when the delivery fails, i like to default to a old Mitch Hedberg joke.
That joke was funnier than you people acted.
if dude wants to really fuck with his teacher, he should show up with a detailed report on the creation of his joke, how the execution of his joke failed, and why the audience was wrong to misunderstand it. possible bonus points would be to veeeeery subtly insinuate that the joke was just over their heads, as meta humor sometimes is.
you could conclude the study with thoughts on how subjective and varied humor is. maybe bring up how that joke slayed when you performed it for your test audience, but then fell flat with the actual audience.
This reminds me of a skit I once saw, maybe 30 Rock. Lorne Michaels told someone “Ask me what the most important thing in comedy is” “What’s the mos” “Timing.”
This could have worked really well if done properly.
Including a broken video link, briefly asking for help from the teacher before turning back and saying “Actually, let’s make this a learning experience”.
Slide 1: Linking Broken Videos.
“It’s important when you use videos to make sure the video file exists on your thumb drive! If you’re using YouTube links, then just double check the video still exists before your presentation and make sure to have backups. If you’re linking to a file host it’s always worth making sure you don’t meet the free quota and have it blocked as a really unfortunate time”.
Gesture strongly and drop remote.
“Whoops! Let me get that”.
Slide 2: Dropping the Remote.
“So make sure you don’t gesture too wildly when you’re presenting. It can look pretty odd if you’re flailing around”
Slide 3: Inflatable arm flailing tube man video (properly linked).
“Talking with your hands is good for emphasis, but make sure to be reasonable and use your non-dominant hand so you don’t throw things at Suzie. Sorry Suzie”
Smile at person near where the remote fell.
If your presentation is about pitfalls to avoid in presentations then it could go down really well and could be seen as clever and funny. You have to have confidence to pull it off. Make mistakes, but be sure of yourself and make them a part of the presentation.
Sounds like OP was just trying to be funny and not clever, which can come across as awkward if the confidence is lacking. You might get a laugh during your presentation, you might not. Doesn’t matter because every mistake made by anyone else will get a smile now. It simultaneously takes the weight off others for making mistakes and legitimises your presentation by making it appear relevant.
I say all of this as someone who had zero confidence in school and would absolutely not have been able to pull this off. Confidence is just a fake it til you make it thing. You will be awkward at first, but learn to laugh at yourself and it gets a lot easier.
If you have a reputation of being a joker and deliver your lines with a twinkle in your eye, this will kill. If you appear to be an average 4Chan user, haven’t said a word all semester, and run with deadpan delivery, this will look deranged.
If the execution was merely failing tasks and then revealing that the failure was planned, then I can understand why the teacher was pissed. The goal was obviously to get people talking, so if they didn’t actually talk about the material on their slides then they didn’t fulfill the project.
Eg: if slide 1 was revealed to be “Display a broken video” then OP should have then started talking about the importance of a broken video in a 5m presentation. Answer the question “Why is displaying a broken video important?”. Talk how no presentation is complete without a technical glitch, talk about how people can test their videos before presenting, etc.
I’m not saying that the idea wasn’t funny, but the goal was to present 5 minutes worth of material, not to shuffle awkwardly for 5 minutes and then reveal a joke.
Getting meta and doing a bad presentation about doing a bad presentation. I think it’s funny in concept, but the problem with doing infuriating things on purpose is that they are still infuriating regardless of why you do them.
I think the key to this type of humor is really in the delivery. You have to be absolutely convinced that it’s funny as shit or it won’t work. If you half-ass it, it’ll just be cringe.
Also for those who have done comedy, you’ll know that this might not necessarily be OPs fault. His execution may have been fantastic, it just was the wrong crowd on the wrong day. Given another audience or another day, the context could change just enough to make it work. There are so many reasons people flop.
So if you are a comedian struggling with your set please remember; it’s not your fault. You are funny.
Also quit now before you drop any more money on an improv class. Find a more profitable hobby like shooting heroin.
Basically, the guy did a prank as a presentation. Pranks are only funny when you’re not the one being pranked on. Since the audience was being pranked on, they hated it.
Dunno, maybe 20-something me would find that funnier, as a jaded 30-something I’d just roll my eyes at that, either as the professor or a student. The setup of those slides is weak
I hear ya but I don’t know, when I was in college it was always “the professor”, never “the teacher”, and I think it’s far-fetched that a prof reached out to the counseling staff over some dumb kid in a 101 class goofing off.
The whole plan is backwards. Anon got the punchline before the setup.
Putting the punchline first can be funnier, but it require even better timing and a complete hold on the audience’s attention. Also it’s too on the nose.
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