One of the reasons I love to tune in to the TV show “Saturday Night Live” is to see if one of the actors will crack up in the middle of a performance. Watching someone else try to stifle a laugh is one of the funniest things in the world. But in Humorous Interpretation, if you laugh at yourself while performing, you might as well hold up a sign that says “Game Over.”

H.I. is typically treated more like a recorded movie and less like live theatre. Your performance, while side-splitting, should also be disciplined and polished. Some competitors can’t help laughing in the middle of a piece, and that’s understandable – it’s natural to be pleased with yourself if you are receiving immediate feedback from your audience that you are doing well. But if you smile or laugh when you are supposed to be playing a bewildered or angry character, it ruins the effect of your characterization, and it makes you seem conceited and unprepared.

Here are a few suggestions for how to keep yourself from laughing during an H.I. round:

1. Purse your lips slightly. Bring the corners of your mouth into a small “O” shape, pushing your lips forward. This will help to hide the smile spreading across your face. Raising your eyebrows can also help with this, although contorting your face in such a way might actually make matters worse if your audience finds it amusing.

2. Go with it. If you can’t make yourself stop laughing, work it into the piece. Find a way to make it correlate with whatever is happening in the piece. If you’re playing an antagonist who is supposed to be very angry, make that character suddenly snap and become a diabolical evil genius – translate your giggles into maniacal laughter. If you’re playing a sad character, pretend to be crying instead of laughing.

3. Don’t look at your audience. This is tricky if you’re performing a monologue, but it is one of the best ways to keep from laughing. When you look at someone who is smiling, it makes you want to smile, too. Find a way to look elsewhere – look up at the ceiling as if your character is reminiscing, or close your eyes as if your character is very serious. If your piece has multiple characters, you should hardly be looking at your audience anyway. If you avoid directly looking at the people who are laughing, you’ll be one step closer to maintaining a straight face.

4. Keep the piece moving. One of my choir teachers used to say, “The note you just sang is not important. What is important is the note you are about to sing.” The same can be said for speech: The line you just said is not important. Concentrate on your next joke, your next setup. If your audience bursts out laughing after a great line, just continue moving forward in your piece, and don’t allow yourself a moment’s hesitation to join in.

5. Bite your tongue. Not too hard, of course. But if you have a hard time stifling a giggle, this is certainly a quick way to make yourself stop smiling. Ouch…

6. Practice before you perform. You should always practice your H.I. by performing it in front of other people. Otherwise, you won’t know how the piece will fare in competition because you will have no feedback to base your interpretation on. Rehearsing in front of your friends and teammates can also be a huge asset to you because it will help you train yourself not to chuckle when your audience starts laughing.

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Students are usually united according to common interests specified by some aspects. Common specialty is among of the most important circumstances. Students of one and the same faculty have their specific jokes and their special slang. Such jokes are related with their teachers, with the nature of the specialty or with special characteristics of their educational process. For instance, foreign languages department is usually called a ‘fiancee department’ as a lot of girls study there. Professional Humor. Programmers’ Humor Programmers’ jokes are not clear for other people. For instance, such joke as this: Q: Why do programmers always get Xmas and Halloween mixed up? A: Since DEC 25 = OCT 31 …may be comprehended only by one of the computer people. A person who knows computer a little can take pleasure in something like this: The Programmers’ Perk: Shift to the left, to the right! Pop up, push down, byte, byte, byte! Physics Jest Various specialty-oriented jokes are widespread among physics. Murphy’s Law, applied to such physical thing as buttered toast law, says that if bread with butter falls buttered side lands down; or the chance of buttered toast landing with buttered side down is in proportion to floor coverings value. In other worlds, it means that when something can go wrong and turn out inconveniently it will definitely be so. Combining this law and the statement that a cat always lands on its feet, physics invented another joke: a buttered cat paradox. A physic considers a cat caring on its back again a tied buttered toast : if cats land on their feet and buttered toast land with buttered side down a cat has no choice but to fly. Chemists’ Joke Chemists’ jests are grounded on odd and paradoxalical factors of chemical tests and ideas. There are some parodies to periodic table (for example, The periodic table of refused elements).

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It’s commonly acknowledged that sex before marriage, an occasional cocktail or two, or cursing is not going to cause you to burn in hell. However, in your spiritual quest perhaps you’ve asked yourself, “what isn’t acceptable behavior, that would make me incur negative karma?”

Our experience and findings tell us that it’s generally a matter of avoiding intentionally hurting yourself or anyone else.

Saying or doing something politically incorrect, in itself, won’t earn you years of karmic punishment in return. However, intentionally inserting historical myths about the Revolutionary War in public school curriculum, to further your political agenda, for example, will incur negative karma.

We’re firm advocates of the funny side of life (believe it or not!). In fact, the raunchier the better, as far as we’re concerned. We believe that humor helps to balance out the heavy seriousness so often found in spirituality.

A good laugh (at nobody’s expense…well, unless they’re really asking for it) does wonders in snapping you out of a funky state of mind. It’s uplifting and it’s good for your soul.

We’ll share a funny exchange from Facebook to illustrate our point:

“Sc.P. is vacuuming his chest hair, pouring a bourbon, and pressing his white pant-suit (not all at the same time).”

The following includes some of the responses by others related to that post.

A.J.M.: “Vacuuming your chest hair?”

Sc.P.: “Yeah, I grew it out like Austin Powers. I’m going for a 1970s look.”

A.J.M.: “Hence the white pant-suit. Okay, Mr. Travolta. Don’t forget the gold chains.”

Sc.P.: “Gold chains, check. Platform shoes, check. Lava lamp, check. Perm and lamb-chop sideburns, check. Wonton spirit, check. Sexist attitude, check. Enough booze to float a barge, check. What else? Hmm.”

A.J.M.: “Digi cam to snap pics so you can post ‘em on Facebook so I can see ‘em. Check.”

Sc.P.: “Wouldn’t want to frighten everyone.”

J.B.: “And I bet not in that order, either…”

Sc.P.: “Reverse order, right you are.”

S.L.: “1976 Eldorado with the Chrome package. Check.”

Sc.P.: “Digging the 1976 Eldorado with the Chrome package (plus 8-track and power windows!), check. Plethora of ribald commentary, check. Practicing smooth, radio announcer voice so when I talk to any one of numerous lady-friends (each of whom I refer to as ‘cupcake,’ ‘honey,’ or ’sugar’) on the rotary phone I can say, ‘hellooooooooooooo. So…what are you wearing?’, check. Repeatedly using the excuse ’something suddenly came up,’ to dodge social commitments, check.”

Sc.P.: “Suggesting to my ’secretary’ with a smirk and a wink that she should ‘let her hair down,’ check. Xenophobic outlook, check. Total lack of understanding of health and wellness (’healthy’ is a slice of tomato on my cheeseburger), check. Practicing smug swagger, check. Absolute alpha-male temperament, check. Hmm, what else? I think I’ll call this character ROGER. Roger Johnson (’Roger THAT’ he says with a smile). It’s 1977, every night is a party, and every day finds a new source of iniquity.”

S.L: “Say, Roger, me and the gals are meeting at Trixie’s Supper Club. Why don’t you swing on over?”

St.P.: “Tab in the wet bar for the ladies, check.”

Sc.P.: “Swinging over to Trixie’s, check. Roger that! (said with lopsided grin, while raising glass and inadvertently sloshing half of his drink onto the orange, shag carpeting). KC and the Sunshine Band’s ‘Keep it Comin’ Love,’ ‘Shake Your Booty,’ ‘Get Down Tonight,’ and ‘That’s the Way I like it,’ blaring from the speakers, check. ‘boogie oogie oogie till you just can’t boogie no more,’ check. Tab for the ladies (it’s ‘low-cal’), check.”

S.L.: “Dallas here, ‘your captain who knows how to fly.’ Listen, Roger, I met some fine ladies on the Vegas/Newark leg. Were getting ‘The Missing Lady’ out of dry dock and heading to international waters. Better get down here before the best views are taken. Thanks for visiting Dallas (toothy smile & orange tan).”

Sc.P.: “Rrrrrroger THAT.”

Sc.P.: “Waking up in a strange bed, hearing her say ‘What’s your name again?’, and feeling relieved because that’s exactly what he was thinking. (attempt at seductive look) ‘Roger. Roger Johnson. And yours, sugar?’ ‘Farrah, Farrah Fine, nice to meet you,’ she says. Check.”

St.P.: “‘Condoms?! Those are for sailors,’ laughs Roger.”

(end)

Some might say, about that harmless exchange, “That’s not very spiritual.”

We disagree! It’s our belief that you should keep your creativity flowing and always make every effort to have a good time. Being in the moment and striving for personal growth doesn’t mean you have to be so serious all the time, and there is no strict spiritual code of conduct requiring you to sacrifice enjoyment (unless you choose to live your life in a religious order, for example, which may be more about learning discipline than gaining spiritual awareness). Laugh as much as you can, it’s good for your spiritual growth.

Copyright © 2009 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo

Scott Petullo and Stephen Petullo are identical twins

Now Pay Close Attention –

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Now, wait a minute. You are not a stage comedian or an actor. Your job is to sell something, not put on a clown act. How does humor fit into customer service?

And that’s exactly why this works: Everybody thinks just like the above paragraph. Because everybody thinks that way, nobody uses humor to ease a customer transaction. This causes the business world to take on a droning, monotonous tone: “How are you?” “Would you like a receipt?” “Thank you for shopping with us.” “Can I get you anything to drink with that?” “How may I assist you?’

It goes on and on, a routine that everybody sleepwalks through. Clearly, you don’t have to be very funny to break up the rhythm. Even a little, tiny bit funny does very, very well in the jet stream of flowing consciousness that is the consumer’s day. And they will remember it for the rest of the day.

Here is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen from real life. Do you like calling a business and hearing one of those droning phone menus that tell you to push a button for each option? Well, here’s another one:

Welcome to International Discount Brokerage!

This call may be recorded or monitored for quality assurance.

For stock trading, press 1.

To order a new account kit, press 2.

For stock quotes, press 3.

For other customer service, press 4.

If you are a netware points benefits customer, press 5.

To hear more about our easy-buy program, where you can secure future stock credits, press 6.

If you would like to hear a duck quack, press 7.

If you know your party’s extension, press 8.

To return to the main menu, press 9…

Or stay on the line for the next available customer service representative.

Thank you.

By the book, isn’t it? This is a real example from a real business. When customers pressed seven, they got exactly what they asked for: a recorded sound of one, routine duck quack. Then the menu came back. Believe it or not, this simple, silly trick led to millions of additional calls and eventually a 75% increase in new accounts! No really logical reason, except that people tended to view the business favorably if they could be a serious business and yet still have the grace to make a little fun of their own menu. This also helps to alleviate the tension of customers calling, since many people report that they don’t like automated phone menus.

Another co-worker had an interesting, amusing story he could tell. It was just something funny that happened to him. It took two minutes, tops, to run through, was very simple, and had no possibility of offending anyone. Those of us who worked with him heard it so many times that we got to memorize it ourselves. The handy thing was that he could bring it out to keep a customer occupied for two minutes while they were waiting for a transaction to be completed.

He could use it to break tension, lighten a customer’s mood, make a new friend, and sometimes he even changed it a little in order to work it in. To those of us who heard it all the time, it sounded almost like a recording, but the first time everybody heard it, they laughed or at least smiled, because he could tell it so naturally. I never once heard a customer complain about this employee; in fact, he got bonuses and good reviews all the time. It was simple, and yet brilliant in its simplicity.

You must always be careful not to have the possibility to offend anyone. Make sure that if the joke must poke fun at a target, the target is you. The shorter it is, the better. People who simply have no time or aren’t in the mood won’t mind that way, but the rest will smile or laugh. You, yourself might get tired of hearing yourself say it, but professional comedians do this all the time; they can memorize a spiel and tell it naturally and fluidly, from years of practice. The point is that you lightened the mood, made somebody smile, they subconsciously like you a little more, and you have also headed off a potential bad mood if the customer was already feeling a little stress.

Computers are a popular target. Stress from the inadequacies of dealing with computers are something any of us can identify with. And we all have computers at point-of-sale transactions, waiting for them to bring up an account, print out a receipt, or get an order loaded into the database. When working with computers behind a counter, I always took advantage of a hesitation on the machine’s part. Again, this is just something fast, simple, and silly. Pick up the mouse and talk into it like a microphone, as if trying to wake the computer up, or move your hand by the side of the monitor as if you were turning an imaginary crank to make it run faster.

When it did what I wanted it to do, sometimes I’d pat it on top of the monitor and say “Good boy!” before turning back to the customer. This quick, silly gestures help to establish that I couldn’t control everything, that slowness on my part was due to the machines and not my lack of trying. And it almost never failed that customers would launch into a remark or story about their frustrations in dealing with computers as well. It just helps to lighten the mood a little and everything goes more smoothly.

Sometimes, as in the phone menu example, it is also helpful to make a little light fun of your company’s own bureaucracy. We all have to deal with filling out complicated forms: stamp this, staple that, file it somewhere, sign something, and so on. Be sure that you have your manager’s approval for this one, and be sure you aren’t putting down your own employer. The key here is to make a light poke at the system itself, so that your customer understands that it’s the best way you have of dealing with something, but you realize it’s not perfect. Paperwork, like phone menus and computers, is another minor hassle that we all have to put up with, and so this also helps to identify that you empathize with frustrations the customer might have with the inadequacies of your system.

Surprisingly, humor in customer service isn’t actually so silly at all. It is serious business, costs nothing to implement, and in most cases can show an improvement on the bottom line. You just might laugh yourself right into a promotion!

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Weddings can surely bring tears to people’s eyes. It is one moving and inspiring event that makes us want to cry. When we see the bride walking down the aisle, we cannot help but reach for our handkerchief and dab the tears welling up in the corner of our eyes. When the father of the bride and the bride dance together or when the mother of the groom makes a speech, any spectator can easily be touched.

But weddings are not all about weeping. Many modern couples want to incite laughter as well. This can be achieved with the use of humorous wedding accessories that can make your guests laugh out loud. Here are some examples of this kind of wedding accessory.

Funny Fashion Apparel

1. T-shirts – Make a statement with t-shirts with printed funny texts. These shirts are ideal to use during the engagement party, bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, or bachelor’s (or bachelorette’s) party. To have this kind of shirts, you can buy wedding transfer iron on sheets that are available in many online wedding apparel stores.

• “The Bride is Mine” t-shirt
• “I Survived my Stag” t-shirt
• “I Stand Up For Brides” t-shirt
• “It’s all about Me” t-shirt

2. Flipflops – The pair of black and white “Just Married” sandals is the perfect footwear for the couple getting married at the beach or those who have tropical or Hawaiian themed wedding. The nice thing about this pair of flip flops is that it leaves the words “Just Married” imprinted on the sand when you walk on it.

3. Hats – Couples can be playful with the choice of hats they use for the wedding day or any party or gathering relevant to this occasion. The Brushed Cotton Twill Crusher Hat, Wedding Party Denim Crusher Hats, Bride & Groom Cowboy Hats, and the “Bride” Angora Down Brim Hat are just few of the many funny options that the couple can use as head wear.

Comical Wedding Décor and Favors Aside from personal accessories, decorative accessories and wedding favors that are funny in nature are also available to spur some laughter among the guests attending the wedding.

1. Table napkin – There are stylized personalized napkins available in various online wedding stores. You can have your initials printed on them or have a funny quote like “We are tying the knot (around our necks!)” or “Here comes the bridezilla, all dressed in white!” Of course, when choosing comical quips to put on the napkin, check with your partner if he or she is up to it, as you would not want to offend anyone with the text prints on the table napkin.

2. Cake toppers – In lieu of the tradition wedding cake topper, funny cake toppers are making their way to the hearts of many couples. Some of the funniest cake toppers we have seen include:

• “Princess Bride Kissing Frog Prince” cake topper
• “Cell Phone Fanatic Bride and Groom” cake topper
• “Golf Fanatic Groom Mix and Match” cake topper
• “Still Shopping Message Mix and Match” cake topper
• “Western Lasso Interchangeable” cake topper
• “Love Pinch Bridal Couple” cake topper

3. Wedding favors – Give away a memento that will not only serve as a souvenir for your wedding but also something that can elicit laughter from your guests.

• Novelty Popcorn Carton (with prints like “He popped the question” or “Topped with love”)
• “Sole mates” mini shoe polisher
• “We clicked” mouse pad
• “Love is cool” heart shaped mint candies

These humorous wedding accessories can surely turn your wedding day into a fun event that people will surely remember for a lifetime.