A funny story

Today involved me going to a lecture that was cancelled, filling out a log book that I was meant to have done at the same time as my project. With that out the way, I handed in my Java assignment. I then went to the Prayer Lunch a little early, walking with Becca because she was also going early to help with the food (I was just tagging along, otherwise I'd have gotten home and left again in a few minutes). I was not actually there for the Prayer Lunch. There was some Society meeting thing, Emma is our Social Secretary who is in charge of organising social events but was unable to go. Steve was doing some dissitation thing. As such, Becca was going to go. She was very nervous about it so I offered to go along with her as I had some experience of meetings. Well, it wasn't a very organised meeting and I wasn't really needed but it was nice to be able to help. Now, for my article. So far I've had a sum total of zero suggestions. I will therefore assume that everybody here thinks I'm so great that they would have started a fanclub of me if they had the chance and simply think that any of my ideas will be far better. As silly as that sounds, I'll assume it's what's happening until I get a (sensible or at least semi-sensible) suggestion. Today I will (try to) explain some basic principles in telling a funny story. The story I will use is not a long one, actually, that's one of the key points, for a good funny story, you need it to be quick and not drag on too much. The story is also quite simple and easy to follow, another key issue in picking your story, but I'm trying to explain my views on the telling of a chosen story. Enough bandying about the point, it's sometimes useful but generally a bad idea if you're telling a quick and funny story. My chosen story is a tale of my first ever attempt to combat facial spots. For those that know, I have a fairly well cultivated crop of spots on my face, I think they've somehow evolved to feed on anti-spot creams. The bad way to tell the story My Mum got me some spot wipes, telling me they'd remove spots. I applied some and went to school. I was told that my face was all red and looked sunburnt, true, it was. The reason was that I was meant to have wiped off the spot cream. I spent the next few days applying moisturiser to my face. Now, if you really only have 60 seconds to tell the story, maybe you need to cut it down like that, however, it might be best to just tell the story another time, stories tend to be a bit naffer the second time round, the exception being if there's a good break in their telling. This story was told to Sarah about a year ago, she found it funny when I told her on Tuesday. The much better way to tell the story My Mum got me some spot wipes for my face. Apparently they'd remove spots so I applied them and went to school as per usual. At school that day, some of us (myself included) were giving a presentation about some tooth related thing. I did it and felt pretty confident about myself, however, in the Psychology lesson just afterwards, everybody told me I looked really nervous and that I was still flushed. I calmly explained that i was quite okay and there was no need to worry.       By the end of the lesson, they remarked that I was still flushed and almost looked a little sunburnt! My skin felt fine so I told them they were clearly wrong and that I wouldn't be sunbathing anywhere, let alone Wales. I got home and my face was feeling a little sensitive and tight. My Mum commented that I looked like I had sunburn too! Well, it transpires that the wipes were used correctly except that I forgot to wash them off. So, for the next few days I was putting moisturiser on my face and not talking about sunbathing if I could help it. Aside from being longer, what is the key difference in the second telling? I'm fairly sure you found the second funnier. The first thing is that I set the scene more, I explain about how I went to school that day, about some of the events leading up to the "punchline" as it were. I also built up to the "punchline", slowly giving out an idea of what has happened. Odds are you know it's the spot cream but you can't help but think it might be something else. Finally, I put more emphasis on the sillyness of myself and the mistake I made. I make it abundantly clear that I am to blame and thus, I am the one being laughed at. When the storyteller is poking fun at themselves, it's a lot easier to laugh (well, I assume so, I laugh regardless of who tells it). Now, armed with this information, think of a silly thing you did that's not wrong, but is not going to make you look good if people knew about it. Right, try applying the above ideas to it and telling people that don't know about the event. Tomorrow on my blog, I plan to post a story that will in some way mock Lorna and maybe one or two other people. I figured that it's fun to laugh at people such as Lorna the Neck Limpet, the blog will of course have a meaning/message to/in it but what that is, is a secret (for now).