The Surprising Element of Humor

One mechanism that can be very effective in creating humor is the element of surprise. People respond to a surprise almost in a form of embarrassment. The emotion of laughter covers over the embarrassment and allows us to not only move on but also actually enjoy the moment. If you are able to lead your audience down a “mental” path so that they think that they know where you are going, and then pounce on them with a surprise, you will be a very effective humorist. The bigger you make the surprise, the bigger the embarrassment and as a result, the bigger the emotional response of laughter.

That’s just what most jokes are. They are a story that the listener follows ending with a punch line – a surprise at the end.

One very effective surprise is an incongruity – where you take two ideas that are incompatible and fit them together. The more obvious you make the incompatibilities while smoothly fitting them together, the better. 

Children are masters at this – although they are usually unaware of it. They have a wonderful way of looking at the world. It is often quite deep in some areas while being shallow in others. It is in these areas that they are glossing over where they usually miss the incongruities.

My five year old son gave me a wonderful example of this a few months ago.

He said to me, “Daddy, I’m quitting swimming lessons. I’ve tried it and it just isn’t fun enough.” Now I wanted to encourage him to continue without being overbearing, so I tried to tie swimming lessons into something that interested him. I said, “Oh, that’s too bad, because police officers, fire fighters and paramedics all have to know how to swim in case there is an emergency in the water.” He responded with a, “That’s okay because I’m not going to be any of those – I’ve decided what I’m going to be now.” This was news to me (emergency services had always been at the top of the list) so I asked him what he had decided to become. “A lifeguard”, he responded.

I’m not exactly sure what I did after he told me that other than try not to break into laughter right in front of him. In his mind it was completely natural. In my mind he had led me down a path and hit me with a huge incongruous surprise.

Can you think of any stories that you could share with your audience – where they will think they know where you’re taking them, but in the end you hit them with something else? They could be real, they could be fiction. They could even have their roots in a real event but be exaggerated to increase the element of surprise and the incongruities. If you can, then you will enjoy delivering your speech all the more and your audience will enjoy hearing it – in the process giving you their complete attention and helping make your speech a success.

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Copyright © 2007 David Mudie All Rights Reserved

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