Humorous Speech

Last week I participated in a humorous speech contest at Toastmasters. I didn’t win, I was second of three.

I can be funny as part of a normal speech, I can get one or two laugh lines I to a 5 to 7 minute speech. Since the purpose of the speech is to be funny, I kinda freak out.

In a humorous speech the audience is expecting me to be funny, so I can’t use the element of surprise. In a normal speech, a failed joke doesn’t necessarily sink the speech.

In a humorous speech the audience is expecting higher joke density. My usual Toastmaster speech has two laugh lines and perhaps an unintentional joke hidden within. So I need to triple my joke count without them sounding forced.

There is a big difference between the fellow who is funny and the comedian; any time the civilian is funny it is a bonus, any time the pro fails to be funny it is a failure.