Tentative titter

That word still means the same as it always did so stop your, erm, tittering.

The reason I preface so many of my remarks on comedy with a qualification ('I venture' 'I think') is because I'm invading someone else's turf. The comic has enough sorting through which scraps of social observation lend themselves to the comedic treatment, and which are better left to shock, to need further distraction.

[*which would make a good gag and which would make an audience gag]

Moving on, the best way of getting a laugh is by saying or writing something that struck you as funny - would have made you laugh if you'd heard it. That is, unless you have a bad sense of humour. And there are no shortage of first time talents bombing on stage because their idea of what is funny didn't find a broader assent. Perhaps it was in the telling, the harlequin was nervous, or just playing to the wrong crowd. A disciplined comic will do a tally on the rate of jests that fell flat and the context in which they were delivered, and make adjustments. But if you're just not funny, then stick to the dad jokes around the barbie and the friendly jibes in the best man's speech, and leave this area to the professionals.