When I competed in 2004 in the Humorous Contest, I had a few members of my club trudge out to support me. It meant a lot to have my friends take time from their busy schedules to be on my side.

My main competitor had a tribe - probably 15 people - supporting him. This guy was insanely funny and got tons of laughs and earned them. But of course in most funny speeches there’s some stuff that’s just marginally amusing. He had those moments too, but he got uproarious laughter anyway. I’m pretty sure was led by his club mates. And laughter is contagious, so what should have fallen flat got roars.

I want to make it clear that I’m not upset at all about how this played out. This was one of dozens of factors that went into me getting clobbered that day. Most of this guy’s material was really, really funny and deserved to get huge laughs. Had the contest been close, though, there’s no doubt his huge support crew would have pushed him over the edge.

If you look at the judging sheet for the contest, it says that 10 points is for audience reaction. That’s understating it. The judges are people too and are going to be influenced by the audience response. If the audience is falling out of their seats laughing, that will favorably influence the judges’ opinions about your story development, your overall speech value, etc etc. The same thing works against you if no one laughs.

So try to get as many of your friends - in TM and out - to show up to support you as possible. I’m not suggesting you coach your friends to be silent for other folks routines; even I’m not that hardcore.

As a follow up - I’ve been over to the guy’s house who beat me a few times and his wife is a fantastic cook. Maybe that’s why I don’t mind losing.