We have all been there – that moment a joke we were so eager to tell and were so sure would have our friends roaring with laughter, fell flat. What follows is an embarrassingly disappointing and awkward situation. The memory of it has haunted us enough to realize that being funny can be tricky. And on some days it can be a downright challenge.
The Week posed a question to all those who are famous for their sense of humor – How do you tell a joke? With decades of experience on TV and stage, we thought our Nepali comedians could help us demystify the art of making somebody laugh. Here they share their tips and tricks.
Deepak Raj Giri
The truth is that you don’t have to be born with a knack for cracking jokes. This can be something you learn and develop as you grow. I believe it depends on the kind of people you have around you as well as the way you spend your time. For instance, it only takes for somebody to watch a cleverly written, witty TV show to come up with one liners. They can memorize it and use them whenever they see fit. Slowly from there you can build your own style. If you want to be funny, I think you will find a way to do so.
Ghanta Home Productions: A meme machine
There certainly are some technicalities that professional comedians nail every single time they perform. They pick the right subject, they deliver it with confidence, and they are exceptionally good at elaborating and describing situations. They know exactly where to place which word to get the maximum impact. Getting these three factors could be a great start. If you adopt them, impressing your peers with a joke should be a piece of cake.
Deepa Shree Niraula
The punch line is always the key. While trying to tell a joke, if you deliver the punch line the right way, you can easily have everybody in stitches. However you mess it up and the joke is going to be an epic fail. So I suggest you focus on the presentation. How are you going to end it with a big bang? It’s always nice to have a good build up. Learn how to weave a plot and steadily lead your audience to that point when you drop that punch line. Though remember not to stretch it too long. You can’t afford to lose their attention.
Telling jokes is certainly a skill. Having said that though, I don’t believe only actors or professional comedians are capable of delivering them. Anybody can do it. Just do justice to your punch line. Practice, if you must.
Sitaram Kattel
People often find it hard to believe but in reality I’m terrible at telling jokes. I have always been that way. At college when I attempted to make people laugh, often by telling a joke, all I would get were confused looks. Friends would often say, “So is this where we laugh? Let us know.” I believe to successfully deliver jokes there needs to be a certain rhythm and style. It’s definitely a skill, one that I don’t have in abundance off camera.
However, telling jokes certainly gets easier the moment I step into character. Whether it be Dhurmus or Khadka ji or even KP Oli, adopting a different persona definitely helps shed my inhibitions. It might work for some others out there too. Building an alter ego and channeling it can be a very interesting process. Several famous comedians do it and besides it will also give you an excuse to adopt antics that will have people extremely amused.
Kunjana Ghimire
Sometimes the worst thing you can do while attempting to make people laugh is try too hard. Personally I believe people are at their funniest when they are relaxed, hanging out with their friends or family and just talking. Being your funniest is easiest in those scenarios. When we force ourselves to be witty though, the results can be cringe worthy.
Nevertheless, if you are working on a joke, it’s always more fun when people can compliment it with facial expressions, body postures or even different voices. Working in TV comedy serials and touring for it around the country, I have learnt that they are crucial. But these little things not only help actors. Anybody who can work on those little nuances while sharing jokes will always be a hit.
Jeetu Nepal
As a standup comedian, I have learnt that you need to know your audience and engage them accordingly. If the crowd is a young one, talk about things that interest them, from love to Facebook. However if I was travelling around in villages, these topics would obviously not work the best. So my trick to make people laugh is to pick scenarios and context that they can relate to. I have husband jokes for largely female audiences, anecdotes from the old days for the aging audiences, and sometimes I even sing witty Dohari while entertaining folks in the villages.
It’s also about creating an environment. Even though a script is necessary for performing standup comedy, I’d discourage people from sticking to it all the time. One has to go with the flow. People might be talking among themselves, kids might be running around or the mike might not work, you have to be able to incorporate all of this into your act. It creates an atmosphere that feels natural and relaxed and then people laugh their heads off.