Humor Tricks for Struggling Quizmasters
So you’ve begun your gig as a quizmaster, hosting live trivia events at the local pub. You’re diligently armed with good public speaking skills, a happy demeanor, pens and an armload of fun, challenging trivia questions, and are ready to conquer the world. The only problem is, you’re not funny.
As I’ve argued many times in this blog, humor is perhaps the single most important skill a quizmaster can have. In order to keep a crowd engaged – especially in attention deficit zones like New York City, where I live – the trivia party host has to bring more to the table than great questions. Commanding the room for two hours requires a high degree of enthusiasm, wit and comedic timing. However, let’s face it: by and large, we quizmasters tend to come from the world of AP class and chess club, and aren’t the most naturally dynamic kids on the block.
Even if your humor skills are sub-par, there are several ways you can make your trivia nights more fun by giving the illusion that you are funny. You don’t have to force it – in fact, this is a surefire way to guarantee you WON’T come off as funny. Rather, let the audience work for you, and provide you with the comedic material you need to come off as a funny quizmaster. Try these tricks out at your next gig, and see what happens:
Dwell on Team Names – Rather than trying to come up with great humor all on your own, use the gifts of comedic fodder that attendees give you in the form of team names to maximum benefit. Especially after round one, as you are reading out the standings and people are hearing everyone’s team names for the first time, draw this out- you are most certain to have multiple funny team names. Ask the funny teams to identify themselves, then ask them how they came up with that name, what other names they considered & rejected, etc. Repeat the funny stuff they say on the microphone, laugh along with the crowd, and you’re done. No need to add any commentary of your own, this is funny enough.
Celebrate Wrong Answers – Teams always put wrong answers, and very often they are hysterical. If you’re not a natural comedian, you can always read out the funniest wrong answers given on each round, and perhaps give a point to the team with the “best” wrong answer. This goes over well, and also encourages more outrageous incorrect responses – thus providing more comedy material for you.
Solicit Jokes From the Audience – At some point, ask attendees to write a joke down on their answer sheets, and offer a point for the best one. You’ll suddenly have a whole slew of material to pick from, read out, and get laughs out of. Best of all, if the jokes aren’t funny and completely fall flat, no worries- they aren’t your jokes!
Hold a Doodling Contest – As a “mini game” in between rounds, ask teams to provide you with a work of art, and offer a point to the team with the funniest piece. Trust me, everyone will participate; you’ll then have a nice trove which you can then display/describe to the audience, the humor of each being self-evident.
With time, you will find your stride and learn how to inject humor into the event on your own, without having to rely on the audience for material. However, these tricks are great, easy ways to fill your event with more laughs, while making you come off as a comedic genius.
Give it a shot, and let us know how it goes! Good luck!