Go-To One-Liners
Here we go with my Top 20 go-to-one liners…
- Husband of one, father of five
- Not smart enough to take that personally
- Visual of the suspect
- Thanks for coming but most of all, thanks for leaving
- Just between us girls
- Eating the best of the king's food and drinking the best of the king's wine
- Questions, comments, or snide remarks?
- Lies! Nothing but lies! (Usually when someone says they heard something positive about me.)
- Love to stay and chat (Jokingly trying to end a conversation where a tough question has been asked.)
- With all due disrespect
- Sharp as a bowling ball
- Clear as mud
- I live in a small midwestern town… (dramatic pause) called Chicago!
- Trying to get my girlish figure back
- If I want to be ignored, I’ll just go home
- In-and-out so nobody gets hurt
- You can't prove that!
- I make fun of that guy and now I’m that guy!
- Who’s who in the zoo
- Let’s land this plane
Who cares if everyone has heard the lines over and over. If the expressions produce a smile, laugh, or response, they work! I've found no matter how often someone hears a funny one-liner, they often enjoy it just as much the next time.
Top Five Ways to Make Your Own List:
1. Find a place where you can keep an ongoing list. For me it was the notes app on my phone. The location doesn’t matter as much as easy access and only that one location. You may need to experience where is best to create your list and that’s fine but once you find a good rhythm, stick with the best location for you.
2. As soon as you hear yourself make a potential one-liner that elicits a response from someone, write it down immediately or as soon as you can. Now, if you’re anything like me, I have the best of intentions to remember and write it down later, and never ever comes and I lose that one-liner. So, if you say it amidst a conversation, I’ve literally asked the person I’m speaking with for some grace to write something down real quick then immediately jump back into the conversation. This ALWAYS works much better than going to my phone without asking permission which just flat out looks rude.
3. Practice these new one-liners the next time you’re with someone that your one-liner fits the context. The keyword is practice. It must come out naturally otherwise it will receive a “meh response.” Now, that doesn’t mean the one-liner is bad, it may be the delivery. You just need some practice.
4. I usually leverage the one-liner to ask a question after I get them to smile or laugh. For example, when they ask me where I’m from and I use my one-liner about the small mid-western town, I’ll ask them where they’re from to take the attention off of me and on to them. Once that happens, the conversation begins to flow so much easier.
5. Always remember, the one-liner is a means to an end. You want them to smile or laugh so they become a little more endeared to you and invested into the conversation.
So here’s your challenges:
- Begin immediately to start building your one-liner list - start with my list and see what works
- Practice your one-liners every single chance you get and see how they’re received then write those ones down and perfect their delivery
Then, commit to using them consistently—whether you're making small talk with a barista, networking at an event, greeting a guest, or pitching a potential client. Watch how applying these tools breathes new life into your interactions.
HUMOR BONUS CHAPTER - Adding Humor to Your Connections
Media.BryanPaulBuckley.com/Bonus-Chapter
15 mins