Groom speeches are by tradition not funny. In fact, these are considered as the most serious of all wedding speeches. Nevertheless, not a few people appreciate funny groom speeches as these tend to hold the attention of the audience a while longer than the serious ones. But how do you turn a serious speech into a funny one? Here are the dos and don’ts.
Do use some funny stories. Nearly everyone has some funny experiences which many people may find quite amusing. It is, thus, likely that you have your own funny stories to share. So, share these stories. Although there is no one joke that can make everybody in the crowd laugh ’til they cry, there are certain funny anecdotes that can hit your crowd’s funny bone. Be choosy when it comes to jokes though. Don’t just crack a joke, choose discriminately the ones that won’t make anyone feel uncomfortable.
Do use an entertaining one liner. One liners are instant jokes that can somewhat guarantee that some people in the audience would laugh. But, when picking up a one liner, be sure to find one that is not common and already abused. They have probably heard these common jokes someplace else already. Also, make it a point not to refer to sexual subjects (this is somewhat the job of the best man) and cliches that refer to the same thing.
Ready your guests for the climax of the joke – the punch line. Grooms often make the mistake of saying the punch line without building enough momentum first. This is mostly because the groom was too anxious to make the people laugh with his joke. The character of the groom is also a huge factor to the failure – if he’s not naturally funny, he is most likely to kill the joke for lack of skills. Be natural and you’ll surely make your crowd fall off their seats.
Be creative. Give your listeners something orginal. The audience often has the ear for original speeches, if yours sound too generic, they’d probably lend their ears to something else. So add color to your speech. Use materials that are unconventional, or perhaps something that is out of this world.
Do use some old jokes, but remake them. Old jokes can still make your audience laugh. One that usually makes people giggling is the one where the groom reads some portions of his speech, rips his script off, and say that it was the script from his previous marriage. If you feel that the audience would buy this, crack it. If not, try to look for other jokes that can still entertain your audience.
Don’t make up an anecdote that never really happened to you. If you plan on making it sound like a joke, a make up anecdote is an okay choice. But when you present it as a funny event that really happened, you might as well abandon the idea. Not everybody really gets away with a fake anecdote so it’s better that you just say what really happened.
Don’t act like a stand-up comedian. Don’t overdo it if you’re trying to be funny. funny groom speeches are made to improve the mood of your listeners, not to make you look like a comedian.
