In this post, we will examine WHY bother to do roasts and boasts?
As a public speaker, especially in Toastmasters, the roast gives you a great opportunity to develop the skills that go into effective speech-making. We’ll examine some of those more closely as we address five reasons WHY do roasts and boasts.
Why do a roast?
1) Honor the roastee
2) Information gathering
As discussed in the earlier posts, a roast takes a kernel of truth about a person and then finds material – anecdotes and jokes – to exaggerate those truths greatly. To do this effectively, you must first gather information about the roastee. Then you gather your anecdotes and jokes to craft the roast. These topics are covered in upcoming posts – and come together when we roast Arnold Schwarzenegger.
3) Delivery of Jokes
Delivery of jokes has two components. First, there is the effective telling of the joke. Pacing, timing. But there is also the graceful acceptance of a joke that falls flat. Any comedian will tell you that on some nights an audience will roar at their material, and on another night, the audience barely chuckles, yet the material has not changed. Knowing how to move on despite an awkward silence is a wonderful practice and skill to develop. There is a documentary titled, American Masters: Johnny Carson: King of Late that gives a fascinating overview of the 30-year career of Johnny Carson. Johnny had so mastered the failing of a joke during his monolog that it became something audiences looked forward to. THAT is mastery of the delivery of jokes.
4) Storytelling
Storytelling, hands down, is the meat and potatoes of good speech writing and delivery. To be engaging and unforgettable, one must master the art of storytelling. Finding an appropriate story, developing it, and incorporating it into your presentation – all practiced as you take a joke and turn it into a story (well, lie) about the roastee. In an upcoming post, I’ll share how I crafted a story around a YouTube video I said was from Arnold’s surveillance camera of his living room – the true reason his marriage ended. I told that story so well someone in the audience asked another, “How did Linnaea get that surveillance tape?”
5) Program Planning Made Easy
Incorporating a roast and boast into an event takes care of a large component of the program planning – and if participants understand how to do a roast and boast – it can be an unforgettable event of laughter and fun. It can be a reason to stage an event. This is what producers do ALL the time with those Hollywood events honoring directors, actors, and actresses.
