3rd English/Well-Being Through Comedy (Free & Online)

English/Well-Being Through Comedy Group

(For native and non-natives!)

March Dates! 18:30-19:30: Tuesday: 10th, Wednesday: 11th / Tuesday: 17th Wednesday 18th: Thursday 19th

Have you ever written a joke, or talked about a challenging situation with humor…only to help you transcend the gravity of that situation?! Or perhaps you have heard some British jokes and are still trying to understand them?

Well, this group would be a supportive, fun and collaborative comedy learning effort.

What to expect?
You'll have a turn to read out some of things you've thought could be funny and at the same time, the rest of the group will do a ‘Try not to laugh’ dare, however, the group will applaud you for your bravery with smiles ‘a plenty’ I predict!

Why the ‘try not to laugh’ dare in a comedy club?
As a newbie to jokes/stand-up, it would be very normal and understandable to ‘bomb’ (meaning = to fail in being funny) and because comedy takes a lot of learning and practice as a real art form then to lessen the actual rejection of ‘bombing’, you can instead think that most people are perhaps trying hard to hold back their laughs!

Is there a way of improving my comedy skills here?
Although I don't claim to be a ‘guru’ of comedy, if people fail the ‘try not to laugh’ dare, then remember which punchline they laughed at because that joke was likely rather good!
In this way, we can learn naturally but I shall try to also work in some time for us to discuss our own or just my own findings for the mechanics of different kinds of jokes, famous jokes and which joke type these perhaps fit best with and why plus how to create similar jokes.
If there are a mix of natives and non-natives then there could be requests to further explain why famous jokes in their/our country are much loved and so it could mean learning about the cultural frames of reference that make them work, so we'll hopefully be ‘all the more cultured’ by the end.

What English speaking and listening level do I need to be to enjoy the company of fellow non-natives and also native English speakers here?
Well, you don't have to pretend to understand everything and feel like you're lying that you understand by nodding your head because I'll make it clear to all people that if you are asked by someone to give you feedback and after you give it, all that someone does is ‘nod’ - we can all interpret that as they may have agreed with the feedback or they may have not understood the feedback and they are just trying to be polite either way. But, no one will be able to remain in the group if they want to try to criticize people for a polite nod because being more of a beginner in any language is hard and NOT a judgement of your true intelligence, so don't worry. I'll try to write up the main bits of everyone's original jokes but also the feedback/alterations you might like next to your original with a brief written explanation of why it could work better, especially if it's concerning English grammar or British colloquialisms or British ‘cultural frames of reference’ that make the written suggestions work better.

How about the tone?
Although dark humor is not ‘off limits’, freedom of speech has value and I believe that people of all different beliefs should be able to air and discuss various opinions calmly and in a civilized way - I like to try, as much as possible, to create a light-hearted vibe, where the material we read out is not emotionally raw for us so as not to re-traumatize the reader. If any jokes you hear are upsetting…please mute the volume and take a break and then consider whether it's worth re-joining at any point after relevant therapy perhaps? I will allow myself the same right as I don't know what I can handle even though I tend to laugh the most at dark humor!
Again, consider whether your jokes are harvesting too much negative emotions from you, such as hate/disgust/anger…which could then possibly boil over into a humiliating loss of emotional control if challenged by someone in the group or if you take it to an open mic and get challenged by a heckler.
However, you decide whether you want more than just my feedback…which I'll try to word as positively as possible – be aware that some others in the group might not word things as positively as possible, despite my encouraging positive feedback if asked.
However, if I hear any overly critical feedback though, even if people try to frame as ‘resilience building’, I'll ask those people to leave. For example, I won't stand for any feedback like this: ‘the first line is utter nonsense, you haven't even tried to remember a punchline in the second and the third line makes me question your mental health.’
No thank you to that kind of feedback!
(And instant block for any sexual stuff)

The aim?
This is a ‘safe space’ to take big risks that could otherwise feel like self-harm if it bombs at an open mic when all we need is a safe, creative place to vent instead.
It is also an opportunity to focus on genuinely transcending heavy/stressful times in life with joy as opposed to anger/hate/disgust as these emotions tend to disguise hurt feelings and could therefore possibly sustain such emotions.
That's not to say I'm against edgy jokes with swear words, but I just feel it's a wasted opportunity in this setting, plus there is more challenge in creating laughs with no swear words/harsh negative edge, not that they're banned.

What's in it for all of us, including me?
Like me, you might also want to hone developing comedy skills/knowledge to better ‘lift people's spirits’ when times are tough, thereby creating more of a meaningful life whilst congratulating others for the tough times they've survived and also learning from them the jokes and skills they use to emotionally and spiritually transcend such times through the joy of comedy!