A simple tip for funny without a single joke

Note: I’m going to refrain from cracking any gut-busting jokes in this post and just give you the info.

Humor is everything in conversation. Or it’s at least the sugar on the cake.

Jokes, though, can be lame. And by “can be” I mean “usually are.” So how do you create humor without the awkward mess of messed up jokes?

I read this tip over at Write to Done . Once I read it, I was like, “Of course – why haven’t I considered this before?”

Here’s the tip:

Be specific

I use this all the time, but hadn’t noticed it.

When you’re “ant on the eye of a needle” specific, you often chock the humor up to randomness. You know, you’ve heard that before: “Oh, he’s so random.”

Wrong! It sounds random, but it’s really just specific. Specific often leads to outrageous, which sounds random. But that doesn’t mean it has to be outrageous (or random). You can be totally accurate in your description and still sound funny if you describe in detail.

Examples from Stuff Christians Like

Here are three recent (as in “almost within the same decade”) examples from a Christian blog I enjoy:

-“Secretly hoping your city’s NFL team stinks so people will come to church”

Quote: “…occasionally to protect the identity of the people I write about I have to cloak them in fancy talk and change “Tennessee Titans” to “professional football team of your metropolitan area” and “sucks” to “doing so poorly.” It’s a filter I have on my computer called “fancy talk.” Control F.”

-“Wondering if the guy next to you will share gum once you’ve seen it“

Quote: “You can buy it in little hip cylinders or flip open packets like 5 and it lasts longer like Stride and it even whitens you’re teeth when you’re not looking.”

-“Romanticizing the manger where Jesus was born”

Quote: “It was just a rundown hotel, but it felt 5 star, because death by execution wasn’t awaiting me in the bathroom.”

Enjoy the links – then try your own specificness. No jokes – just specificness. Everyone appreciates humor in a conversation.

Serving Suggestions:

(1) Click on any one of the three links that lead to Stuff Christians Like to experience the excruciating humor of specificity.

(2) Try describing. Practice with a situation you’ve had in the past five minutes. Describe every detail – describe the reflection on your computer monitor that reminds you of the piece of toast that looked like Mary and sold for thousands on ebay. And enjoy it (the specificness, not necessarily the reflection)!