“I went to see the psychiatrist the other day, he reckons I’m paranoid - he didn’t say so but I knew what he was thinking” .

Funny -hilarious as far as I’m concerned, I’m sitting here chuckling to myself right now even though its as old as the hills this is my humour and what I find amusing and what I use on a daily basis in various situations from work to down the pub, it works for me but might not work for you.

That’s the thing with humour we all have different tastes, some people will find slapstick sidesplitting whilst others prefer deadpan,  you have to find out what your humour is and where it can be used. I cannot do funny voices, I cannot do funny walks or impressions and I cannot recite 10 jokes in a row so I don’t try, I can do deadpan and general amusing observations of the situations and world around us and the occasional joke like above so this is what I stick to.

I think the main thing about being funny is for it to come naturally but you still have to learn and improve and adjust your repertoire as you learn when and where being funny is suitable and what type of funny is acceptable. The joke above has a limited audience, it wouldn’t work in a junior school and likewise I wouldn’t use the above joke in the pub for fear of looking like some smug smartass, you need to have jokes to suit all occasions from being in the bar on a Saturday night to having afternoon tea with the vicars wife.

 Again this is learned over time and by gently pushing the barriers of people and what they will accept so you will know how far you can go without offending which can be a very fine line. As you meet other people in different situations you will realize what is funny and acceptable to that specific group and will learn what is successful and can be taken further and what meets deathly silence and should never ever be tried again.

Being funny is a talent, some people can sing, others dance, some paint and some of us can be funny but the funniest people are the ones who let it come naturally and don’t have to try to be funny. They have scores of witty one liners and comebacks stored and ready for immediate use when a suitable situation arises, but again this is achieved through years of learning and practice as well, you have to be able to access this store of “prepared material” instantly for it to work though, even 3 seconds too late with a quip and you’ll look lame and like you are trying to hard.

 Robin Williams has (in my opinion) got to be one of the greatest comedians of all time, his brain must be running flat out 24hours a day, he can do it spontaneously and endlessly, the jokes never stop, they are all connected and not misjointed or just wild ramblings and I don’t just mean in his stand up routines, I mean he is like that whenever you see him - a true comedy genius. However this is his career, he has dedicated his whole life to being funny, he has an amusing face, and can make you laugh just by the way he enters the room, he is suited to this, it comes naturally to him and he has honed and improved his skill over decades to create the person he is nowadays but he will forever be remembered as Mork, a sign of truly great genius to take something with no life or soul from a script and then make it his character forever.

There are no real tips for being funny short of being yourself, observing the world and people around you from a slightly twisted perspective and then sharing your observations with others and adding a little extra here and there (artistic license) to over-exaggerate the situation. If you are lucky enough to be very quick and spontaneous then go for the witty retorts, if you can do the perfect impression and mannerisms of Mr Obama or Stephen Hawking (check your audience for that one) then go for it, if you can run off endless jokes one after the other then do it, if all you can do is make your 6 year old laugh then accept that is your funny capability and live with it, it will always be the most rewarding laughter you will ever hear  (why is the sand wet ? because the seaweed - try it they`ll love that one).

Wearing an extremely wild shirt with mis-matched naked Homer Simpson tie with red rimmed oversized glasses does not get you into the category of being funny, neither does trotting out quotes from old Monty Python films that used to be funny and then heading off the the water cooler doing an extremely lame version of “We are the knights who say Ni”  or the black knights “none shall pass”  also do not generally pass for being funny unless you are 20 year old students so  please, please, please stop.