Delivery is about HOW you tell your joke.
A joke that tells a ridiculous story is funnier if you tell it as if the story was the most normal, believable thing in the world.
A joke that contains wild elements can be more fun if you tell it calmly, or maybe it will be more fun if you tell it more wildly than is necessary. A silly joke might be more fun if you tell it seriously, or wildly.
Usually, wild joke-telling with lots of laughter and zaniness is not good.
We talked in another post about punch lines. Part of delivery is to remember the point of the joke, carefully hit the important points, make sure the set-up is understood, and then drop the punch line like a bomb.
Yes, it’s possible to do this in a number of ways. You can appear zany, or serious, or matter of fact. But appear to not believe the premise of the joke yourself, the joke will fail.
A sub-section of delivery is relevance. If you’ve never been to England, and if your audience doesn’t contain any people from England, then jokes about England and English people wouldn’t be as funny.
One very important rule about delivery is this: Never, never, never announce your joke. Don’t say, “Hey everybody, I’ve got a joke to tell! Gather around and listen to me!” Just start and see who pays attention.
One of the finest skills that a talented joke teller has is the ability to share a joke at just the right moment. A lull in the conversation, a reference to a subject that relates to your joke. A lot of this skill is just knowing when it’s your turn to talk. That’s the most important part of proper delivery.
Practice that.
Jack was living in Arizona during a heat wave.
"It's just too hot to wear clothes today," complained Jack as he stepped out of the shower.
"Honey, what do you think the neighbors would think if I mowed the lawn like this?"
"Probably that I married you for your money."
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