"What we do is take the worst things in our life and turn it into something palatable for everybody else, because the best comedy comes from real life.

I think that when you talk about something that really happened, whether you make it a caricature of what happened, or whatever, but it is a version of the truth, you connect with the audience in a way that you cannot with contrived material."

I was browsing a public speaking coach's Facebook page today (no, you don't know her). Now, to be fair, I haven't heard her speak, so I don't know what kind of material she delivers to an audience. But post after post on Facebook was a quote or article written by someone else -- some of them overused clichés and some even erroneous.

Here's one of my favorite TED talks, and one with a theme I'm unfortunately a little too familiar with lately: "4 in the morning."

Poet and storyteller Rives cleverly attempts to solve the mystery of the "repeated artistic depiction" of 4 in the morning that pops up in movies, poetry, literature, and music.

Many people consider the "wedding speech" to be their worst nightmare. Whether they're the best man, maid of honor, father of the bride, or just a family friend who's been asked to say a few words, they feel pressured to be formal, funny, profound, touching and memorable.