Humor for Public Speaking
Humor can enlighten an introduction and, when used appropriately, can put your audience in a receptive mood for your message. But humor may also be the most misused technique for introducing speeches. Because someone once told them that starting with a joke will assure success, beginning speakers often search through anthologies of humor to find something that will make people laugh. Unless it is carefully adapted, however, such material often sounds canned, inappropriate, or only remotely relevant to the topic or occasion. If you wish to use humor in your introduction, be certain the material is fresh and pertinent.
Be especially careful when using humor to open a speech. It can be grossly inappropriate for some topics and occasions. Also, don’t let a humorous introduction “upstage” the rest of your speech. We once heard a student open a speech with a rather risque quotation from Mae West: “Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?” It drew an initial gasp followed by some hearty laughter. Unfortunately, as the speech continued, one student would chuckle over the remembered joke, then the audience would start laughing all over again even when nothing funny had been said. After the speaker finished, we questioned the audience about their “inappropriate” responses. Their reply? “We kept remembering that Mae West line. We just couldn’t help it.” And to this day, neither of your authors can remember the topic of the speech, just the opening humor.