Can I Become Funnier?

We ask comedian Deborah Kimmett

- Courtney Shea

Are people born funny, or can they get better at it?

You can definitely get better. If you want to, one of the basic principles of comedy you can practise is disrupting people’s expectations—they think they’re going to hear one thing but then you say something that’s the exact opposite. So maybe you make it seem like you’re about to tell a really dirty joke but then the punchline is super clean. You’ll have people laughing not just at your joke, but at themselves.

Does it matter who’s the target of a joke, and who’s delivering it?

Absolutely. It’s not funny if you have a joke about a poor old lady running for the subway and then falling flat on her face. However, if the same thing happens to an arrogant jerk in a suit, that can be hilarious.