Some men have a sense of humor, and some don’t. Some guys think they might have a sense of humor, but they really don’t. But everybody likes to be around somebody funny. I’ve talked a lot about a sense of humor and the fact that it’s like a superpower if you have a good one. Having a sense of humor is magnetic; people want to be around you. The fastest way to impress anyone is to be funnier.
The trick about being funny is not necessarily what you think is funny because funny is subjective, which means it’s not easy to nail down precisely what to say to be funny in every situation. But there are some steps you can take to develop and improve your sense of humor and be more amusing.
Some men try so hard to make people laugh and to be super funny. Don’t be zany and overdo it. Don’t be that guy who’s always over the top. Less is more. The takeaway is timing and the ability to read a room.
To read a room, look at it like a field. Then, you need to feel out the person you’re talking to or engaging with. If it’s the first time you’re meeting them, the first time engaging in a situation, or the first time with this group of people, ease into it.
Take it slow and have a casual conversation. See how they feel, and then you can start dropping funny little jokes or talking about memes. You can’t just go into a conversation with people you don’t know and start dropping jokes. You need to know your audience.
To improve your sense of humor, look at funny subject matter, whether it’s watching comedies, listening to funny podcasts, or reading funny memes. Watching a lot of comedy can increase the number of joke templates you have in your ‘funny-arsenal.’ When you see something similar to the setup of another joke you have seen before, you can recognize it and deliver a good joke quickly to knock people’s socks off.
Saturating yourself in the cadence of funny people can help greatly with amusingly delivering your thoughts, and podcasts are really great for that (even more so than stand-up comedy). Podcasts are casual and off-the-cuff, which is the same way to be funny in conversation. Stand-up is much more particularly crafted and is more of a monologue setup, which is rare in conversations.
I’m telling you—memes are the funniest things. They’re great at helping develop your sense of humor because they show humor in everyday life. Memes are also unique because you can share them, and the recipient can appreciate the humor with you. The more you look at memes, the more you see them. Then, the more you start putting the pieces together, the more you relay the humor yourself.
You need to be able to look for humor in everyday situations. You can find humor in situations once you notice how funny people are.
Another thing you can do is start reading YouTube comments. Some are the funniest things I’ve ever read, and comedic gold. You can get in there, start figuring out what’s funny, and get immersed in them, which will help to sharpen your sense of humor. Just keep in mind that you should never make fun of a person.
Never joke about something that people can’t change because it’s not funny. It’s mean-spirited. Poking fun at yourself is an angle, but not at other people. You need to be careful because there’s a fine line between being playful and being mean.
Hiding behind a keyboard often makes people feel more comfortable saying horrible things. Some may laugh or jump on the bandwagon along with these keyboard warriors, but be better than that! Don’t feed the fire or the trolls.
The key to all of this is timing and delivery. Being subtle with your humor is fantastic. Subtle humor is the funniest, and the beautiful thing is you don’t have to have a significant buildup or a punchline. It doesn’t need to be a joke. The key is subtle humor combined with facial expressions and specific words.
The use of facial expressions and noises are subtle ways to express humor. Also, when learning to be funnier, say things as soon as you think of them. Learn to grasp the moment and be spontaneous.
Learning to be funnier is all about immersing yourself in humor and paying attention because if you start looking around, you’ll realize that the world is a funny place. There’s a lot of humor in it. But remember that comedies, podcasts, and memes might help as supplements, but if you want to be funny, practice in real-life situations. It’s like building muscle — watching television shows and listening to podcasts about weightlifting won’t make you jacked.