Posted by Dorothea Stuart
Jonathon Palmer, London Corinthians, won the London Division B Humorous Speech Contest 2007. Jonathon was staggered to win his club contest, stunned when he won the Area 6 Contest, and bowled over to become the London champion. He went on to compete in the UK & Ireland, District 71 contest at Harrogate. What did he learn from this unexpected and turbulent journey?
Why did you enter your club's Humorous Speech Contest? I entered for a laugh. I put my speech Trav-Hell together at the last moment. I had no expectation of winning and wasn't even sure if anyone would find my speech funny.
How did you come up with the subject for your speech? My personal view is that you want a theme that everyone will get. But not so obvious that everyone else is talking about the same thing. That way you have a strong central idea and you can play with it. Last year I went with the hell of London commuting. That gave me lots of scope. I could take common experiences and turn them on their head. It allowed for fresh material.
What did you learn about writing a humorous speech? It's important to go with a style of humour you feel comfortable with. I don't do gags but I love word play. I told a story with a cast of wacky characters, all based on the people we meet on our daily commute. You'll probably have met the Ninja who always manages to slide into the only empty seat on the train!
My style is very much based on observation. I guess my formula for writing a humorous speech is: strong central theme + observation + characters.
I also realised that I needed to write the speech so that if it wasn't funny it didn't matter. My advice is to think: I will deliver a speech and if people laugh that's great. Whatever happens I'll have given a good, well crafted speech.
Most significantly I learned how important it is to recognise that audiences are different. Londoners got my speech. The national audience at Harrogate didn't warm to it! The speech just didn't hit the mark. I had made changes. I'd put in some self-deprecating "us stupid Londoners - we must be mad" remarks. But it was papering over the cracks - it wasn't enough.
What did you learn about performing a humorous speech? Not to expect laughter at specific points. I gave my speech several times and audiences laughed in different places.
I had to learn to ride the wave and pause for longer. You need to give your audience time to soak up the humour and enjoy it. Pacing is what you're learning - something great comedians have down to a fine art.
Giving a successful humorous speech is about being full-on. Don't worry about looking silly. I got feedback that people liked my silly body language and found it even funnier because I wore a suit.
And finally...advice on preparing for contests? As ever...practice. Video yourself. You'll learn a lot from this. Be ready to accept that humour is about other people finding you funny. This may be different to what you find funny yourself.
If you are lucky enough to win your club contest get help from experienced members. I practiced and got specific feedback from seasoned pros at London Corinthians. This helped enormously for the next stage of competition.
Also recognise that you may get conflicting advice. There is a danger if you try to accommodate everything. You may dilute your concept...the core of the speech. There comes a point when you have to take a leap of faith and follow your heart.
Would I enter another contest? Of course! I look forward to putting everything I've learned so far into practice again...and learning more in the process.
