When I was in film school, there was a professor who was well-liked because he always got the best possible prints of old movies for his classes, sincerely loved film and was a nice guy besides. He would have been wildly popular if it wasn’t for his lectures. Loud snoring could be heard as the youngish prof droned on and on and on in a repetitive monotone that could have induced a trance in the world’s most worried meth addict. It didn’t help that he had a habit of repeating the name of the director he was discussing. “This is a very Hitchcock sort of thing to do and Hitchcock loved those sorts of moments, the sort of Hitchcock moments for which Hitchcock was best-known.”
Still, that professor was a piker compared to Jim Jacob, creator of this singular comedy (I hope!) video. Yes, “Guidelines for Public Speaking” consists of Mr. Jacob informing us how to give lively, informative and entertaining lectures — in the world’s most boring, soporific monotone.
It’s funny, but Jacob must tread a fine line here. Making us laugh about being bored without actually boring us is much easier said than done. At five uninterrupted minutes, the results are a bit mixed because we get the idea in about five seconds. Nevertheless, after a while, we even find ourselves laughing at our seemingly unending boredom and Mr. Jacob’s ability to drone on indefinitely.
