Using Humor In Debate (Video) by: Catherine Alles

Humor, when used correctly, can be a huge asset in a debate round, a great tool for your debate toolbox. When used incorrectly, humor can damage your credibility and/or likability. In my opinion, those who have truly mastered debate are able to incorporate humor in seamlessly in an engaging and relevant way.

In this video I’ll be talking about how to use humor in debate: telling some pretty cringeworthy stories of my attempts at humor, giving some examples of funny quotes to use, and some do’s and don’ts…

Catherine graduated high school this past year and is taking a gap year to do a business internship through the program “Praxis.” After that, she is not sure if she will go to college or pursue other career paths, but she is interested in business, politics, and loves cooking, biking, and traveling. As a coach, she is passionate about helping debaters actually understand the arguments they are running, and focusing on quality over quantity of arguments. Catherine competed in TP with NCFCA for 5 years, and qualified to Nationals all 4 years of high school, finishing first in at-large her junior and senior years. She enjoyed partnering with both her older sister and younger brother, both of whom taught her very different skills. She won four debate tournaments over the years and was honored to get a 4th place speaker award at Nationals in 2015.