Over the last couple of posts I’ve been tantalizing you with a PROVEN way to recover from any bombed joke! This will seem obvious once I explain it, but it’s a trick that the professionals use all the time.
Are you ready? Here it is.
If you tell a joke and it falls flat, immediately make a joke about telling a joke that bombed and went flat.
I’m serious.
In fact, the more you can point a finger at your own awkwardness and laugh at it, the better. I GUARANTEE you that people will laugh! Why? This tactic is right out of the playbook from the principle of superiority! Others will laugh because it wasn’t THEM who made the joke that fell apart.
It doesn’t matter why they’re laughing. The point is you got them there. All they’ll remember ten minutes later is that you were really funny!
I’ve seen Jay Leno do this. Conan O’Brien often plowed through entire monologues doing this. Jimmy Fallon goes so far as to hand out the cue cards to his audience when the joke fails! Why? It works.
With that said there are a few rules you need to keep in mind when resorting to this.
1.) Never, EVER, *EVER* blame your audience (no matter how big or small) when a joke fails.
I’ve seen a multitude of magicians do this and it makes my teeth grind. “Wow! You guys must be asleep!î No dude, you’re just not funny! Beyond being rude, blaming your audience breaks the principle of superiority. Remember, to keep them laughing they have to feel superior to you. When you blame them they feel inferior! Not a good situation and it’s a good way to lose goodwill.
2.) If the joke failed because you offended someone immediately shut up, get serious, and start apologizing!
We’ve NEVER had this happen during a show because we script everything out carefully in advance. In general you can avoid this simply by thinking before you speak. Occasionally though on a personal level it can happen. Let’s say you make a joke about relationships and one of your friends is going through a nasty divorce. DON’T tell them they’re taking it too personally. Grow up, accept responsibility, and apologize for the insensitivity. The worst thing you can do in this situation is continue trying to be funny.
3.) Don’t overuse jokes about bombing or else it will start to look pathetic.
Joking about a bombed joke is a surefire laugh. So much so that I’ve seen people use them even when they don’t really need them! Don’t fall into that trap. Think of them as “Get out of Jail Free” cards in Monopoly. You can only use them so many times before your audience starts to lose patience. Keep a couple of them in your pocket, use ‘em when you need ‘em, and then work like heck to not get in that position again!
So there ya’ have it! This little tool is a fantastic confidence builder when you’re just starting out. It’s almost like a guarantee that you won’t fail! If you’re not used to being funny it can feel awkward at first. Knowing this trick should give you the confidence you need to get out there and show the world how funny you really are!
I’ve got another “Golden Rule” up my sleeve that I’m going to share with you next time. It’s a simple way of phrasing any joke that’s almost guaranteed to get you a laugh!
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BONUS INSIGHT
I once saw a Miss America pageant where, to mix things up, they had a quiz show competition for the contestants. At one point the host mispronounced Rudy Giuliani’s name. He immediately stopped, paused for a second, and said “I’m an idiot!”. The entire audience broke out laughing. He then pronounced Rudy’s name correctly and continued on.
My point is that a huge scandal was averted because the host understood this technique and used if effectively. Want proof? I tried searching Google to look up the incident and found nothing. If Google doesn’t remember, nobody else does either.
Image Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thwphotos/ / CC BY-SA 2.0