Being funny is equivalent to being the most likable person in the room. I mean, who doesn’t like to be the person who lifts the energy and makes you forget all of your worries in an instant, right?
Many people are blessed with natural humor; people like you and I need to go the extra mile to stand out from the crowd and be funny in any situation.
Here are the top 10 best books on how to be funny in any situation that worked for me.
1. Do You Talk Funny: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker
The best way to achieve your goals is to start studying the lives of people who were once in your place and are now reaching the skies you dream of.
For David Nihil, the idea of standing in front of an audience was nothing less than jumping off the cliff into a thorny pit. This fear inevitably called for some change.
And so he did. The comedian accomplished his goals by pretending to be “Irish Dave” and crashing as many festivals, shows, and clubs. Thus, the book is filled with experience-backed techniques and practical methods to instantly up your humor and help turn any situation hilarious.
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey (2011)
If you find ways to make hard work funny and effortless, look no further than this incredible book by Tine Fey. You can never get close to Tine, but her managerial and comedic can fill you up with strategies and skills that made the book this funny.
Recommended: No time for reading? Click here to reveal how to read a whole book in 15 minutes!
The book perfectly understands the difference between “wannabe” funny and actually turns any serious moment into a funny one. Not just that, constantly interrupting herself with jokey yet effective life advice is what made Tina one of the favorites for many comedic lovers out there. The more you read it, the more exposed you get to the underlying concepts of what makes someone truly funny.
3. Step by Step to Stand-Up Comedy by Greg Dean, Steve Allen
As they say, practice makes perfect. So you have read countless comic books and know what people generally refer to as “funny.” However, the most important thing you need to get started is actionable steps and examples that will help you distinguish between good and great humor.
Luckily, if this is what you are looking for, this book’s for you! It is aced with writing creative joke material, rehearsals, and making you confident enough to make fun of yourself without any self-doubt whatsoever.
4. The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny
Regardless of what people claim to be funny, nothing can beat the good ol’ social experience that works by trying out different methods and finding the reason behind what makes things funny.
In the book, you get to read scientists and journalists carrying out 19 experiments that fill you up 5 continents to help you change the way you consider humor.
It goes in-depth with the concepts and practical 0examples to properly grasp the idea and crack the humor code.
5. Comic Insights: The Art of Stand-Up Comedy
This book is written for people who are looking to pursue a career as a stand-up comedian. It covers a large collection of tips, interviews from the top stand-up comedians of all time like Roseanne, George Wallace, and Louie Anderson.
You get to know the unknown insights behind their humor and lift any situation by being funny. This can help you put yourself in their shoes and gain “pretentious” confidence, which will inevitably result in being overall amusing and confident in the long term.
6. The Joke's On You: How to Write Comedy
The book covers a clear-cut state and a complete guide for comedy writing. By reading just this single book, you get to avail yourself a large variety of funny sketches, jokes, and feature films that can crack you up every time you pick it up to read.
Besides that, you make sure you understand everything you are doing, it is armed with a comprehensive history and cuts through the surface layer information to bring out the concepts behind why each of the jokes is considered funny and how you can naturally come up with funny jokes.
7. The Hidden Tools of Comedy: The Serious Business of Being Funny
Where you get to see many books only lending out a few good jokes for you to copy, this book teaches you the art of comedy and proven actionable tips to help translate any idea, discussion, or concept into a funny and light one.
The book unlocks the secrets of famous comedians and commercial scripts to bring out the best in you. How Kaplan does that?
It shows the things that work and doesn't on popular movies and what you can do to improve or avoid making the same mistakes. The author, Kaplan, encourages his audience to ditch the old comedy strategies and shift their perspective towards a more serious and mechanical understanding of this art.
In the end, you can expect yourself to naturally crack a few jokes here and there and write a successful comedy script to make the most likable person in any room.
8. The Comedy Bible: From Stand-up to Sitcom--The Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How To" Guide
This book, written by Judy Carter, talks about the biz of being funny and brightening many faces using your totally entertaining and humorous tricks. It is specifically made for people who prefer to draw humor from their lives and turn it into a full-fledged successful career and impact.
Whether it is a killer stand-up back or providing jokes for one-liner greeting cards, in this Comedy bible to get to avail it all! Not just that, the author first starts by helping you understand your goals and reflect on which genre of comedy you would want to try that will best suit your personality and yield successful results.
9. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (2012)
The more comedy you read, the more you are likely to naturally adapt to the jokes and tone that makes people funny. Therefore, I’d highly urge you to read books like Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson that will keep you up laughing at its hilarious stories and jokes.
Best of all, the book is relatively straightforward with the common fears and obstacles of why you are not currently funny and uses that to give you subtle and impactful ways you can stand out from the crowd.
10. Mastering Stand-Up: The Complete Guide to Becoming a Successful Comedian
This book is for all those comedy beginners out there. The author has worked with great comedians like Eddie Izzard, Hannibal Buress, Moms Mabley, and Sara Silverman to develop proven techniques for personally successful stand-up.
5 Quick Tips on How to be Funny as a Comedian
1. The easiest way to be funny is to say the opposite to yes/no questions
You can do this when people expect you to say yes (even in rhetorical questions) you say no. The more obvious your false answer is, the better it is going to come out. This method is a perfect blend between sarcasm and humor, keeping people cracking up to your joke.
2. Start with your life
Who said you have to be a comedian to be the funniest in the room? Whenever you lack the inspiration to find funny stories, look at your life! Nothing is better than making fun of your embarrassing moments and state the tiniest details, which give your audience a sense of openness and humility.
3. Tell stories
You don’t necessarily have to memorize jokes to make people laugh. Start creating funny pictures in your audience’s head. However, the secret lies in the details. You need to state them in a way as though you are talking to blind people. Here hand gestures can be of help, but the more you express it through words, the more likely people will picture the same thing.
4. Play with Numbers
Your worst nightmare is probably when you exaggerate to make things funny, and people don’t understand!
I get it; that isn’t what you want. Therefore, what works for me is while I'm exaggerating numbers, I always make sure to add “only” or mention how big of a number it is.
5. Try to lift the energy in the room
The best way to do this is to point out every awkward thing in the room and turn it into a joke. If the host didn’t introduce you with immense applause, it’s the right time you point it out and ask for applause yourself!
The #1 rule of being funny is never to be afraid to act dumb. So go ahead and be afraid to speak your dumb and embarrassing thoughts, which will resonate with more confident vibes than dumb. Don’t believe me? How about you try it yourself?
Trust me; it’s going to be HILARIOUS.
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