Speech
Speech to Entertain: A Guide
Joann Babin
Rationale and Definition
If your instructor assigned you to do a speech to entertain, you are lucky. Since so many public speaking text book authors declare entertainment as one of the three major goals of a public speech, it is a great skill to practice. It is hard to deny the value of entertainment. Humor has been used to soothe many difficult situations. At a board meeting in San Francisco where there was a heated debate about closing Golden Gate Park to traffic on Saturdays in addition to Sundays, the group in favor of closing the park on Saturday played the old hit song “Saturday in the Park” by Chicago in the background of their video drawing huge laughs from both sides of the issue. In Half Moon Bay, where they had to close down Devil’s Slide affecting several commuters and hurting businesses, Casey Sample, owner of his café, created a special “Devil’s Slide Closure’ menu that includes “deviled eggs” and ‘fallen angel hair pasta”. Casey said, “it is throwing a little humor into the situation. What are you going to do about it”? As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, July 12, 2006, Kathy Griffin, the star of Bravo’s “My Life on the D-List” filed for divorce from her husband of four and a half years after she discovered he had been taking money from her bank accounts. “Eventually, I end up putting everything into the act. I kind of turn tragedy into comedy and I find that’s a great way for me to kind of deal with it.”
A speech to entertain may be either informative or persuasive in nature, but the supporting materials are selected primarily based on their entertainment value. The speech still must make a valid point or argument, but it can be done using humor.
In intercollegiate forensics competition, a speech to inform on a “lighter” topic was typically moved into the speech to entertain category. I remember several years ago, a student did her speech to inform about the Barbie Doll’s history
Joann Babin
Rationale and Definition
If your instructor assigned you to do a speech to entertain, you are lucky. Since so many public speaking text book authors declare entertainment as one of the three major goals of a public speech, it is a great skill to practice. It is hard to deny the value of entertainment. Humor has been used to soothe many difficult situations. At a board meeting in San Francisco where there was a heated debate about closing Golden Gate Park to traffic on Saturdays in addition to Sundays, the group in favor of closing the park on Saturday played the old hit song “Saturday in the Park” by Chicago in the background of their video drawing huge laughs from both sides of the issue. In Half Moon Bay, where they had to close down Devil’s Slide affecting several commuters and hurting businesses, Casey Sample, owner of his café, created a special “Devil’s Slide Closure’ menu that includes “deviled eggs” and ‘fallen angel hair pasta”. Casey said, “it is throwing a little humor into the situation. What are you going to do about it”? As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, July 12, 2006, Kathy Griffin, the star of Bravo’s “My Life on the D-List” filed for divorce from her husband of four and a half years after she discovered he had been taking money from her bank accounts. “Eventually, I end up putting everything into the act. I kind of turn tragedy into comedy and I find that’s a great way for me to kind of deal with it.”
A speech to entertain may be either informative or persuasive in nature, but the supporting materials are selected primarily based on their entertainment value. The speech still must make a valid point or argument, but it can be done using humor.
In intercollegiate forensics competition, a speech to inform on a “lighter” topic was typically moved into the speech to entertain category. I remember several years ago, a student did her speech to inform about the Barbie Doll’s history