Comedy Warm-Up Tasks: Part 3 of 5

And now continues this five-part series on a single handout I have yet to use in class. It was conceived first for a PDF on learning comedy, then turned into a form to do comedy-activity questions and prompts as activities in a nonnative-English-speaking conversation class for adults. You can see the earlier installments in the first post and the second post on this handout, which is dense and weird.

And now continues this five-part series on a single handout I have yet to use in class. It was conceived first for a PDF on learning comedy, then turned into a form to do comedy-activity questions and prompts as activities in a nonnative-English-speaking conversation class for adults. You can see the earlier installments in the first post and the second post on this handout, which is dense and weird.

Welcome to our third set of nine questions and prompts! Ahem:

Role Change: Someone famous trades places with a family member or friend. What happens? 

This would be more interesting if the famous person is not known for total villainy. What would happen if you replace your boss with Oprah Winfrey, or your spouse with the Rock, or your uncle with Sharika? 

Celebrity Meets Genie: An unfunny celebrity finds the genie’s bottle. Name his/her three wishes.

Yet another celebrity question. By "unfunny," do not do Robin Williams, Will Smith, or anyone else amusing. 

Cultural Problem: What do you find the biggest problem of the culture in which you live?

This is very open to how you interpret culture. The point here is to produce an honest problem one has with the world now, then figuring out from one's passionate indignation a funny way to describe how to dramatize this problem. For a warm-up, it is enough for a student to 1) admit to what he or she thinks the problem is, and 2) describe why it is a problem. 

Zoology of Fame: Compare and contrast a famous person with an animal.

This question is intended largely to encourage unusual comparisons. A short answer here is fine, e.g., "Joe Biden is like a..." followed by any random animal, then followed by the explanation as to why. When you first make a comparison, e.g., "Joe Biden is like a secretary bird," you might not even know why that would work. I didn't, but secretary bird was the first thing I thought of. Then maybe whatever lame comparison that comes up, such as they both are comfortable with bureaucracy, then maybe you have something. You may discover in the moment a sort of reason why your mind would go to that animal for a comparison even if you did not explicitly know a connection at that time. 

Quick note: the president's the first person I thought of, but in class I wouldn't use a political example. I would be hesitant to make my students think as I do on the issues of the day. I'd rather not sway the students or discourage them against speaking up, and in many contexts I believe the teacher's neutrality is essential to assessment and classroom management. Long story there, but if the class is about developing comedy techniques, I would be less worried about bringing up political examples.

Complete Fright: “One of the things about life that scares me is…” Discuss.

Often, the darker the topic, the better the joke.

Exaggerate everything you did on a typical, undramatic day of your life.

How warm or cold was the day? How long was the commute? How intense was the meeting? How great was dinner? How amazing was the evening watching Netflix? How horrible was that stupid commercial when you went to network TV? Go over the top in everything that happened that day, even if that means exaggerating the truth.

Child to Adult: Speak as a child on an adult topic.

Let's say a child spoke about media coverage of the latest current event or scandal? Start talking like a child, then staying in that childhood way of speaking, segue into adult topics -- same voice, different subject matter.

Our Struggle: Discuss the struggles that your people have had to endure.

However you want to define what your group is. Often humor is about injustice, and being in touch with that in your own life can be helpful to be funny.

Dissing Your Own: Discuss problems within a group you belong to.

For example, if you are an atheist, what annoys you or amuses you about your fellow atheists? What foibles and quirks, from horrid to lovable, does this group of yours have? It does not have to be a group you belong to without your choice, though it can be. Stay away from veiled positives. It is OK to be negative here.

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