Move on if your audience doesn't laugh. Desperation, no matter how smoothly it's presented, is never funny.
[5] If your story doesn't get the big laugh you were hoping for, shrug it off.
- Wrap up the story with a smile and say something like: 'Well, I guess you had to be there" or "I guess it really can't be translated from the original German".
- Don't focus on the story if it doesn't go over as well as you had hoped. The best way to recover is to laugh at yourself (even if no one else did) and move on to another topic or subject.