“Seinfeld” Writer On How to Give a Funny Speech

Carol Leifer knows how to be funny – her resume proves it. She’s written for “Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Modern Family,” and “Saturday Night Live.” She also wrote jokes for 11 Academy Awards, including 2025 with Conan O’Brien, she won a WGA Award, and she was Emmy-nominated six times. Along with being a writer, she is also a producer, standup comic, and corporate speaker for over 75 organizations and Jewish nonprofits, federations, and synagogues.

Now, she is sharing her vast knowledge of comedy, speaking, and speechwriting with her new book, “How to Write a Funny Speech,” which she recently released with her writing partner Rick Mitchell.

Carol told Aish that she and Rick decided to pen this book because they have seen many epic speech fails at events.

Jerry Seinfeld and Carol Leifer

“We felt like we needed to do it as a public service. A bad speech can really put a damper on an event. And with the advent of phones and everyone videoing everything now, a bad speech can come back to haunt you. What used to be a story told occasionally has now become a fixture on the web.”

According to Carol, writing and giving a speech are so difficult because some people’s greatest fear is getting up to speak in front of large groups of people.

“It takes a lot of chutzpah to get up there and most people go in clueless when they sit down to write a speech,” she said. “That’s why we wanted to write this book: to give people step-by-step instruction for how to put together a good, funny speech.”

Tips for Writing Your Speech

Carol and Rick’s book is divided into The Beginning, The Middle, and The End of a speech, with valuable tips for each part of it.

For instance, in The Beginning, they write, “The number one mistake that people make right out of the gate is not introducing themselves and telling the crowd their relationship to the honoree. This is a key element to the beginning of your speech and, honestly, the easiest part, because how hard do you have to work to come up with this nugget? When a speech-giver doesn’t tell the guests their relationship to the honoree up front, the bulk of the speech becomes an episode of ‘Dateline’ for the guests. ‘Is this a relative of some kind?’ ‘Is this an old friend or a recent one?’ ‘Is this someone who possibly stumbled into the wrong ballroom at the venue?’”

“Let people know right away why you’re special enough that you made the cut and were asked to speak.”

The middle of the speech has to be all about your stories.

“These are the gold of speech writing,” Carol and Rick write. “Why? Because you want your speech to stand apart from everybody else’s. The easiest way to guarantee your speech racks up views on the web is by sharing what nobody else has: your stories!”

A lot of people might rely on AI to write their speech, but that is a big mistake.

As for the end, you want to make it memorable; this is when you should prepare something real and honest. If you’ve just told funny stories, you could say something heartfelt. For example, if you talked about fun times you had with your friend who is a bride, you can then tell her how much you cherish her and wish her only happiness with her new husband. You could also give a piece of advice and advise the audience to toast.

Carol and Rick write, “We then recommend going over to give them a warm embrace. Puts a nice cap on it all. (It’s so weird when someone gives an amazing toast and then just abruptly, awkwardly, heads back to their seat.)”

Carol Leifer and Rick Mitchell

In this day and age, when ChatGPT can do everything for you, Carol stresses the importance of creating an original speech.

“A lot of people might rely on AI to write their speech, but that is a big mistake,” she said. “A good speech is all about your personal connection to who you’re celebrating. And AI will never have or know your history with this person.”

Comedy and Judaism

Carol, who started doing comedy in college in the 1970s, grew up laughing at home. Her father was an optometrist who was “the king of the joke tellers,” she said. “I saw how my dad connected with people through humor, and it made a big impression on me.”

Both her father and mother, who got her PhD in psychology in her 50s at Yeshiva University and worked well into her 80s, taught Carol the importance of hard work.

“Their parents were both immigrants, so they knew all about the grit and determination it takes to make it in any field,” she said. “Their love of humor is very much ingrained in Judaism. They loved all the Jewish comedians of their time and shared that with us. We Jews are a people who love humor and can’t live without it.”

Carol loves giving speeches to Jewish nonprofits and synagogues today because, she said, “These are near and dear to my heart. I am a Lion of Judah at the Federation. These groups know that when I speak, I just don’t talk the talk, I walk the walk.”

When it comes to giving your own speech, the comedian recommends picking up “How to Write a Funny Speech” to really knock it out of the park.

“We take people through the whole process, from A to Z,” she said. “We even have templates for those who don’t want to work so hard. There are jokes to steal for any event. [We have] everything! L’chaim!”

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