How to Use Humorous One-liners in Your Speeches

I find that brief, humorous one-liners tend to fit better into the flow of a speech than longer forms of humor and are much easier to use, especially for beginners. Here are a few examples of one line humor and how I connect them to various speech topics. The first thing I do is take a look at my preparation notes and see if I can insert a relevant one liner into the content and flow of the talk. To do this I use the following format:

1. Speech Topic - List all your speech topics. You might have four or five specific topics upon which you build presentations.
2. One liner - Go to your files and select those one liners that could be used in each speech topic. Every speaker should be a collector of humor related to the subjects they speak about.
3. Context - Write the context out in point form or in paragraph form to make sure you know how and when to use the one liner in the speech.


Here are a few examples of one liners I use in my talks and how I insert them following this format.

* If speaking on the topic of diet and wellness this is an effective bit of humor, “ If we are what we eat, many of us are in serious danger of becoming french fries.” I establish the context like this: “The dietary habits of North Americans leave so much to be desired that if we are what we eat many of us are in danger of becoming french-fries. What you have to do is make sure that, in the flow of your speech, you include this context statement.

* If your presentation is on parenting or communication this one liner is a gift. I use it frequently and it always gets a laugh, “ Getting into an argument with a teenager is like getting into a peeing contest with a skunk. You’ll never win.” Set up the one liner like this, “ We all know the importance and the frustration involved in communicating with teenagers and many of us have come to the conclusion that communicating with a teenager is like getting into a peeing contest with a skunk...” Used like this the humor becomes a natural part of your talk. It isn’t merely inserted as an after thought. After I use this quote I proceed to tell a story from my own experience as a father which illustrates the truth of the one liner. ( Again I draw from my story files)


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