Comedy Warm-Up Tasks: Part 1 of 5

Many years ago, I made a handout entitled Comedy Warm-Up Soccer. I never used this, but made it anyway, as a tool for making people funnier. Essentially, these were tasks I had come up with long ago, and I just found it in a long-neglected folder. Perhaps I should de-neglect these folders because this looks interesting.

These tasks could be used in a classroom that is meant to promote creativity in some way, such as a course of adult English learners that are intermediate or higher. I think for many students you might have to build a lesson around each task, depending on its complexity and linguistic or structural requirements.

Let me explain each of these briefly. The entire list is 36 items, so perhaps these should be introduced slowly. There will be a fifth entry showing the handout itself with any bookending remarks I would need.

Five Mismatched Guests for dinner are coming over. Who are they?

Just list the guests. The idea here is that none of these would normally be together. Maybe they have very different careers and beliefs. The point here was to encourage people to juxtapose elements that do not belong. Students could compete with their own examples. Were this played in the USA, my guess is that Mr. Rogers and Adolf Hitler would land together at the same dinner frequently. That’s fine, so long as they are playing with juxtaposition.

Half Phone: Role-play one person talking on the phone, but not the other person.

If you have ever listened to a Bob Newhart comedy routine, you know what this could look like. You could model this for a student, imagining what the other person said. You may want to choose an easy topic, such as ordering pizza over the phone. Could pretend to text someone instead, giving only half the conversation, if

Hate = Love: Discuss something you hate by saying, “Oh, I just love…” it and explain why.

This is adapted from Judy Carter’s own Stand-Up Comedy: The Book. It plays on sarcasm. You could model this with your own example. “Oh, I just loooooooove back pain. I think it’s great to wake up hating my nine-to-five job. I know it will give me even more back pain. Oh, and those seats on the subway, and what they do to my back! Fun fun fun!” This activity could be a challenge in countries and cultures where sarcasm is not a common means of communication.

Poetic Justice: Talk about a real person who did something bad. Come up with the right punishment.

This is probably better done by first explaining who the person is, keeping the person’s name anonymous. Then the person could detail the injustice the person caused. The injustice could be slight, such as arriving 10 minutes late to an appointment, or severe, such as a highly bitter break-up.

Early Laughs: Discuss an early memory of a time you got someone to laugh.

This is strictly an anecdote. When and where did this happen? It doesn’t have to be the funniest thing that student had said or done.

Complete Stupidity: “Let me tell you something stupid about …” Answer the question.

This could be from a random word, such as pizza or The Civil War. “Let me tell you something stupid about pizza. If it’s so good, why are they cutting it up?” The student does not have to be correct in his criticism of the item in question. The point is to practice noticing the dumb things about life, however small.

Speak using Alliteration for a minute, e.g., “Daniel was diligently doing his duty when…”

That is the only rule. The sentence or two some students would produce doesn’t have to make much sense, so long as it is alliterative. Yes, you can change topics and change consonants used alliteratively.

Give many  Impossible Assignments to students or secret agents, in one minute.

E.g., “OK, Taehoon, climb to the top of building and throw the air conditioner off of the roof. Cindy, drive to the beach, and remove salt from the ocean. Larry, here’s a spoon – now make peace in the Middle East. Tina, I’ll need you to ask God for some gold-plated teeth. Everyone, let’s do it!” The more outlandish, the better.

PSA: Give a TV public service announcement for an unusual charity.

“Hi. I’m Roger Fusselman. Let’s discuss sweaters we haven’t thrown out in the last 20 years. Sentimental value makes our lives less efficient. These could all go to the poor, or to barista-bound hipsters trying to be retro. Won’t you help them? Contact 20-year-old-clothing [dot] com for more about how you can help. Thank you.” This could be done first for real, using genuine public-service-announcement material, then done as a second round where one subverts the structure for far less worthy charities.