You know those people who always have something clever or witty to say? Ever wonder how they cultivated this seemingly magical quality? If you have, know that being witty is much easier than you might think, and you don’t have to be born with the gift of gab. By following certain tricks and techniques, you can develop the same persona yourself. The first element to tackle is conversational flow and keeping a back and forth going.
The first trick is to never speak in absolutes. Eliminate questions and statements involving words like favorite, absolute, only, worst, etc., from your vocabulary. If you ask someone “what’s your absolute favorite movie?”, you are actually asking a pressurized question that introduces pause and destroys flow. Instead, always generalize your questions by putting boundaries and constraints on them. This doesn’t require as much thought from your conversational partner, allowing them to simply answer a question with a range of responses instead of being caught looking for the one “right” answer.


The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic By Patrick King
Read the show notes and/or transcript at [ Ссылка ]
Get the audiobook on Audible at [ Ссылка ]
For a free minibook on conversation tactics, visit Patrick King Consulting at [ Ссылка ]
For narration information visit Russell Newton at [ Ссылка ]
For production information visit Newton Media Group LLC at [ Ссылка ]

Flow Like a River

When I was growing up, my favorite television show wasn’t one of the conventional cartoons like G.I. Joe or X-Men.

People tend to assume I had a sad childhood when I say this, but it’s not that I was deprived of cartoons by draconian parents.

Cartoons typically aired early on weekend mornings, which meant you had to go to bed early the night before to get up in time for the shows. I always overslept, so I never saw the cartoons. But why was I oversleeping?

Because I always stayed up late to watch David Letterman, the host of The Late Show with David Letterman for over thirty years.

I didn’t know it at the time, but of all the late-night television hosts, David Letterman was one of the most legendary. I just watched because I thought his Top Ten Lists were funny in an adult way that I couldn’t quite understand. He would talk about economics, and though I didn’t quite grasp the specifics, I knew the general feeling he was trying to convey and would laugh when my older brother laughed. I didn’t get many of the digs and jabs he would take at guests, but I saw a specific tone and facial expression and went along with it.

It wasn’t until I grew older that I started to really notice the subtle tactics Letterman used to energize boring guests and turn dull segments into funny ones.

In particular, it was his ability to banter wittily with his band leader, guests, and even himself in a self-deferential way that was the engine of the show. Letterman was like Teflon—he was so smooth and slick, he could always go with the flow, nothing ever seemed to faze him, and he was never without a witty quip or two.

It seemed as if he could joke about anything, and his jokes never seemed forced or out of place. It didn’t work as well for me when I tried emulating Letterman the next day at school, but it did get me thinking about what constituted a person who was conversationally so slick and smooth, so able to let anything negative roll right off of them, that they were Teflon.

How can you not just always have something to say, but always have something witty and clever to say? Witty banter is many things at once—disarming, charming, intelligent, and quick. It almost sounds impossible when you think about the effects it has on others.

But banter is a skill just like pitching a baseball or underwater basket weaving. Once you know the patterns and building blocks, you can practice and improve them. And once you practice enough, they become instinct and habit that come easily to you because they are second nature.

This book is going to be one of your best tools for becoming adept at the kind of witty banter that will help you succeed in social situations.

You’ll learn what makes a statement clever, how to deliver it quickly, and how it all comes together to make you someone of note and worth talking to. We’ll start with techniques for flowing conversation. You can’t achieve wit if you’re caught in awkward silence!

Never Speak in Absolutes

Don’t mind the irony in the section title (using the word “never” to warn against using the word “never”). But I stand by it.

свернуть