“Make ‘em laugh”

TL;DR

1. I learnt this from Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter

2. When you do this your audience sits up and listens

3. “…an Undercurrent of Self-Doubt”

I learnt this from Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter

One of Reagan’s most famous speechwriters is Peggy Noonan.

Not only was she a good speechwriter – her career as a powerful voice on her own has inspired a number of female speechwriters of my acquaintance to realise they can write for men’s voices.

Anyway, in her excellent book On Speaking Well Noonan talks about how to start a speech.

And the first thing she says to do is pick up the phone and call a friend.

When (or if?) that friend picks up, tell them you’re writing a speech, what the subject is, who the audience is – and then ask them for something funny to say about it.

That’s right – the very first thing Noonan recommends is to start with a laugh.

And here’s the interesting thing:

She doesn’t say ‘unless it’s a serious subject’.

Why?

Because starting with a smile is ALWAYS a good thing.

Yes – even when it’s a serious topic.

The reason is because starting with a laugh helps to break the ice – to relieve the tension that’s always there when somebody gets up to speak.

By giving them something to smile about, you’ve told them a few important things:

1. You understand them – after all, you’ve just made them smile

2. You’re a human being

3. You’re not (immediately) boring

All of which adds up to one important message:

They can relax

And a relaxed audience is a friendly audience.

Now, to clarify – don’t tell a funny story that has nothing to do with what you’re saying.

That’s a waste of time and space.

And it tells your audience you’re not saying anything worth listening to.

So if you’re telling a story – make it relevant.

But you CAN make asides that have nothing to do with the point.

The difference is that an aside is short – a story requires multiple sentences.

It’s simple economics: the investment of time and mental energy for your audience in an aside is minimal – so if the only return on that investment is a smile or laugh, that’s fine.

But the investment on a story – no matter how short – is greater.

So the return on that investment has to be greater too.

When you do this your audience sits up and listens

So starting with a smile makes people sit up and listen.

But the same holds true of the rest of your speech, too.

I once got no less than THREE laughs in a speech for a national regulator about greenwashing (making misleading statements about sustainability in your company).

The first was at the start – I opened by making them laugh.

The other two were scattered in the speech, among long statements of the regulatory direction.

Snooze.

Not because the topic wasn’t relevant to the audience – it was.

But by its nature the material was heavy.

And your audience always – ALWAYS – has more on their mind than what you’re saying.

So listening means more effort.

That’s why I put in a couple of laughs – because it helped to lighten the heavy subject.

Every time you make people chuckle in the middle of heavy thinking, you help them recharge.

They sit up and listen all over again.

Now, again, you can overdo this.

Make ‘em laugh with asides – use funny stories VERY sparingly.

And always relate them.

Keep your asides short – and while they don’t have to contribute to your point, they DO have to follow from what you just said.

“…an Undercurrent of Self-Doubt”

Let’s see all this in action.

Last month Japanese Prime Minister gave a speech to the U.S. Congress that made some waves.

You can read the full speech here.

The full speech is worth reading for a number of reasons – but for our purposes, I’ll just be quoting the relevant sections.

Here’s how he starts:

“Mr. Speaker, Madam Vice President, Honorable Members of the United States Congress, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you, I never get such nice applause from the Japanese Diet.”

Now, I’ve spoken before about why I don’t like opening with thanks.

But he keeps it short, so that’s not too bad.

And then he immediately follows with a joke about the applause.

Not only is this amusing – it also praises his audience.

A double whammy.

Then he talks about his connection to America, and a little while later says…

“And I remember things that were strange and funny to a little Japanese boy, like watching the Flintstones. I still miss that show. Although I could never translate "yabba dabba doo."”

Another laugh – how would you translate ‘yabba dabba doo’?

Then he goes back to serious:

“After 60 years, I have a message for the good people of Queens. Thank you for making my family and me feel so welcome. I have never forgotten it.

So, I speak to you today as a long and close friend of the United States. I know that the National Park Service is undertaking a rehabilitation project in the Tidal Basin.

As a gesture of friendship, Japan will provide 250 cherry trees that will be planted there, in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of your independence.”

He then continues in a serious – powerful – and passionate vein for most of the speech.

Then after talking negatives, he returns to the positive.

After speaking of how Japan and the U.S. are collaborating in many ways, including their space programme, he injects a little more levity:

“We have two astronauts with us today. Would Mr. Hoshide and Mr. Tani please stand?

Mr. Akihiko Hoshide has flown to space three times and served as commander of the International Space Station for five months in 2021.

Next to him, is Mr. Daniel Tani. He is a retired Japanese American astronaut who has conducted six spacewalks and in his two missions logged over 50 million miles.

Which is a lot of frequent-flyer points.”

Frequent-flyer points. Not hilarious – but it gets a smile before he wraps up his speech.

So here’s the point:.

If you want people to listen – make ‘em laugh.

Talk soon,

Alexander Westenberg

P.S.

Need speechwriting, corporate training, or coaching? DM me on LinkedIn or send me an email at [email protected]