HOW TO TELL JOKES ABOUT LANGUAGES: English, Singlish, Scottish and more

First find your joke.

That's easy.

Can you speak another language? Can you find a stooge, a puppet, an animal, or a member of the audience as a plant?

HATS & PROPS & Maps
Change hats to show which language you are speaking.
Or carry a flag or umbrella.


If you are on zoom you can have a picture of an audience laughing, or import your own canned laughter.

1 Look up jokes and tell them about yourself or a prominent member of the audience - with their permission.

2 Find a humorous song. It doesn't matter if you sing flat. Exaggerate your bad singing and this will make it funnier.

3 Find a serious song and write a parody. Not anything which might offend. Note national events and the audience.
Eg Happy birthday could be happy funeral.

4 Find humorous poems, limericks and couplets.
Make up your own.

5 Prolong the joke. (See President Kennedy and German below under Germany.)

American
Pick presidents such as Bush. Reagan. Trump.


Humorous personalities to quote include Mae West, Mark Twain and Marilyn Monroe.

British
Book: How to be an Alien
Old Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen jokes.
Funniest if the punchline is the person who has your accent. eg if you are a Scotsman wear a kilt and tell Scottish jokes.

English
How to be an Alien by George Mikes.



German
President Kennedy gave his famous speech in Berlin, Germany, in 1963, proudly saying,
Ich bin ein Berliner.


Kennedy had four microphones.

To be better heard by his huge audience.

This is a Berliner, a donut.



His speech is commemorated by a plaque.


There's even a coin.


Produced by whom? America? No. Germany? No. The Republic of Liberia.
You see, Kennedy's speech became world famous.

The wiki article debunks the whole story of Kennedy making an accidental error. But, as many poeple have said, why let the truth get in the way of a good story!

Hungary
Use the book by Hungarian George Mikes.

Irish Saying
If you want to get an audience, start a fight.

If I were you I wouldn't start from here.

Scottish
Old Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen jokes.
Funniest if the punchline is the person who has your accent. eg if you are a Scotsman wear a kilt and tell Scottish jokes.
Plenty of jokes about what is under your kilt. If you can act with a very short person or dwarf or puppet, so much the better. Or you could be a parent, or grandparent or teacher.

Portuguese

Free sample.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/learn-portuguese-with-jokes-sample-11181063

I liked Jeremy's jokes.

Useful Websites
https://www.a-speakers.com/speakers/brad-ashton-keynote-speaker/
 Brad Ashton's books on comedy: 
“How to Write Comedy”, 
“The funny Thing about Writing Comedy”, 
“The Job of a Laughtime”, and 
“Stand up and Be Laughed at”.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author of 20 books, and a speaker and a speech trainer.
Her books include:
Wedding Speeches & Toasts
Quick Quotations
Writing Poetry For Fun
Angela's Alarming Animal Poems
About the Author

If you want a humorous speech or a workshop on languages and humour call on Angela.

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