Billy Riggs

The Twelve Immutable Laws of Humor: Featuring 100 of the World's Greatest Jokes! Billy Riggs

The Twelve Immutable Laws of Humor will improve your public speaking skills and help you get your point across in any situation. With 100 jokes, it is also fun to read!

Law Number 1: The Law of Abandonment says a funny story should be told with reckless abandon. If you appear to be unsure if your joke is funny, your audience will be sure that it is not. Go out on a limb and saw it off.

Law number 2: The Law of Inflation says that a joke should build as a balloon is blown up, and the punchline should be delivered suddenly as a balloon is popped. Furthermore, experience shows that the best jokes take 3 breaths. Rarely do jokes have 2 or 4 ... it is usually 3. Three is the magic number to build the tension before the balloon is popped.

Law Number 3: The Law of Prompting says that audiences laugh when told to laugh. Two frequently employed prompts used by comedians such as David Lettermen are raising the eyebrows, and holding forth upturned palms. Watch his delivery, and you will see he always queues the audience with a prompt just before delivering the punchline.

Law Number 4: The Law of Deflation says that the punchline should be delivered as quickly and concisely as possible. Long punchlines rarely work. Punchlines can also be broken into smaller pieces, allowing the audience to get the joke before you have finished the punchline, and complete the joke while they are laughing.

You'll have to read the book to find out the others!