Groomsman Flips Expectations With Hilarious Opening Line to Wedding Speech

A groomsman had the bride and groom in hysterics after defying convention with a wedding speech that flipped a well-worn trope on its head.

Chris Thompson from Winnipeg, Canada, knows a thing or two about delivering a good wedding speech. Having built a business from the ground up a decade ago, Thompson's success has allowed him to focus on his other passions, which include film production, seeing family, traveling and making comedy videos for the internet.

In the process he's also developed something of a reputation among friends and family for being a first-rate public speaker. So much so, in fact, that he's so far given speeches at as many as seven weddings.

To some, speaking in public is considered a fate worse than death. In a 2012 study published in the journal Communication Research Reports just over 800 students were asked to complete a survey ranking their fears. Public speaking was selected more often than any other common fear, including death.

Thompson's relationship with public speaking is a little more complicated. "While I thoroughly enjoy it, I put an immense amount of pressure on myself to try and make it the best speech the audience has ever seen," he told Newsweek.

From the moment his friend Matt got engaged to his partner Kelsey, Thompson feared it was only a matter of time before he would "pop the question" and ask him to speak at their wedding.

Not that Thompson was opposed to the idea, more that he knew he'd have to pull out all the stops. "He had been at a previous wedding I'd spoken at," Thompson explained. "So I wouldn't be able to recycle any of my material!"

But when Matt asked Thompson to be a groomsman in his wedding party, he was delighted."I could finally go to a wedding where I had nothing to do other than to enjoy it," he said.

However, a few months later and with the wedding drawing a little nearer, Matt threw Thompson a "curve ball" by asking him to speak.

Going into his speech, Thompson had a clear idea of how he wanted the speech to go. "I wanted to make the audience laugh but most importantly, I wanted to make Matt and Kelsey laugh," he said. "My goal was to get a laugh at the end of every sentence."

He did that by playing on a wedding speech trope "I was trying to make fun of the overused and unnecessary 'For those who know me' phrase," Thompson said. "I was also trying to make fun of the classic wedding speaker that tries to make the speech about him."

Thompson managed to do exactly that. Even better, his efforts were caught on camera in a clip he shared to his TikTok account uncle_chrisser.

In the clip, he begins: "For those of you that don't know me, my name is Chris Thompson, I am single, I'm a pediatric surgeon at the children's hospital here in Winnipeg and in my spare time I volunteer at a pet shelter."

Cue laughter. A beat later, Thompson continues: "For those of you that do know me, please keep your mouths shut about all that." More laughter follows. At this point he then turns his attention to the groom, saying: "They say that you should never meet your heroes. Matt met me in April of 2006..." Again, the zinger prompts laughter from those watching on.

In Thompson's experience, this type of humor is crucial to the success of any good wedding speech. "I try to be self-deprecating at the beginning of a speech, because making fun of myself then allows me to make fun of the target, without it being mean," he explained.

Matt and Kelsey actually tied the knot back in April 2022, but Thompson only recently decided to share the clip to TikTok where it has gotten a huge reaction, racking up over 21 million views and counting.

Thompson said the speech proved so popular he ended up being asked to speak at another wedding. Unfortunately, as he explained, that meant he "had to start from scratch and rewrite another speech all over again."

The Perfect Wedding Speech

Thompson has some tips for anyone facing up to the prospect of writing a best man speech. First, keep notes. "You THINK you'll remember all the good ideas when you finally get down to writing the speech, but many of them will slip from your memory," he said.

Thompson also recommends interviewing parents and the wedding party as you might discover otherwise overlooked facts and anecdotes on the happy couple.

"The perfect blueprint for a speech is to make fun of yourself in the intro, then make fun of the target but be sure to balance it with a lot of compliments," he said. "Don't use too many inside jokes, don't forget to take your drink up if you're giving a toast, and always end with something heartwarming. And try to avoid using jokes that you get off of Google!"

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