The Comedy Stylings of Bo Burnham – Bo Fo’ Sho’

Just came across this article on The Guardian website:

“Two years ago, Bo Burnham’s big brother Pete left his home in Massachusetts to attend Cornell University in New York. Burnham wanted to stay in touch, so he wrote a comic song for Pete entitled My Whole Family Thinks I’m Gay, videoed himself singing it, and posted it on YouTube. Continue reading

Germany’s Humour Museum?

Germany have launched a state-sponsored Museum of Humour! It’s the Caricatura Museum in Frankfurt. It’s a shrine to satir, the German sense of humour and comic art. They’re hoping to shatter the stereotype of the humourless German. What with that and their sense of humour possibly being the best, Germany’s doing some good things when it comes to humour. It’s curator, Achim Frenz said of the museum: Continue reading

Kimora Lee Simmons and the Hand of Destiny

I happened to watch an episode of the reality TV show Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane about the life of “model, mogul and mom” Kimora Lee Simmons. For readers who don’t know who she is (I barely know not being a fan of such programmes) she is a model who has her own company Baby Phat which produces urban fashion. She is the ex-wife of rapper Russell Simmons, he of Def Jam.

Anyway, in this particular episode she has to speak to a large audience, but she had a lot of notes written on her hand. She brought attention to this, but it didn’t seem to endear her to the crowd. Continue reading

Frankie Howerd and the rule of Toastmasters

Frankie Howerd clip; 2m 21 sec

(Above is a clip of late British comedian Frankie Howerd on the chat show Parkinson).

I got asked at a humour workshop that I ran recently the following question:

“How far can you push risque humour before it becomes too much at Toastmasters?”

Continue reading

Humorous Speech & Table Topics Contests

We had a really successful night at Grosvenor Square Speakers at the beginning of this week. We decided to experiment with the way the club chairs the contests and we divided duties successfully between myself as VPE and Debbie Mahs. Even though the club doesn’t usually run its contests this way, it made a refreshing change and also reflects how the contest is run in later rounds. Continue reading