What are the best ways to develop your own humorous storytelling style?

Regardless of my audience, when I am inserting humor into my stories, I have a few rules I set for myself: - Never make a joke directed at a specific person unless you know that person is good with it. - Don't joke about something a person can't change. - Make jokes about your own mistakes more than about someone else's Humor is always a risk, but these rules have kept me safe from disaster...so far. 😁

You're never going to be everyone's cup of tea... So when you're developing a humorous storytelling style you need to ask yourself 2 questions: 1) Will my desired audience respond well to this? 2) Am I being true to myself? The fact is, you should always be authentic in your writing style. Speaking (or using humour) in a way you would in real life - but in a refined way 🤷♀️ That means toning your natural humour down in a way that is relatable, sensitive and attractive to your audience, making sure you're always respectful - yet still being authentically you. You won't please everyone, as everyone's style of humour is different. The aim is to relate to the right people.

I work in corporate by day and perform live comedy by night. Using humor in my storytelling looks different based on whether I'm talking to the C-suite, a comedy club, a family member, or mingling at a cocktail party. Understanding your audience is an important first step when you're workshopping a new story to share.

Understand the preferences, tastes, and sense of humor of your target audience. Tailor your humor to resonate with their interests, demographics, and cultural background. Pay attention to audience reactions and feedback to refine your comedic style over time.

Knowing the people involved in your storytelling is a key step to gauging the type, style and nature of your humour. Humour is a great storytelling tool .. it releases endorphins which in turn really helps to you to connect with the audience. So having a view on the audience type, but respecting that everyone is an individual will help the impact of your humour.

Humor is a tough nut to crack. Because there are few topics that are universally funny. But the right delivery can make any topic humorous.

There are many ways to approach humor when storytelling, but most importantly, you want to make sure your subjects are not the butt of your jokes. Never take the 'Comedy Central Roast' approach; that's best to leave to the professionals -- especially in a work setting.

Finding your inspiration could be a starting point. Maybe try listening to standup comedians and podcasts focusing on how they structure their stories and engage with the audience. Try applying this to your own story ensuring you don't lose the authenticity. Most importantly be Confident! - Confidence can make an exceptional impact on your humor and storytelling!

In storytelling, humor is a tool that, when wielded with insight and timing, can transform a simple message into a memorable experience. During my tenure at BMDigital, we harnessed humor by first understanding what resonated with our audience’s cultural context and comedic sensibilities. We meticulously crafted a brand voice that could deliver humor seamlessly. It wasn't about telling jokes; it was about creating a narrative where humor emerged organically, making our brand more relatable. Humor was embedded into the narrative fabric of our content, ensuring that each laugh also underlined a key brand message or value, enhancing the connection with our audience without compromising on the integrity of the content.

There's nothing funnier than the non-tragic mistakes you've made, or even the terrible ones you've made long in the past (it's been said that humour is tragedy plus time). Finding your own mistakes and screw-ups is one of the best ways to add humour to your stories, because it doesn't depend on telling jokes, it's more relatable and it makes you the butt of the joke (which is by far the safest target you can have). I actually find lots of humour in the mistakes I almost made, or the absurd things I thought about but ended up not doing. Sometimes just sharing those thoughts adds all the humour you want in any story.

EB White said analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Not many people are interested in it, and it kills the frog. But...the core of humor is pleasant surprise. When we have expectations, then suddenly realize what we expected to be the case isn't, we laugh (or scream in terror if the surprise is unpleasant). You can set the expectations up over the length of the story, then dash them all at once at the end. Or, you can set them up a little at a time. Finally, ending with a callback is always a great way to bring on some appreciative laughter and it makes you sound like a master storyteller.

Use humor strategically in your storytelling. Because you're not performing stand-up comedy, you don't need a million one-liners throughout your story. Humor can be used to relieve tension, elicit an emotional response, and engage your listeners. It's best to do fewer funny moments better, rather than being so silly that people forget you're telling a story.

Having a structure for your story is an absolute must. Build that first, know your impact, people, start point, main event, end point and how you will be nurturing. Once you have this you will know where you wish to place your humour or where you want to be humorous. The timing of humour within your stories is extremely important, knowing where to place it can make or break the outcome.

Use the rule of three to create a pattern, then break it with the punchline. The rule of three is a classic comedy technique that uses three items, where the first two are similar and the third is different.

Humorous storytelling is *still* storytelling, so it must continue to follow the flow and backbone of a good story 💬 Stay faithful to the truth you want to share, and instead sprinkle the humor around the story though little moments of surprise, secrets, and silence (yes, even this too!). Be careful not to weave together several punchlines and call it a "story" -- this can be tempting especially when we get caught up in the laughter of the audience and continue to seek for it!

To cultivate your own distinctive humorous storytelling style, you can: - Study comedic timing, watch, read, and learn from comedic content (standup, movies, TV, etc) - Incorporate relatable anecdotes and observations from everyday life. Embrace your unique voice and perspective! This gives your personality a chance to shine through. And if you think you could use some help, ask for some feedback. Test out your humor, refine your style based on the feedback you get, and do it again. You can also gauge how well your humor is being received by paying attention to your audience's reactions. Practice and a willingness to learn and evolve will help you carve out your own authentic approach to incorporating humor into your storytelling.

Practice is what will make you better at delivering your stories. Before sharing in a larger group setting, try sharing your story with a trusted friend or colleague, mentor or coach. Sometimes I even try out a joke or short anecdote when I'm ordering a coffee. The more confident you get sharing your stories, the more seamless your performance will be.

Timing is everything. ⏰ A well-timed pause can make or break a joke. Practice your delivery until it’s smoother than a jazz sax solo. Use your voice, facial expressions, and body language to enhance the humor. Your delivery should be as animated as your story.

When I'm unsure whether my humorous storytelling is appropriate, especially during in a professional setting, I ask myself whether I'd be comfortable sharing this story with my grandparent or in front of a child. Ultimately, making your humor appropriate and accessible for all audiences makes you a better storyteller and allows more people to consume your content. When in doubt, keep it clean.

Restez simple sans être simpliste. Evitez les détails superflus qui n'apportent rien et qui embrouillent tout le monde. Ne pas vouloir pêcher par excès. Savoir dire. Savoir se taire. Et ne pas avoir peur d'utiliser le vide. Les blancs. Les regards.

A tip when it comes to injecting humor into your storytelling — humor is a part of your story, but not the purpose of your story. Laughter is a great mini-breather and gives the audience a much needed pause when it truly matters. If you're just eager to hear the audience's laughter throughout your whole storytelling, then you dilute your message and call-to-action (and your story becomes a stand-up routine instead 🫠) So with humor, have just enough to leave the audience wanting more!

We shouldn't go overboard just because the audience laughed at our jokes. We should know when & where to draw the line. If we get carried away, our story loses its charm. Just the way, we do not (& can not) laugh at the same joke twice (because we experience the thrill only the first time), audience too will not laugh at our jokes if we do not know when to stop. If the jokes are good, audience will react accordingly. The quality of the joke & the delivery depends upon the audience's reaction. If they laugh, well & good. If they giggle/ smile, not bad. If they do not react at all, there's still room for improvement. But if they cringe, we need to start from scratch & rebrand ourselves. Long way to go. Comedy is serious business after all!

Know your limits. Be very mindful on who is in the audience. I would totally avoid jokes related to politics, racism, racism and sensitive issues. The last thing that we want is to offend someone from the audience, hence leaving them a negative impression on us.

In my opinion, the most effective approach is continuous improvement, particularly in storytelling. I highly recommend utilizing LinkedIn as the ideal platform for honing this skill. Engaging with various stories, both by reading others' narratives and crafting your own in diverse styles, provides valuable learning experiences. Embracing mistakes and deriving lessons from them contributes significantly to skill enhancement. Take thoughts and motivation from your own observations, experiences, and viewpoints. The process of creating an amusing storytelling style involves experimentation, dedication to growth, and regular practise.

Humor’s effectiveness in storytelling is not static; it evolves with cultural shifts and audience reactions. At TV Globo, we didn't just use humor; we studied its impact. This involved tracking engagement rates, feedback, and even direct responses to humorous content. Was the humor translating into a positive brand sentiment? Were viewers more likely to share or engage with content because it made them smile? These were the questions that drove our iterative approach. We learned, refined, and sometimes pivoted our strategies based on this data, recognizing that the ultimate goal was to weave humor into the puzzle of our brand’s narrative in a way that felt authentic and added value to our audience’s experience.

Comedians go to hundreds of open mics before they can finalise their story / jokes. Same way, more you practice infront of a diversed set of audience, the more your confidence will grow in your humor and stories. See what is working, and what is not working. Chuck out the part thats not eliciting the same response you imagined it in your mind and want the audience to take away. Shelf the ones that are working for you. and create a repository. Over a period of time, this repository will make you unstoppable in your field.

Comedy is a craft, and crafts need practice. 🎭 Test your stories on friends, colleagues, or even your pet. Gather feedback and tweak accordingly. The more you practice, the sharper your humor will become. Like a fine wine, your storytelling gets better with time.

Humour and storytelling have one thing in common. They both thrive on contrast. Something unexpected. An element of surprise. That's what you should focus on. Can you say something obvious in a non-obvious way? Their is term known as 'penny drop moment'. You need to design that in your story to make sure the humour comes to life. Your penny drop moment is the statement/phrase/line/word/expression that will make people laugh.

Developing a humorous style needs observation, timing and a lot of practice to get the first two right. It all starts with observation. There is humor in many things around us. Whether it’s a baby mimicking a dog, or a person slipping, or even someone burping. In writing, a good punchline always helps, but other things work too. It could be describing a person’s appearance, the chaos in a household, the many things going on in an introvert’s head, and a lot more. But, it should be used sparingly, as too much of it dilutes the plot. Easier said than done, it’s not so easy to find humor around us and create the same magic for our readers. To some, it comes naturally, few need practice, and others can choose a different genre altogether. :)

Instead of creating this idea of 'safe humor' accept that humor is unsafe. Having an opinion is unsafe. Everyone won't like everything. Your joke may rub some people the wrong way, but to to be honest your humor has more to do with your experiences than the audiences interpretation of it. Just like how an interesting thought can hit you and you can laugh about it to yourself....you are the 1st audience to experience your humor. How your humor lives in someone else's head is mostly out of your hands. Hopefully when the idea laughs they laugh at the same irony/sarcastic thing you did and all is well.

Be You. If you try and adopt alternate styles of humour that jar with who you naturally are .. it will fail. Of course, explore styles and see where you can take inspiration from .. but through that process never lose yourself. Be yourself, everyone else is taken!

Your main goal isn't to be a comedian; comedy should support, not overshadow, your message. Use humor as a tool where appropriate, but focus on the nature of your message. Some parts require a serious tone, others may benefit from a comedic touch. Pay attention to how best to convey each segment. If a part suits humor, use it, even if the rest of your speech is serious. This balance ensures your message is delivered effectively, with each element presented in its ideal form.