HOW TO BE FUNNY AND ADD HUMOUR

What are your everyday clothing disasters? At home, or on holiday? Mine include: In Little India. Which Little India? The world has lots. Singapore. Singapore flag. What could go wrong? An empty street in Little India. 1 My wrap around skirt, unwrapped in Little India. Singapore. The straps tangled and tied around my ankles. So I fell over. Twenty strange men rushed to help me. I wasn't sure which hands were pickpockets and which men had wandering hands. But half of them were helpfully pushing away the others. And shouting at the others to let go of me. A street in Little India after my skirt unwrapped. I was providing both a free striptease show and a free wrestling match. Two thousand other little boys and big men stopped to watch. They shouted instructions in assorted foreign languages. 2 My large brim hat which blew off in the taxi from the airport in Cambodia. The taxi was a motorcycle trishaw, open-sided, no protection against flyi...

Did JFK say Ich bin Ein Berliner, referring to himself as a donut. This is a Berliner. Pic from wiki article on the speech. How is your German? I just tried to credit a photographer with a German name for his photo. I linked back to his page but got a German message. It was clearly saying this page no longer exists. I looked at the words and tried to decipher them. At school I learned French and Latin and have never learned German although I completed the Duolingo German first course on my laptop and mobile phone. The course is free. Today I could easily recognize these words: German - English Du - you (Like tu in French. If it helps, think f the phrase Do you? Du is German for you.) existiert - exist und - and wenn - when I used Google translate but you are likely to end up with unintended humour. You probably know this joke about English being converted to German in the EU. English to become official language of the EU The European Commission has ...

I searched through Wikipedia for optical illusions. Wikipedia is great because the work is free to copy.

Are you a big fan of this blog? Fan My prop? A big fan. Pun on a physical fan and a fan as supporter. i thought I would explain that in case any one of my two readers speaks Swahili or Vietnamese. You just never know nowadays, who your friends are o Facebook. I often get friend requests from people who speak no English. Their posts are all in a foreign script of a language I don't recognize. If you don't have a prop, create one. Look around the building. Entertain and surprise. The laughs may come when you least expect them. Just keep exaggerating. The audience may contribute.Ask them. Photo by Vin7474. In Wikipedia on optical illusions. How did I remember his name? He must have had a glass of wine, vin as the French say. He flew on a 747 but he got as far as 74 and knew something had to be repeated. If you have children or grandchildren, their toys will provide great props. Look for anything very large, or very small, or animated, or that makes a soun...

The leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. Photo by vin7474. I mistyped his name as Viv. I now have it right.  I heard he pushed the tower upright. The Tourist board was very angry. They demanded that he put it back the way he found it. Size Matters Your arms and legs in the foreground appear larger than objects far away. So you can make your feet or hands or face look bigger neareer the camera. Whatever is in the background looks smaller. Leaning Buildings And Super-Strong Humans A classic optical illusion in France is of yourself or your friend leaning towards the Eiffel Tower with your right hand up, appearing to be supporting it like a flying buttress. In Italy the same photographic trick is popular with the The Leaning Tower of Pisa. You could do the same with any tall tower or building, even your hotel, or your own home, or a wall inside your home. Another trick would be to hold a small pet or puppet so that it appears to be on top of a building in the distanc...

Comedian Harold Lloyd laughing Do you struggle to remember names? Americans are good at remembering names. They repeat your name three times. Chinese names are unfamiliar to English speakers. I use words associations to help me remember names. Chinese names start with the family name, which might be Tan, Toh (pronounced toe or tow), or Lim (pronunced Limb), Lye (prounced lie or lye), Rong. How can I resist making an amused comment to somebody called Rong Fang? Word association can also be used deliberately to create a humorous effect. As a stand up comedian, or a toastmasters of the day (or master of ceremonies) you can prepare jokes in advance when interacting with the audience as a warm up act. You can have prepared punchlines which you add to any personal name, or place name. 1 Humour with business names 2 Humour with initials 3 Humour with place names Road sign marking the end of the village of  Y  in the  Somme   département ,  France...

Edinburgh Festival. The fringe. Before Covid19 every year you would hear the jokes from the Edinburth Festival, held in Scotland, UK. Other festivals of comedy were held in Australia and Asia and the USA. Maybe we can all attend these in 2021. Meanwhile, time to start exploring our favourite jokes. When I went on a standup comedy course organized by Amused Moose in London, I heard about shows at the Edinburgh Festival. The cost of hiring a room in a pub can be expensive and you need lots of flyers and publicity to get your money back. Many shows are supposedly free but they pass a hat for contributions. The cost of hiring the room is not usually down to one individual, unless they are world famous, but shared by up to 20 or more participants in the sketches. The cost could be borne by a sponsor, such as a school or college or students union. What about street theatre? We saw one great act. As we approached the crowd the one man performing rushed up to me and shouted, ...