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Level of Vigor*: 5 – 10 How to Lead:
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Declare: “This next exercise is called ‘Gibberish Punchlines’.”
Demonstrate: “One person pretends to tell the last part of a joke, the punchline, saying words only in gibberish – nonsense talk, like [act as if you are telling a joke]: ‘Gobbledy goobeldy, ploink!’. When they stop talking, everyone laughs as though it were the funniest thing you ever heard!” [Raise arms up and then bend over, as if laughing uproariously at a hilarious story.]
Do: “Okay, ready? I’ll go first. ‘Gibbeldy, doob-doob – blip!’ ” (Stop; immediately everybody laughs.) (Let the laughter go on for 10 – 15 seconds. Then select several people to have a turn being the “Teller.”)
Benefits: Laughers can truly have the best and strongest laughs they want (they can run around, slam against a wall, fall on the floor, spin in circles, collapse with delight, etc.) making for a potentially very aerobic practice. Boosts self-esteem and confidence for the Teller, who contributes “nothing” yet sees everyone have a wonderful time as a result.
Variations: “One-Word Punchlines,” “By the Numbers,” “Gibberish Quips,” others. Find them in The Encyclopedia of Laughter Exercises. Click here to download.
Origin: Dr. Kataria has encouraged Gibberish Talking as a warm-up practice for years. Jeffrey Briar and Kathryn Burns experimented with using Gibberish as a “joke without meaning” at the first “All -Gibberish Parties” (2005) and during meetings of the Laguna Laughter Club in California in 2005-2006.
Notes: Leader can coach “If you want to, you can have the very best laugh of your whole life. Because it’s your choice: it’s obviously not the joke; there is no joke. But if you want to, you can have a really great time, laughing uproariously, as if it were the best joke you’ve ever heard.”
See on the web: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BazOHqn5evE
Find this exercise in Doctor Kataria’s Foundation Exercises. Click here to download.
* All sessions begin with the advice that participants may engage at whatever level they wish. The “Level of Vigor” offered is a suggestion of the intensity range in which the exercise is typically performed.
