Preparing a Great Funny Speech

When you're setting out to prepare a great funny speech, it's important to pay close attention to two things: content and structure.

Content When it comes to content, there are some slightly different rules for humorous speeches than for others. First off, remember that though you may be aiming for a funny speech, you're not a stand-up comedian. The primary reason your audience is listening to you isn't simply to laugh, but also to learn. This means that you need to feed humor to your audience in small doses, mixed in with a generous helping on facts, knowledge, tips and key points for them to take home with them. And the great part of this is that even when only sewing humor through your speech a little here and a little there, you can still manage to inspire a laugh every fifteen or twenty seconds while still offering your audience all that they came here expecting to get!

Of course, humor is an even greater benefit to your audience if you're dealing with highly technical (or incredibly mundane) topics. If you've got a lot of men and women in the audience in three piece suits and packing laptops and cell phones and probably a handful of ulcers, giving them a chance to laugh is a great way to help them naturally relieve stress and recruit them to your way of thinking.

When you're crafting your speech, it is important, however, to keep it simple enough and easy enough for everyone in your audience to "get" your humor. Not everyone "gets" sarcasm or dry humor, so plan your content accordingly.

Also (and this should go without saying) keep all of your jokes and humorous lines and quotes clean and inoffensive. This isn't a great time for vulgar jokes, profanity, or other types of uncomfortable humor. If you're having trouble finding humorous quotes or one-liners, the World Wide Web is full of free resources that can help you locate the perfect joke or quote for your particular speech.

Structure

Structure also plays an important role when it comes to creating great funny speeches. If you're aiming for humor throughout your speech, make sure that you get a laugh out of your audience within the first half to one minute.

Also, when drafting your speech, remind yourself when and where you should pause in order to give your audience an appropriate amount of time to laugh before moving on the additional points or quips. Also try to incorporate reminders for yourself to keep you moving around and having fun throughout the delivery of your speech.

It's also important to keep in mind the three primary elements necessary in order for you and your audience to understand and structure humor. The three main elements are surprise, tension and relationships. Just about anything in the world can be funny if you can give it all three of these elements.

To enhance surprise, make sure that you keep it a surprise! Save punch-lines until the end of the joke, with the actual punch phrase at the very end. The next part is to release tension. This is exemplified by the pause (which is a tension builder) followed by the punch-line (which prompts laughter which relieves tension.) The third aspect, relationships are equally important. Humor is based on things that are both related and not related. You can increase the humor of a situation by playing these relationships up. Polarities and similes are a great way to do this.

Creating Humor Via Lists

As we just mentioned, polarities and similes are a great way to increase humor and the impact that it has. Here's a simple exercise that will help you to milk as much humor as you can from a particular situation.

Let's start out with a humorous situation or comparison. Our premise is, "Our post office is like a war zone."

Now, you'd make two lists. One list is headed with a heading like "Post Office Things," while the other list is headed "Military things."

Go through and make your lists as long as you possibly can, all the time looking for connections that can be made between them. Now, set these aside for a little while and come back again later with a fresh perspective.

Glean your best possibilities and milk them to maximize the impact your humor has on the crowd!

Humor can be learned and perfected, you just have to dedicate yourself to mastering the secrets and techniques that actually makes humor funny. If you'd like some more help on mastering great funny speeches, check out www.humorpower.com for more great tips and examples! Speaking and Speeches Resources Filed under Giving a Speech by Greg

How to Write a Speech for a Family Reunion

By Jasmine Haryana, eHow Contributor

Share Print this article

Family reunions draw together extended relatives who share common roots but may not have frequent opportunities to share time together. As the reunion gathers family members of different generations and various locations together, a speech can create common ground and set a tone

for the reunion. Fear of public speaking and the formidable task of resonating with a large group of relatives can create anxiety as a relative forges a family reunion speech. Thankfully, with time-tested tactics and ample preparation, speakers can create a speech that unifies and breaks the ice.

Other People Are Reading

African American Family Reunion Welcome Speech Ideas Example of a Welcome Speech

Things You'll Need

Paper Pen Index cards

Instructions
1.
o

1 Ask older family members for information. Interview parents and grandparents to receive details about reunion attendees, classic family stories and important family history.

2 Make a list of the attendees and one or two details about their lives. Circle the oldest and youngest family members, anyone who has recently achieved something notable and any new additions to the family by birth and marriage.

o o

3 Research your family genealogy online. Take notes on your surname's region of origin, meaning and notable descendants.

4 Write out short summaries of two to three legendary family stories that are poignant or humorous.

5 Create a list of things your family means to you personally. Review your other notes and jot your thoughts down.

6 Transfer your cache of information onto index cards, writing one fact, story or person's bio on each card.

7 Arrange your cards. Lay the index cards on the floor and clip related cards together with paper clips. Order your index cards, placing short, humorous stacks toward the top of the stack and poignant stacks toward the end.

8 Write your reunion speech from your index cards, keeping the cards for reference.

Tips & Warnings

Memorize your speech but keep your index cards for reference during delivery. Try to include every attendee in some mention during your speech. Mention any dear and departed relatives during the speech. Avoid overly sarcastic humor or items shared in confidence that might embarrass the subject.

Related Searches

Family Reunion Ideas Speech Speech Improve Speech Speech Writing Create Speech

References

Literacy Education Online Guide to Overcoming Writer's Block

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African American Family Reunion Welcome Speech Ideas The welcome speech sets the tone for a family reunion. Among African-American families, it is very important that the speech includes honor,...

How to Write Family Reunion Farewell Speeches

By Matt McKinney, eHow Contributor

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A good speech is the perfect cap to a successful family reunion. Keep your audience in the front of your mind when writing a family reunion farewell speech. Direct your speech to the whole room: funny, but not in an "inside" way, and never dirty or inappropriate. Most importantly, since events such as this are periodic and meant to mark time, the speech should be warm and memorable, a pleasant way to send everybody home.

Other People Are Reading

How to Write a Speech for a Family Reunion How to Do a Farewell Speech

Things You'll Need

Note cards or paper Writing instrument

Instructions
1.
o

List each person who will be at the reunion, followed by a line or two about that person. This will help jog your memory about who people are and what brought them to the reunion. Depending on how big the family is, this may be a more difficult task than it first appears. If you have a large gathering, group each family together and jot something down about them as a unit.
o

Identify people on the list who exemplify the "most," and make special mention of them. For example, it is always good to honor the oldest people at the gathering. They are the matriarchs and patriarchs and deserve the thanks and recognition of everyone present. Similarly, think of the people who traveled the farthest distances to be there and thank them. Always thank those who worked hard at organizing, cooking or cleaning up. Finally, if one family is hosting the event at their home, give them a warm thanks and ask for a round of applause.
o

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Create some fun with your speech. Since the goal is to make everyone feel appreciated, select the younger family members and give them a light ribbing. A great way to do this is by handing out gag gifts or phony awards to get things on a light-hearted note. Keep in mind that the point is not to make the reunion competitive in any way or to hurt anybody's feelings.
o

4 Share a sincere thought or feeling you would like to express to the group, to make sure your speech is warm and memorable. Think, perhaps, of a memory from an earlier reunion or another family get-together. It's OK if this is not your thing -there are lots of books of quotations by great thinkers and writers to help you present poignant and memorable statements about family. Another nice thing to do is to pay brief but loving tribute to family members who have passed away, just to say that they are still in the family's thoughts. This is a great way to remember the family's past while looking forward to the future. Finally, thank everyone for coming and say a final farewell. Don't forget to remind everyone to travel safe!

How to Write a Speech for a Family Reunion

By Jasmine Haryana, eHow Contributor

Share Print this article

Family reunions draw together extended relatives who share common roots but may not have frequent opportunities to share time together. As the reunion gathers family members of different generations and various locations together, a speech can create common ground and set a tone for the reunion. Fear of public speaking and the formidable task of resonating with a large group of relatives can create anxiety as a relative forges a family reunion speech. Thankfully, with time-tested tactics and ample preparation, speakers can create a speech that unifies and breaks the ice.

Other People Are Reading

Instructions
1.
o

1 Ask older family members for information. Interview parents and grandparents to receive details about reunion attendees, classic family stories and important family history.

2 Make a list of the attendees and one or two details about their lives. Circle the oldest and youngest family members, anyone who has recently achieved something notable and any new additions to the family by birth and marriage.

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3 Research your family genealogy online. Take notes on your surname's region of origin, meaning and notable descendants.

4 Write out short summaries of two to three legendary family stories that are poignant or humorous.

Create a list of things your family means to you personally. Review your other notes and jot your thoughts down.
o

6 Transfer your cache of information onto index cards, writing one fact, story or person's bio on each card.

7 Arrange your cards. Lay the index cards on the floor and clip related cards together with paper clips. Order your index cards, placing short, humorous stacks toward the top of the stack and poignant stacks toward the end.

8 Write your reunion speech from your index cards, keeping the cards for reference.

Family Reunion Speech Tips

By: Helen Polaski A family reunion speech should never skimp on the emotion. Family reunions are the perfect place to let your hair down and say it like it is. Your family will expect you to be yourself and not deliver some stuffy, businesslike speech, so give it your all. Family reunion speeches should have some family humor tossed into the mix along with a few gentle digs, all handed out in the name of family fun.

Plan Ahead Family reunions can get out of hand if you don't designate responsibilities or have some way to keep things in order. These responsibilities can be included in the speech, which should come at the beginning of the event. During this time, you can also pass the reins on to the family member who will be in charge of the next family reunion. If one family is in charge of the reunion, the head of that family is the one who should give the speech. If that person is a little shy, then allow another member of the family to take the reins and get the festivities going. What to Include in a Family Reunion Speech Family reunion speeches should not be lengthy, but they should include information about who's there and what's happened since the last reunion. It's best to go slowly and mention everything. Don't race through the speech, or you're likely to forget some things. Remember, what you might consider inconsequential another member of the family might consider very important. Start by welcoming everyone to the event, then proceed with acknowledgements and end by announcing that anyone not on the clean up list who would like to stay and help is welcome to do so. The welcome should be brief.

Welcome everyone to the event. Jokingly add something like, "even old what's-hisface in the back," and then point toward the family joker who invariably sits in the back row but who is always interjecting something. Honor the family matriarchs, along with whomever held the first family reunion. Mention how many years the reunion has been held. These acknowledgements should be done without humor, as you are sincerely honoring the family and the organizers.

Acknowledgements should include the following:

Deceased members of the family. Light a candle in their honor. Those in the family who might be sick and would appreciate prayers. If your religion warrants it, recite the Our Father or Hail Mary, or even one decade of the Rosary. The family who was in charge of last year's event. Those who had to travel great distances or small distances. Feel free to add some touches of humor here. Those who pitched in this year to help make the event a success. New members of the family, including babies, spouses and step children. The family matriarch(s) and patriarch(s).

Once the ceremonial aspects are finished, you can get on to the fun stuff and start explaining what will happen. Include the following information, as it applies:

Where to put the potluck dishes.

When the meal will begin and whether the meal will be open or assigned seating. Let people know if you will be calling up tables to get food. When the family reunion photo will be taken and by whom. If the family is big, it's best to schedule individual family reunion photos, as not everyone will fit into the photo. Where party games can be found and when each game begins. For example, the scavenger hunt will take place from 1 to 4; prizes will be given for the top 2 teams. Cards and puzzles are available on the far tables at the east of the open pavilion. What time the event ends.

Other Notes and Rules

Mention any and all rules that apply to the building or grounds; for example, dogs are not allowed on the beach, even with a leash. Food and drink can be taken to the beach area, but no glass containers. Food and debris must be cleaned up. Mention any upcoming family events, such as a bridal or baby shower, birthday or wedding.

Remember that each family is different. The things one family might consider important may not be important to another family. When you create a family reunion speech, try to make it one that fits your extended family's personality.

Family Reunion Quotes and Sayings

1. I dont care how poor a man is; if he has family, hes rich. ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, Identity Crisis, M*A*S*H 2. Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! ~Albert Einstein 3. It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons. ~Johann Schiller

4. The family is a haven in a heartless world. ~Attributed to Christopher Lasch 5. Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, weve put it in an impossible situation. ~Margaret Mead 6. Families are like fudge mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

7. The thing about family disasters is that you never have to wait long before the next one puts the previous one into perspective. ~Robert Brault 8. If you dont believe in ghosts, youve never been to a family reunion. ~Ashleigh Brilliant 9. We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott 10. Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space. ~Evan Esar 11. A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold. ~Ogden Nash 12. The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one anothers desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck 13. When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers 14. In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry. ~Margaret Laurence 15. Family quarrels have a total bitterness unmatched by others. Yet it sometimes happens that they also have a kind of tang, a pleasantness beneath the unpleasantness, based on the tacit understanding that this is not for keeps; that any limb you climb out on will still be there later for you to climb back. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotics Notebook, 1960 16. You dont choose your family. They are Gods gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu 17. An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship. ~Spanish Proverb 18. Bloods thicker than water, and when ones in trouble 19. Best to seek out a relatives open arms. 20. To forgive a family member is sometimes questionable, but to LOVE that family member is always the answer. 21. The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of Heaven; and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind. ~Thomas Jefferson, 1813

22. To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. ~Barbara Bush 23. When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them. ~George Bernard Shawn 24. In a houseful of toddlers and pets, you can start out having a bad day, but you keep getting detoured. ~Robert Brault 25. We came, we saw, and were still conquering! 26. There is no cure for laziness but a large family helps. ~Herbert Prochnov 27. Family quarrels are bitter things. They dont go by any rules. Theyre not like aches or wounds; theyre more like splits in the skin that wont heal because theres not enough material. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald 28. Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted. ~Paul Pearshall 29. The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of lifes essential unfairness. ~Nancy Mitford 30. The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family. ~Thomas Jefferson 31. Sometimes our hearts get tangled 32. And our souls a little off-kilter 33. Friends and family can set us right 34. And help guide us back to the light. 35. Just do it! 36. And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen. ~Terri Guillemets 37. The family that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to. ~Dodie Smith 38. Family life is a bit like a runny peach pie not perfect but whos complaining? ~Robert Brault 39. The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you. ~Kendall Hailey, The Day I Became an Autodidact 40. In time of test, family is best. ~Burmese Proverb

41. Family is just accident. They dont mean to get on your nerves. They dont even mean to be your family, they just are. ~Marsha Norman 42. The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family. ~Lee Iacocca 43. Friends are Gods apology for relations. ~Hugh Kingsmill 44. They threw themselves into the interests of the rest, but each plowed his or her own furrow. Their thoughts, their little passions and hopes and desires, all ran along separate lines. Family life is like this animated, but collateral. ~Rose Macaulay 45. What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories. ~George Eliot 46. At the end of the day, a loving family should find everything forgivable. ~Mark V. Olsen and Will Sheffer, Big Love, Easter 47. If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable each segment distinct. ~Letty Cottin Pogrebin 48. In a household of toddlers and pets, we discover this rule of thumb about happy families that they are least two-thirds incontinent. ~Robert Brault 49. The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst. ~Marge Kennedy 50. The family is one of natures masterpieces. ~George Santayana, The Life of Reason 51. We cannot destroy kindred: our chains stretch a little sometimes, but they never break. ~Marquise de Svign 52. The advantage of growing up with siblings is that you become very good at fractions. ~Robert Brault 53. Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family. ~Anthony Brandt 54. Theres an awful lot of blood around that water is thicker than. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotics Notebook, 1966 55. Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. ~Gail Lumet Buckley 56. If minutes were kept of a family gathering, they would show that Members not Present and Subjects Discussed were one and the same. ~Robert Brault

57. Are we not like two volumes of one book? ~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore 58. I dont have to look up my family tree, because I know that Im the sap. ~Fred Allen 59. The lack of emotional security of our American young people is due, I believe, to their isolation from the larger family unit. No two people no mere father and mother as I have often said, are enough to provide emotional security for a child. He needs to feel himself one in a world of kinfolk, persons of variety in age and temperament, and yet allied to himself by an indissoluble bond which he cannot break if he could, for nature has welded him into it before he was born. ~Pearl S. Buck