The London Speaker blog has just posted an interview with Jonathan Palmer last year’s Divison B Humorous Speech winner. It’s a really good and revealing article. Palmer talks about why he didn’t make the grade and win the contest at District (National) level. It’s a key distinction. Read the rest of this entry

There seems to be an obvious answer to the above question – how do you know your jokes are funny? Surely, you tell someone, or an audience, a joke and they laugh then it’s funny. Great. Simple and straight-forward. Especially if you have preparation time. Read the rest of this entry

As you’ve probably seen this week Saturday 16 August was the end of the International Speech Contest which culminated in a new world champion of public speaking being crowned – LaShunda Rundles. Read the rest of this entry

Humour and Freedom of Speech. It’s an interesting concept as it’s one that comes up again and again throughout history. Well, modern history at least. You might be thinking: “wow Jase, this is a bit of a dry boring topic for your blog”

Well, stick with me as it contains some useful intel on the dons and don’t of giving a humorous speech. I was drawn to write a post about it because of the forthcoming humorous speech contest held annually with Toastmasters. Now, in the rules themselves it states:
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I found a UK-based website which did research a few years ago to find the world’s funniest joke. In the process it determined that certain countries have preferences for certain types of humour, which is obvious when you think about it. But what I find fascinating is what type of humour seems to have been preferred. Read the rest of this entry