I have long since come to realise that there are only two types groom: those that are very naughty, and have racked up multiple stories about their exploits over the years, and those grooms who are so nice and boring, they've racked up precisely no stories over the years. The net effect of both these scenarios is exactly the same: you've got nothing to talk about. Well, some best men would disagree and view the naughty stories as fair game for a best man speech, but they would be a catastrophic lapse of judgement. Leave the dodgy stories to the pub.
So, that means there's really only one way to tackle a best man speech, and that's by making stories part of what you do, not everything that you do. I've said on many occasions that a list of stories for a best man speech, can prove disastrously tedious. Stories require too much detail, can take far too long to get through, and require a killer punchline to land them in just the right way. Most stories I receive don't have a killer punchline, and most of them really need you to have been there to find them remotely entertaining. You need to look much further into his life and character to find things that are funnier, more accessible, and will be more efficient to convey. So, what about his job, his nickname, his hair colour, his likes, dislikes...where he lives? All of those topics can provide unlimited opportunities to have some fun, and you don't need to take people though the time he had a traffic cone on his head in real time.
For example, a great source of entertainment can be his job. Whether he's a teacher, banker, doctor or builder, there are all really funny cliches that you can exploit with all those professions, and ones that everyone will instantly connect with. Clients often say to me that they're worried they don't have anything to say...my response is always the same: don't worry about what you don't know, have fun with what you do know.
