As Jack Valenti, former president of the Motion Picture Association of America, and speech writer for President Lyndon Johnson, once said, with humor "timing is everything."
And you can see how that is true with this example where a speaker was reminding his audience about the destruction results of seeking revenge when wronged by somebody else.
He started off with the the explanation that during the course of, I usually run into a number of people I consider to be real twits because of thoughtless ( sometimes intentionally) sarcastic or provoking remarks. And no doubt I have offended an equal number of persons by my own failings many times. About the only way I could avoid this failing completely would be to sleep all day -- And then I snore."
No it is not the kind of stuff that resulted in howling laughter -- but with good pausing and a self-deprecating tone of voice it did bring a few smiles and chuckles and create anticipation for the rest of his presentation.
Another important thing to keep in mind with humor is that it should be relevant to the rest of your material. And in this case the speaker when on to discuss the self-destructive nature of seeking revenge against somebody because they have wronged you.
He continued on following these introductory remarks with the illustration of two brothers who although living in the same house for over 40 years refused to speak to each and how one brother was completely devastated when the other brother died unexpectedly -- and how this brother sobbed, " I loved my brother.... I ...I just thought he should have spoken to me first."
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