"Bob Hope has a slick, humorous style of delivery which ought to put him in the front rank of talking bandmasters as soon as he gets something to say which does not bring the blush of shame to his cheeks," Robert Benchley wrote in these pages about "Roberta".
Imagine him saying those words to his Statesman interrogator Jemima Khan: nasal irony, dry delivery, audibly humorous intent.
Man is an existential sad sack who instinctively sets up a game of hide-and-seek with the audience, a strategy that follows Twain's dictum about comic delivery: "The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it".
Once you're comfortable reading the text aloud, you can begin to fine-tune the humorous aspects of your delivery.
The humorous squint, the slightly cracked delivery, the quizzical expression that have served him so well in other roles come to seem affectations as he struggles to squeeze something more than obvious charm out of being a saint in a children's fable.
Patton gave a humorous tone to the speech, as he intentionally sought to make his men laugh with his colorful delivery.
Some legal observers believe his style of delivery, his love of legal parodies and a penchant for humorous sallies may have blocked promotion.
Focus on their delivery, the topics, and how they turn the everyday into something humorous.
(And it helps to listen to children too; they say the most humorous things without even trying).. Ensure that the quantum and quantity of the message delivery are appropriate.
His stuttering delivery seemed like a novice's version of Forti's repetitions, but he had a genuinely humorous streak that was endearing, and showed a talent for riffing with his co-conspirators, in a freewheeling way.
