Secrets and Ghost Stories

 
 
 
 

Transcript:

Really funny jokes feel like you’re being let in on a secret.


They feel like something that somehow, you shouldn’t know.  It feels like a privilege to have heard the joke.


I’ve felt that way about lots of jokes I’ve heard over the years.  That has to do with the content of the jokes, for sure.  It feels like you’re being let into the comic’s mind and perspective in a way that you don’t typically get from most people.


But it’s not just about content, what’s being said and shared.


I’ve been trying to apply that idea, jokes being secrets, to the way I tell my jokes too.  Cuz one way to tell a joke is to be overly excited to share it.


“Hey everybody, check out my neat ideas!”


I used to do that a lot more.  It can come across as oversharing.  TMI.


Loud and excited doesn’t always come across as confident.


It can be just as fun and effective to tell jokes like they’re secrets.


People get more interested in secrets than they do in the loud person confronting them for their attention.


You don’ wanna be on stage hocking your jokes like you’re selling a new religion on a street corner.  People don’ wanna take your survey or donate to your fundraiser.


But they’ll eavesdrop on your secrets.  People are nosy like that.


I still like being loud an’ goofy and obnoxious on stage.  That’s fun to do.  But it’s not a good way to get people’s attention.  That’s fun to do once you already have their attention.  That’s a fun way to throw in curve balls and surprises.


Another way I think about it: you wanna tell jokes like you’re telling ghost stories around a campfire.  You want it to feel close, intimate.  Like you’re all gettin’ cozy starin’ into a fire, but still not entirely sure what’s out there in the dark.  …Lurking, who knows?


Telling jokes should feel like swapping stories and secrets around a campfire late at night.

There’s other ways to do it.  You can crash a car into the side of a shopping mall and it can be great and funny.


But that also freaks people out and it’s hard to maintain that energy level and vibe for an entire show.  You gotta keep crashing cars into the side a’ the shopping mall.  It’s not super sustainable.


But ghost stories and secrets can go in all sorts of directions and your baseline energy level doesn’t get outta whack.  You can always go back to the campfire, regroup before another expedition.

Michael Franke