When is a good day, time or place to tell a joke?

Edinburgh Festival.

Before Covid19 every year you would hear the jokes from the Edinburth Festival, held in Scotland, UK. Other festivals of comedy were held in Australia and Asia and the USA. Maybe we can all attend these in 2021. Meanwhile, time to start exploring our favourite jokes. When I went on a standup comedy course organized by Amused Moose, I heard about shows at the Edinburgh Festival. The cost of hiring a room in a pub can be expensive and you need lots of flyers and publicity to get your money back.

Many shows are supposedly free but they pass a hat for contributions.

The cost of hiring the room is not usually down to one individual, unless they are world famous, but shared by up to 20 or more participants in the sketched. It could be borne by a sponsor, such as a school or college or students union.

What about street theatre. We saw one great act. As we approached the crowd the one man performing rushed up to me and shouted, 'Mother!'
He might have done this to several other people previously. I'm sure it got a suprprised reaction from the newcomer each time.

When is a good time to play a joke?
April 1st April Fool's Day
In 1957 the BBC produced a program about a spagetti tree in Switzerland.

National Joke Day
Internationl Joke day
President's joke day - August 11th commemorates the time when Reagan joked that he was going to drop a bomb on Russia. He thought he was off air. The Russians heard and mibilised their armed forces.

What Could Go Wrong?
There are some places and occasions when you should not tell jokes or play pranks, or touch other people.

1 Military - especially guards.
Their job is to guard and protect and they are armed to do so and trained to avoid distractions.

2 Emergency Services
Fire, ambulance, police - they are doing a serious job and often short of time. They make decisions based on life and death, resulting in life or death. Don't fool with them. They need to be able to react quickly and to take it seriously when somebody reports an injury or death.

3 Anybody marching in formation or dancing.
They may have spent a year training for their big moment. They won't be pleased if you try to take attention away or make them look foolish.

4 Crying Wolf?
Next time you try to get help, they might not take you seriously. Next time somebody else rings, they might not get taken seriously.

5 When you think you are off air, in a studio, or after a zoom meeting. Remember to mute. Still always speak as if the world can hear you.

An American in Singapore phoned the police and ended her call with April Fool.
The police were not pleased. They threatened her with a criminal record, for wasting police time.

On a lighter note, I am doing Engaging Humor in pathways, a program of Toastmasters International. I belong to five clubs.

Useful Websites
Toastmastersinternational.org/findaclub
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_April_Fools%27_Day_jokes

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_comedians
https://www.a-speakers.com/speakers/brad-ashton-keynote-speaker/
 Brad Ashton's books on comedy: 
“How to Write Comedy”, 
“The funny Thing about Writing Comedy”, 
“The Job of a Laughtime”, and 
“Stand up and Be Laughed at”.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author of 20 books, and a speaker and speech trainer.
Her books include:
Wedding Speeches & Toasts
Quick Quotations
Writing Poetry For Fun
Angela's Alarming Animal Poems

Pantomime characters, pantomime dames create humour.
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author of 20 books, and a speaker and speech trainer.
Her books include:
Wedding Speeches & Toasts
Quick Quotations

Writing Poetry For Fun
Angela's Alarming Animal Poems

This blog has many more posts on learning languages and destinations around the world. Please share links to your favourite pages.
See my other blog
https://how2bfunny.blogspot.com/2020/08/why-be-funny-advantages-