You Can Be Funny and Make People Laugh: No Fluff. No Theories. 35 Humor Techniques that Work for Everyday Conversations

by Gregory Peart

★★★Brand New and OVER 250 SPECIFIC EXAMPLES★★★

Finally be funny by learning my hand-picked 35 humor techniques, including:

The number one way to make anyone laugh

The technique that immediately improves over 50% of everything you say How to offer more colorful descriptions Exactly how to create more entertaining observations How to instantly position the conversation into playful mode How to play along with group conversations How to maintain playful and entertaining conversations How to sound funnier The exact ratio of details to add to every comment How to tell the perfect story every time What phrase types elicit more laughter The words that immediately improve every phrase What part of stories is the most important for getting the laugh Understand why some words are funnier than others Understand exactly how to improve your jokes

...and 20 more of the best techniques! Humor is the best and most valuable social skill you could ever learn. What are you waiting for? 

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Social, Self Help

251 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 21, 2019

About the author

Gregory Peart, M.Ed., is the founder of socialupgrader.com, the place for awesome social skills techniques, tips, and general life advice.

Reviews

[Rebecca Finley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste your time reading this book

If you want to learn to be funny, read a book such as "The Comedy Bible" or "The Comic Toolbox." This one is shallow (it's full of "what's," such as "imagine"), redundant (several "techniques" are the same presented differently) and most importantly, dull. I tried hard to find a funny example, and when I did it was a quote by Woody Allen. All other good books on comedy are mostly hilarious! (Because they teach by role modeling and providing examples, not because they are books of jokes.) Why learn about turning vanilla comments into funny ones from someone who doesn't do it?

The author's selling point is that other comedy books are for aspiring comedians, while this one is for the average Joe who wants to be a more engaging, fun conversationalist in every day life . . . False. He ends up recommending the same techniques (such as exaggerating or using analogies), and those other books are very good anyway for people who just want to be funnier.

The author also says there's no agreement on what makes something funny . . . Wrong again. Other books about comedy clearly explain it. (Read for instance "How to Kill in Comedy" by Steven North, which is a great read.)

Judge for yourself. Here are a few excerpts of what the author considers funny (phrases that were originally lame, AFTER he applied his advice). For me, there's nothing funny, new, or effective at all in this book. (Disclaimer: The following samples are random, in case you're wondering if I picked only the non-funny parts.)

"Justin: You always have to keep everything don’t you? You’re such a hoarder. Melissa: I’m not a hoarder—I like to think of myself as a ‘rescuer of trash.’ I’m more saver than hoarder." (That answer by Melissa is AFTER the author 'fixed' a vanilla answer and turned it into this 'funny' one.)

"Here are some more similes to whet your fancy:
- He was so happy! He acted like he just won a million dollars.
- That looks like a 1970s shag carpet.
- Look at you with your notepad and pen—you’re like a news reporter.
- We’re all getting sick, except John, he’s like an ox. It’s becoming like The Wild West around here! He’s like the guy who only calls when he needs something."

Look, if you found any of the above sentences remotely funny (or even creative . . . or useful examples of how to use similes to "make people laugh," as the title claims), then by all means buy this book!

"Children: What are we eating tonight? Mother: Daddy’s cooking dinner this time… so it may or may not be edible."

How as that funny, witty, engaging or non-vanilla?

One last example from this book: "But what about making people laugh, you ask? Talk to any comedian and they’ll tell you that the skill of making people laugh starts by creating opportunities for laughter."

How are assertions such as the last one expert advice? They aren't. (Sorry Mr. Peart, but this is an honest review of your book by someone who doesn't know you.)

[Jeff Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. I'd say the ONLY book to read if you want to improve your sense of humor and be funnier. I found it overly detailed, but I'd rather have detail than fluff any day.

[John Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. This is so contrived

I couldn't get through this full book. It reads like a superficial bloggers life hacks for emotionally immature and insecure people to get more attention. Basically his advice is to always *be on* and *try* to be funny. It's practically a PUA guide for nerds. "You may not be super good looking, but make people laugh and chicks will dig ya!" While I get that being humorous is a skill that can help build confidence in specific social contests or help in public speaking, anyone with a sense awareness knows most situations in life don't require (or want) people to always be *on* or *try* to be funny. Its obnoxious if a funny person is standing in life with you in the bank or grocery store. You need to Read the room. If you're around light spirited folks, then join in. But being told all situations in life need to be made into fun situations or you're *too serious* not only lacks awareness, UT is also shaming. His descriptions of people who don't try and be funny at any given moment lacks empathy and verges on ableism. He describes how a boring person "takes too long to process information". What if the person is on the autism spectrum, had PTSD, suffers a cognitive disorder or ADHD? These are conditions where a person needs to take time process information. Hence, according to our party man guru here...they're boring. I would give this book a one star, but I know some one will find this useful even if didnt.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Somewhat repetitive concerning the examples and jokes but the book definitively gives some material one can use to make conversation fun and remarkable.

And those who stopped reading at the infamous page 70 (in fact the hurtful joke extends into page 71), the book gets better, much better after that.

[Dulat Sargaskayev · Rating 5 out of 5]

became a meme within my uni program, after I told my friends that I am READING a book on how to be funny...
I guess it is a funny and pretty useful conversation starter
Sometimes gotta take one for the team, to get the laughs going at the table... after all, its gets the job done

Good book, and useful recommended viewings

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this book if you want to learn how to tell jokes like someone's annoying Dad

[Morgan Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Feels like the awkward guy studied how to be funny and I can feel the cringe through every page. Don’t know what i was looking for out of this but I struggled on every page.

[Crystal Nesemeier · Rating 5 out of 5]

book teaches you how to be funny!

Easy, fun read! My comedy skills levelled up after this book! I keep making my family laugh! Will read more of your books, Gregory Peart!

[Becky Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not intended to be a humor book, so you need to go into it with the right mindset. At times, I felt there was a bit too much detail but it was interesting reading about the "whys" behind humor and what makes something funny vs. not. I had never really put a lot of thought into that before.

* Thanks to BookSirens and the publisher for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Julias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

I give it 5-star. The author’s got it.
Too short to get post.... ok so
It’s actually the funny/ humor you can see from those witty characters in movies or life. Practical though.
Other books in kindle are all standup comedians self help and not about humor. Wasted time+money and made me appreciate this even more.
The author should work more on the marketing of the books.. @•@

[Archan Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

To me it was much more of a common knowledge book for someone who is socially awkward. All the techniques that they talk about are pretty common among affable people, but then maybe that's the whole point of this book.

[Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entertaining and interesting book featured numerous examples of boring conversations made more lively, enjoyable, and amusing with simple tweaks and minimal effort. Tips for better storytelling were also included along with a few hilarious examples. The author pointed out quite clearly from the start that humor is completely subjective and warned that it was highly unlikely that any one person would find all the examples and techniques humorous, but that hopefully a lot of them would be appealing to everyone reading the book. I think he succeeded. He also included research material from various comedians, youtube clips, podcasts, etc., so that we can see the practical applications of the techniques in real life. I liked a lot of things about this book but especially that he focused on positive humor.

I was given a free copy of this book, but that did ot affect my review.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips for adding humor to a conversation

I enjoyed this book. I’ll start off by saying that the book itself isn’t funny. It isn’t a humor book. But author Geoffrey Peart gives lots of great tips on how to add humor to ordinary conversation. While I was reading the book, I started to pay more attention to how I add humor to my own conversations and it turns out that I use Peart’s techniques. I think that following Peart’s advice will be worthwhile, just be prepared to get odd looks occasionally because not everything you try will work, as I have discovered many times. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to be able to add humor to a conversation.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes

[Terri J · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best. I had to read it twice but this is a life - changer.

[Darius Pintilie · Rating 3 out of 5]

23.08.2023: kind of basic, dont think ill reread it