Prepare for mirth! Shakespeare’s Pericles
Shakespeare knew witty wordplay often beat violent swordplay. Look at this exchange of dialogue from Two Gentlemen of Verona
Thurio
Sir, if you spend word for word with me, I shall
make your wit bankrupt.
Valentine
I know it well, sir; you have an exchequer of words,
and, I think, no other treasure to give your
followers, for it appears by their bare liveries,
that they live by your bare words.
I had a job once in Santa Monica that involved trying to make folks laugh. Not as a stand up comic; I was in the street, a folk journalist interviewing tourists along the downtown Promenade, a three-block stretch filled with performers of all kinds.
If I could make a person laugh in 30 seconds, the rules allowed me to keep their dollar.And even if the joke failed – as it usually did, being a riddle more than a joke— the follow-up often proved oddball enough to elicit a reaction.
“All right,” I said, gathering an audience. “This game is called Laughrodesiacs. Which means, this joke should lead to lovemaking!”
But wow it was hard, trying to make a person laugh in a competitive situation.
Who can handle that kind of pressure? Not me, but in a more relaxed party conversation say, among friends and acquaintances, everyone appreciates a good joke well delivered.
Instead of just giving you one-liners (Milton Berle published a thousand-page book of the classics.), here’s a tip to creating your own: Look at the title of this blog. See how it came with subtitles? Now, on your email, take a look at the heading template that says: “Subject.” Subject headings are just like subtitles. They can act as new age icebreakers, spices tossed in/added for effect. How you add them can affect the conversation in a humorous fashion and in the next breath (giggle intake and exhale) take it in a humorous direction.
So are you ready to put a jump in your conversation and get reactions out of people?
Activity To Try
When in doubt disrupt. Technology breaks into so much of our interaction. Why not fight back? Flip that script, doing it as the football announcers say, “in space,” by dropping into running conversations the opposite of the expected.
Ladies and Gentlemen…I guess that takes in most of you. Groucho Marx
Expressions like Groucho’s are available galore! For example, feel free the next time someone tells you something outrageous, instead of exclaiming, “Goodness gracious!” try: “Gracious goodness!”
See how they respond.
The next time you see one of those species geni purple-matted workout womenly wonders walk past, wish them, “Yoga Morning!”
Sure, it may seem as if you’re “throwing caution to the wind,” by flying solo without fear but really it can be, “easy as cake!” A “piece of pie.” See how easy it is to twist up a couple idioms and go for it instead of forgoing it.
For similar idioms consult, “Like A Breeze” from Chimayo Press
http://www.chimayopress.com/other-esl-efl-titles-all/#.VnsNZ0uvvHg
Back Pocket Banter
Playwright Tom Stoppard says humor is close to love because “both promote healing.” Do you have a favorite joke?
What’s the best show you’ve ever seen? Best concert?
What actor would you like to play you in a movie? Tell me what happens in this flick – plot, music, locale?
Do you have a skill you can do that maybe nobody else can do it the way you do?
Can you show it to me?
Right now?!
All right then. Looks like you and I are on our way to Happy Camp! (Yreka!)