READER SUBIR DAS wrote me a long letter. Here’s an extract.
“Sir, this is Subir. Recently I was thinking about writing something which emits a jocular tone. But it made me frustrated because I have not so humorous ideas. I want to ask you a question frankly. Is a sense of humor an inbred quality? Or it can be attained by analysis or tremendous thinking? Please don't give me an ambiguous answer.”
Inbred? Probably.
Subir launched his writing career with a letter printed in the newspaper and now wants to move towards becoming a comic author.
It’s important to encourage people like him. There’s a widespread belief around the globe that “Asians aren’t funny”. There may be some foundation to this. Reader Brian Chin said, “Asians are taught by our education systems to think in sensible, logical ways. Westerners are raised on a diet of sitcoms to think in offbeat, ironic ways. We need to teach ourselves to be less sensible and more silly.”
So for all the Subirs in Asia, here are Ten Ways to Be Funny.
*
1. Avoid telling jokes. Your audience is really not very interested in how many anythings it takes to change a light bulb.
So just say things that make your audience go, “Huh?”
Such as: “Anything not worth doing is not worth doing well.”
*
2. Instead of jokes, tell self-deprecating stories. “They say that Asians are great at maths but terrible at jokes. Not true! I can prove it conclusively… with this two-page algebraic formula.”
*
3. Use short set-up lines and short punchlines. “My teacher told me to follow my dreams. Last night I dreamt I was naked on this stage.”
*
4. Be cruel and abusive, but only to yourself. “After two years married to me, my wife was just like the coffee she served every morning: cold and bitter.”
*
5. Challenge your audience with clever lines. For example, you could use a pause as a punchline.
“There are two rules for success:
“1.) Don't tell all you know.”
(Loooong pause.)
*
6. Practice being deadpan, which is being funny without smiling. It’s hard but it makes your jokes funnier.
Say this with a straight face: “Treat every day as if it was your last. One day you’ll be right.”
*
7. People expect exaggeration in humor.
But I think understatement is funnier.
“There are a number of people who believe that World War II was actually a bad thing.”
*
8. You can tell lies as long as they are extreme enough not to mislead people:
“Mother Teresa was a wonderful woman. The best date I ever had.”
*
9. Never knowingly use other people’s lines, but learn to create your own by adding punchlines to real news stories.
“Obama sent 30,000 troops to the war zone. Tiger Woods’ house.”
*
10. Above all, be SILLY.
“I made a decision this morning that I would spend a few hours procrastinating. But I never got round to it.”
*
EVEN if you do all that, you’ll still bomb. I bomb all the time. Audiences in Asia can be really hard.
A comedian’s days swing from delight to depression.
So if you see Subir or me around, do us a favor: laugh at us.
*
*
ON ANOTHER TOPIC, thank you to Foxlore, Christy, Kamaal, Bernard and other readers who attended a talk I gave at Hong Kong University last night. And an especially big thank you for pretending to laugh at jokes I know you’d already heard.
*