do get a laugh, remember to stop speaking and let people enjoy the moment with you.

No one expects you to be a stand up comedian, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself.

Speakers Club provides the perfect environment for testing your humorous speeches to a receptive audience who will be happy to provide constructive feedback.