–There is a Skoal can in the CD rom drive!

Laughter is the best medicine and a great icebreaker for a first date, as a sense of humor is as the number one turn-on for many women. But it’s one thing to have a great sense of humor, it’s quite another to have everyone in stitches.
Well, look no further. Drop the rubber chicken and whoopee cushion, cause it’s time to really be funny.

Ease up on life and yourself; get used to taking things with a grain of salt. See the humor in situations; you’ll see that most situations, even getting a $200 dollar speeding ticket or falling down on a banana peel have humor written all over them — the trick is finding them and being able to laugh at yourself.

You can’t be funny if you don’t have any references or material. The broader your general knowledge is, the funnier the remarks you’ll make. You can’t say a Homer-esque comment if you don’t know who The Simpsons are, and Allllrrriiighttty then! doesn’t have the same effect if you’ve never seen Ace Ventura: Pet Detective .

So the more you know film, TV, music, and everything pop culture, the greater the chance of being funny. Broaden your horizons and stay up-to-date with current events in the news, and you’ll be surprised at how much material will randomly come to you. You may even get to be someone’s lifeline on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? .

The rules of humor are analogous to those of poetry. These common rules are mainly precision, synthesis and rhythm. French philosopher Henri Bergson has said in an essay: “In every wit there is something of a poet.” In this essay Bergson views the essence of humor as the encrustation of the mechanical upon the living. He used as an instance a book by an English humorist, in which an elderly woman who desired a reputation as a philanthropist provided “homes within easy hail of her mansion for the conversion of atheists who have been specially manufactured for her, so to speak, and for a number of honest folk who have been made into drunkards so that she may cure them of their failing, etc.” This idea seems funny because a genuine impulse of charity as a living, vital impulse has become encrusted by a mechanical conception of how it should manifest itself.

The question / answer joke, sometimes posed as a common riddle, has a supposedly straight question and an answer which is twisted for humorous effect; puns are often employed. Of this type are knock-knock joke, light bulb joke, the many variations on “why did the chicken cross the road?”, and the class of “What’s the difference between…” joke, where the punch line is often a pun or a spoonerism linking two apparently entirely unconnected concepts.

Some jokes require a double act, where one respondent (usually the straight man) can be relied on to give the correct response to the person telling the joke. This is more common in performance than informal joke-telling.

Try this longer joke:

And elderly couple were having trouble remembering things so they decided to go see their doctor, and they explained their concern. The doctor checked them out and said, “Well, you’re pretty healthy for your ages. It’s normal to get a little forgetful as you get older. You might want to start writing things down.”

So they were relieved it wasn’t serious and they went home. That night while they were watching television, the old man got up from his chair and his wife asked, “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the kitchen,” he replied.

“Will you bring me a bowl of ice cream?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said.

She asked, “Well, shouldn’t you write it down?”

“I’ll remember.”

“Well I’d like it with some strawberries on top. Shouldn’t you write it down?” she asked.

“No, I can remember that.”

“I want whipped cream, too. I know you’ll forget. Please write it down,” she said.

Getting angry, he snapped, “I don’t need to write it down!”

Twenty minutes later he returned with bacon and eggs and handed it to her. She stared at her plate a moment and said, “You forgot my toast.”

To remember this longer joke, break it down into it’s parts. There are three parts. In the first part, the couple goes to see the doctor. You can tell the details any way you like, so long as you include that the doctor tells them to write things down so they don’t forget.

In the second part, the husband is going to the kitchen. His wife wants three things. That’s really all you need to remember. It could be a strawberry Sunday or anything else that he will bring back for her.

In the third part, he brings back something different, she says he forgot something but it is not any of the things she originally asked for. This is what makes it funny.

Now practice the joke as you did before. Remember that there are three parts. It’s okay to substitute different foods or tell the conversation differently. When you can remember it without looking back to it, call someone and tell your joke.

Practice will help you to remember jokes. Try a new one each day until you are comfortable. You will have fun making others laugh.